Bet-at-home receives German betting licence

While Bet-at-home has not yet been added to the Regional Council’s – which handles nationwide betting licensing under the country’s Third State Treaty on Gambling – whitelist of approved betting operators, it said its application was approved yesterday (2 November).

“We are very pleased that Bet-at-home is now one of the concession holders in Germany”, Franz Ömer, chief executive of the operator, said.

The brand will join the 15 other operators who have received a licence, including Bet365, Gauselmann Group’s Cashpoint Malta subsidiary, Tipico, Tipwin and four GVC Holdings brands.

Other operators include Novomatic’s Admiral Sportwetten, Jaxx, Greenvest Betting’s Neo.bet and BetVictor, which will operate sites branded for the country’s leading tabloid Bild.

The awarding of licences, ended years of legal uncertainty, came almost immediately after a court threw out an April legal challenge from Austrian betting operator Vierklee that halted the licensing process.

Under the Third State Treaty, customers will be limited to a monthly betting limit of €1,000, though a small number of customers may have their limits increased to €10,000 or €30,000.

In addition, deposits will be limited until players pass certain verification checks, while licensees will also have to integrate with the national self-exclusion system OASIS and betting markets must be approved by the Regional Council. 

In August, Bet-at-Home said it remains on track to hit its full-year targets for 2020, despite the impact of the novel coronavirus (COvid-19) pandemic and the fact that it withdrew from some newly regulated markets such as Switzerland during the year.

Gross betting and gaming revenue for the first half of the year amounted to €62.3m, down 12.4% from €71.1m in the first six months of 2019.