Betfair Receives German Sports Betting Licence

Online betting firm Betfair saw its share price jump 45p to 839.5p, after it was announced the British company had received one of Germany’s first ever online gambling licences.
Germany has 16 states and yesterday, three licences valid until 2018 were awarded in the liberal northern state of Schleswig Holstein. One was given to Germany’s Jaxx AG, another to the state lottery, while Betfair received a sports betting licence.
Germany’s largely illegal sports betting market is worth around €5 billion ($6.6 billion) a year and now Betfair has gained an important foothold into the lucrative market. However, Schleswig Holstein’s approach to online gambling differs from the country’s other regions which are more restrictive and have already indicated they will go against European competition laws and favour state monopolies, instead.
In addition, there are concerns that Schleswig-Holstein’s state elections on Sunday may see a potential new Social Democrat administration adopting a different gambling policy if they are elected. Nevertheless, this is not at all certain and the news of Betfair’s licence was welcomed by shareholders and the equity market, with a BarCap analyst stating:
“We view this as a significant positive for the company, given that it further erodes the bear case on the stock that Betfair would be unable to get licensed outside of the UK..[it is] further evidence that Betfair can become the market leader in European sports betting.”
Betfair will now pay 20% of its gross gaming revenue to Schleswig Holstein in taxes, with a previous company announcement stating: “Betfair is committed to participating in the online gambling market in Germany, ready and willing to pay taxes there and offer German consumers competitive, innovative and safe products.”
Further good news could also be on the horizon for Betfair, as the company has already applied for poker and other casino games licences in Schleswig Holstein, with a decision expected to be made in the coming weeks.