Germany set to approve 50 gaming licenses for gambling providers

Germany’s new gaming regulator, the Joint Gaming Authority (GGL, for its German acronym), has made the shocking revelation that it is set to approve about 50 licenses for gambling service providers.

Currently, the regulator has already issued licenses to 25 operators, which means another 25 lucky applicants still have a shot at being accepted into the German gaming industry.

According to reports, GGL granted approval to nearly all 78 proposals it received for virtual poker and slots. But on the official whitelist, there are only 25 suppliers for these two sorts of gambling. This is due to the fact that a percentage of approved applicants still owe security payments, as said by GGL CEO Ronald Benter.

For the other 25 applicants to be chosen, GGL says the operators’ capacity to pay the required fees and complete the approval process will be a prerequisite for their inclusion on the whitelist.

German gaming, which only permitted slots at the time of legalization, is beginning to be more receptive to other gaming options. The nation is now looking forward to including poker and online slots.

GGL, which is still bracing up to take full control of the industry, took over from the old regulator, the State Administration Office (SAO), which was responsible for issuing licenses and running the industry’s operations since July 1, 2021.

In Germany, not only operators require authorization but the games offered too. By the end of 2022, the regulator had gone over and granted about 600 of the nearly 3,500 individual game applications it had received. Many were denied because they lacked the necessary requirements, like language support.

“We have to conclude that not all of the gaming permits submitted are allowable. Often it fails due to the simplest of requirements, for example, if there are only English instructions for the game, said Benter.

“In Germany we expect better coordination between the providers and studios.”

GGL board member Benjamin Schwanke, stated that their aim is to uphold gambling laws. They also issued a stern warning that if they discover major infractions, they will not fail to withdraw licenses. He continued by noting that illegal operators will not thrive in their regime, as they will be hunted down after a short while.

“We will revoke permits if we find serious violations,” added Benter. “Our goal is a level playing field for all providers. We want to ensure that the business model of offering illegal or non-compliant gambling on the Internet is not worthwhile in the long term,” said Schwanke.

“We will also proceed consistently when it comes to enforcement. Every provider who is not on the whitelist will be picked up, no matter how big it is.”

GGL has been very vocal about their objectives of player protection through terminating unauthorized gambling bodies. Ever since taking up the task of eradicating illegal gambling, they have received about 150 reports of illicit gaming and nearly as many reports of illegal gambling promotion. Already, the new regulator has identified over 1,150 unlicensed gambling websites.
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