The German sports betting licensing procedure that had started in January 2020 and that had been preliminary stopped by a decision of the Darmstadt administrative court (VG Darmstadt) of 1 April 2020 will now continue.

After the applicant had withdrawn the application for a preliminary ruling, the appeal proceeding had to be discontinued and the VG Darmstadt decision had to be declared invalid. This was decided by the Higher Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof) of Kassel (VGH Kassel) by decision of 9 October 2020 – 8 B 1111/20.

According to the licensing authority, the Regional Council of Darmstadt (Regierungspräsidium Darmstadt) this has the following consequences:

• The licence applications that have already been submitted will continue to be processed, but the procedures are now subject to a streamlined procedure with a corresponding obligation to cooperate on the part of the applicants.
• The authority continues to accept new licence applications. These are also subject to a streamlined procedure with a corresponding obligation of the applicants to cooperate.

15 licences have already been issued for the organisation and brokerage of sports betting. The authority published a White List with all licencees and licensed websites.

The number of licences is not limited and anyone can apply based on the minimum licensing requirements. In addition, the recent transitional regime for virtual slots and online poker applies until the new licensing procedure for virtual slots and online poker starts next year.