Industry News

Lottery monopoly unlawful

Published

7 years ago

November 27, 2017

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Lottery monopoly unlawful: In the opinion of the Administrative Court of Munich, the monopoly violates EU law and constitutional law

For the first time, a German court has judged the lottery monopoly claimed by the German states to be unlawful. Thus, the billions in revenues for the 16 German states from the games of chance offered by them are clearly endangered.

The Administrative Court of Munich, in a judgment, reached by the law firm ARENDTS ANWÄLTE, concludes that the German lottery monopoly in its current form violates both the freedom to provide services guaranteed under EU law (Art. 56 et seq TFEU), as well as the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of choice.

In October 2010, the applicant approached the Government of Upper Palatinate, which was responsible for issuing gambling licenses for the organization of lotteries with not only low risk potential, and inquired about the possibility of licensing a number lottery in the Free State of Bavaria. The applicant was then given a “checklist for permission to operate public gambling”. Based on the explanatory notes of the (unpublished) checklist, the applicant submitted a request for permission to hold a number lottery in the Free State of Bavaria. On the basis of the unclear information which the plaintiff received from the Government of Upper Palatinate in response to repeated inquiries about the conditions for obtaining a license, the plaintiff repeatedly amended the permit application. On the instructions of the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior, the Government of Upper Palatinate justified the refusal by stating that the plaintiff, in the opinion of the authorities, did not meet the requirements of material permission (without mentioning the monopoly).

The plaintiff brought an action before the Administrative Court of Munich against the refusal by the Government of the Upper Palatinate after almost one and a half years of administrative proceedings in 2012. Remarkably, the Government of the Upper Palatinate only at the first oral hearing, and only after repeated inquiries from the Chairwoman Judge, argued with the applicability of the monopoly regulations, which were, according to the Government, compliant with German constitutional law and European Union law.

The Administrative Court of Munich disagreed in its judgment of 25 July 2017. According to the recently served reasoning of the court, the lottery monopoly enshrined in section 10 (2) and (6) of the German Interstate Treaty on Gaming (Glücksspielstaatsvertrag – GlüStV) is unlawful because of the advertising practice of the state gambling operators.

The court relies on several points. For example, the Advertising Guidelines of the German States, which concretizes section 5 (1) to (3) GlüStV with regard to permitted advertising, do not strictly consider the criteria elaborated by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and by the Federal Administrative Court, which must be observed in order to justify a gambling monopoly. The Administrative Court of Munich points out in this regard that section 3 (3) sentence 4 of the Advertising Guidelines explicitly allows image advertising contrary to the requirements of the Federal Administrative Court. Furthermore, according section 5 no. 1 sentence 2 and 3 of the Advertising Directive, gambling can be advertised attractively and the charitable nature of lotteries can be emphasized.

Also, the advertising practice does not meet the requirements of the relevant case law. The Administrative Court of Munich justified this on the basis of numerous advertising examples of the state gambling operators, which were submitted by the applicant in the administrative court procedure. For the systematically operated inadmissible advertising practice of the state gambling operators in the area of number lotteries, the Administrative Court refers to the improper advertising with specifically advertised high jackpot sums in radio and television spots. In addition, unlawful jackpot advertising can be found in newsletters and in customer magazines of the state gambling operators, in social networks, in banner advertising on news sites on the Internet and on the Internet start pages of the state gambling operators.
According to the administrative court, the jackpot advertising of the state gambling operators stimulates the wishes of the citizens for winning money and so far stimulates undecided persons to play along. Often, the promised high profit with a future better life without the compulsion to earn a living by work, were linked to gambling. Thus, with the jackpot advertising not only existing gambling passions were addressed in order to direct them into order, but first time game incentives were created for non-game enthusiasts or a need for gambling in already interested gamblers was increased. In addition, in the opinion of the court, the state gambling operators pursued inadmissible image and sympathy advertising.

Furthermore, the statements made by the state lottery companies about millionaires had an inadmissible incentive to gambling participation, especially if they were linked to the awarding of the winner’s comparatively small stake.

Consequently, the Administrative Court of Munich, in its ruling, comes to the conclusion that the regulations in the advertising guideline and the advertising practice based on it to promote high jackpot profits go well beyond a channelling and steering function of people interested in public gambling. The practice of jackpot advertising would actively and clearly provide incentives to participate in public gambling, number lotteries. Through such advertising practice, the goals of the GlüStV are ultimately no longer met.

Finally, the Administrative Court of Munich rejects a new assignment of the plaintiff’s application on the grounds that the financial capacity of the applicant was not sufficiently established. However, in the “checklist” sent by the Government of Upper Palatinate, it merely requested the submission of a so-called sales concept.

Attorney-at-law Clemens Schmautzer of the law firm ARENDTS ANWÄLTE refers to the economic importance of the no longer tenable lottery monopoly: “The statements of the Administrative Court of Munich are likely to cause panic attacks in the German states, which were, since the fundamental decision of the Federal Constitutional Court of 28 March 2006, file no. 1 BvR 1054 / 01, more bad than right trying to continue to secure the proceeds of the lotteries.”

According to attorney-at-law Martin Arendts, the states, and if they do not succeed, then the federal parliament, are called upon to finally create a coherent and consistent gambling regulation: “We definitely need a quantum leap. It was a gross tactical mistake that the state Prime Ministers at the ministerial presidents’ conference on 17 March 2016 only decided on minimally invasive amendments to the existing regulations of the GlüStV in a formulaic compromise. After the sports betting licensing procedure, which was started in 2012, ended in a dead end due to several court decisions (which held the procedure not to be compliant with EU law), the state of Hesse had submitted a draft for the fundamental revision of the gambling system.”

Industry News

Maximising Your Cross-Market Appeal

Published

4 days ago

November 14, 2024

George Miller

Reading Time: 3 minutes

With Bitblox introducing an entirely new breed of crypto-based price prediction games to the iGaming industry, we talked to CEO, Brandt Page, to discover how combining elements of both chance and skill with lightning-fast betting rounds has helped improve their cross-market appeal.

When Bitblox was first established, our core concept was relatively simple; we didn’t just want to provide players with a new twist on an existing format like slots or casino games, but instead sought to create an entirely new vertical that combined elements of chance and elements of skill.

One of the main drivers behind this decision was the fact that we wanted our releases to appeal to as broad an audience as possible – and I think from the figures we’ve seen so far, we’ve already had some notable success on that front in terms of the players that are engaging with our games.

Funnily enough, I was recently talking to the Head of Marketing from one of the operators that we work with and they told me they were struggling to place our games optimally. Initially, they’d put them in with crash and instant win content, but they soon discovered a lot of their in-game traffic was coming from sports bettors. A move to the sports betting tab followed, but the exact same-thing happened with casino players, leading to the games eventually winding up on the front page.

As this was going on, our games were continuing to post solid numbers with the customers who bet on both sports and casino – and all of this engagement was coming without there being any additional promotion from us or the operator. So why was it that our games were performing so well across these different player segments? I believe there are a number of contributing factors.

First and foremost, having this hybrid model of games of chance and games of skill that I’ve already mentioned has placed us in a fairly unique position within the iGaming industry. On the one hand, the simple premise of our Bitcoin-based titles – coupled with their attractive designs and intuitive UI – makes them highly accessible to casino players who are just looking to have fun.

On the other, the fact that Bitblox games aren’t based on RNG and are instead pinned to the real-time movements of the Bitcoin market certainly resonates with a sports betting audience. As they have the ability to follow the charts and use this information to inform their decisions, they definitely feel they have more control over the outcome than if they were playing a traditional slot.

Another key aspect of our cross-market appeal is the fast-paced nature of all Bitblox releases. With casino players being accustomed to the quick wins and instant gratification of slots and crash games and sports bettors also showing a growing preference for in-play wagering, we’ve ensured each game round is resolved quickly and that there are multiple opportunities for betting.

When we first launched Up or Down?, which features one-minute betting rounds, we soon learned that even this timeframe is too long for some players. This resulted in us developing Up or Down? Turbo – a game which kept the same mechanics as its predecessor but reduced the betting window to 20 seconds – and this has gone on to become one of our most successful titles.

Keeping all this in mind, one of the things I’m most excited about is the upcoming release of our latest game, 3 in a Row, as I think this is a title that really ties everything I’ve talked about so far together. Designed to look like a slot machine, 3 in a Row challenges players to correctly predict how the Bitcoin price will move over three separate 20-second windows for even bigger payouts.

Intended to appeal to casual users and serious sports bettors alike, players can elect to either spin the reels for fun and select a random price sequence or use the bet builder feature to put together their own custom prediction. With the latter essentially functioning like an accumulator bet, players can select up to three possible combinations – i.e. Up/Up/Up, Up/Up/Down etc – and only one result needs to land for them to win, ensuring they stay engaged until the final seconds.

I believe that 3 in a Row can help build on the strong foundations we’ve laid down with casino and sports bettors and provide operators with another popular option that offers significant cross-market appeal. Based on what we’ve seen from previous Bitblox releases, the audience for titles that combine elements of chance and elements of skill is definitely out there – and I’m looking forward to our unique brand of crypto-based games being enjoyed by even more players in future.

Industry News

Gaming Corps to launch with lotteries in the USA via EQL games deal

Published

5 days ago

November 12, 2024

Peter Tolan

Reading Time: 2 minutes

In-demand content provider extends reach into largest iGaming market in the world with its full suite of games made available via iLottery aggregation platform

Gaming Corps, a publicly-listed game studio based in Sweden renowned for creating industry-leading games, has made its debut in the US market through a breakthrough agreement with leading lottery provider, EQL Games.

The distribution agreement will see Gaming Corps’ full suite of games made available to EQL Games’ powerful iLottery Aggregation Platform, developed to provide lottery operators across America with direct access to a portfolio of proprietary and third-party games.

Following the integration, EQL Games’ lottery operator partners will be offered proven Slots, Table Games, Multiplier Games, Mine Games and Plinko Games, as well as titles under Gaming Corps’ innovative and trademarked Smash4Cash™ series.

The deal and integration come at a time of growing demand among online lottery operators in the US for non-traditional content, a format that Gaming Corps has excelled in, especially with its Smash4Cash™ games, which have been a hit with players in global markets.

EQL’s aggregation platform has been developed to allow online lottery operators to quickly and easily access content from multiple game studios simultaneously through one integration and one commercial agreement.

Its iLottery Aggregation platform simplifies the process of adding new games to an online lottery brand across regulated states. In addition to the third-party content provided via its aggregator platform, EQL Games has a portfolio of in-house titles.

This includes games produced under licence with Team USA which were rolled out by several state lotteries for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris this year, with new titles being planned ahead of the Winter Games in Milan (2026) and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles (2028).

Juha Kauppinen, CEO of Gaming Corps, said: “The USA has always been somewhat of the holy grail for game developers like us, which has been further emphasised as markets in several states have become regulated. The potential in the American market is enormous, and the impact for us is a bit difficult to assess, but we have great hopes for the collaboration with EQL Games, which has an impressive platform towards U.S. lotteries.

“We believe it will have a significantly positive impact on our revenues. I would like to personally take the opportunity to thank EQL Games and Brad Cummings for the collaboration, and we are now working hard to complete the integration so that all our games will be offered to EQL’s customers via their platform.”

Brad Cummings, CEO of EQL Games, added: “Including Gaming Corps as a supplier to the EQL Games iLottery Aggregator is an exciting step forward in our mission to offer unique, high-quality content to state lotteries. Gaming Corps’ expertise in iGaming, along with their unique game portfolio, fits perfectly with our vision of enhancing the lottery experience through dynamic and engaging content.”

Industry News

Public Voting Starts for Ortak x B.F.T.H. Arena Awards 3.0

Published

6 days ago

November 12, 2024

Niji Narayan

Reading Time: < 1 minute

The highly anticipated Ortak x B.F.T.H. Arena Awards 3.0 has officially entered the public voting phase as submissions are closed.

More than 70 game providers have turned in over 160 submissions, including Tom Horn Gaming, Pragmatic Play and RubyPlay. Public voting involves enthusiasts casting their votes to pick the winner of the Game of Public Choice category.

The Public voting phase ends on December 1st 23:59 GMT+4.

Concurrent to public voting, the first phase of private voting also starts during which all participants who have submitted entries get the chance to vote for one favourite in each category. An international auditing company oversees this phase to eliminate duplicate votes and self-votes. This phase ends on November 19, 23:59 GMT+4.

The second phase of private voting will also take place with a jury of industry experts making their decisions based on the shortlist picked by participants during the first phase.