Betting in Germany
Located within Europe, Germany is certainly considered a super power on the continent. The country has an impressive sporting portfolio and a vibrant and lucrative gambling industry. In Germany nearly all sports betting is permitted, which gives the citizens a lot of scope in terms of wagering. This has proven to be very beneficial for the country’s economy. The dominant sport in Germany is football and this applies to the gambling industry as well. Prestigious teams like Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund attract huge betting interest from all over the world.
In Germany, people from all walks of life enjoy wagering on the Champions League as well as the other European Leagues. German football clubs are frequently involved in the top European games and this generates further betting interest.
Horse Racing in Germany continues to grow in popularity, with more than 50 horse racing tracks nationwide holding many popular events. A company called Oddbet controls and organises all of the legitimate sportsbooks in Germany, however in the future the monopoly may face changes due to EU regulations.
Oddbet has exclusive control over Germanys gambling industry and betting companies from abroad are banned. This limits the choice of wagering possibilities for punters in Germany; however, EU rulings may well insist on the nation opening up its markets to sportsbooks from abroad in the future.
In order to avoid paying German taxes more locals are gradually placing bets via sportsbooks from abroad. Currently Oddbet is the only legal bookmaker in Germany, and placing bets via online sportsbooks based abroad is officially against the law. However, it is virtually impossible for the German government to stop foreign gambling companies from taking advantage of German citizen’s trade.
BWIN is a well-known Austrian gambling company that attracts great interest from German punters. The EU supports BWIN’s activities and disagrees with the German government’s stance that their business options in Germany should be limited.
Many English sportsbooks and games web sites welcome business from the German people with many of the services available in the German language. The German government may well have to reassess the gambling monopoly currently operating in their country due to the EU promoting free trade throughout the member nations. Gambling organisations that are able to provide betting services to the German punters without having to pay the German taxes are gaining interest and this has affected the popularity of OddBet.
Germany has yet to confirm if it will keep its gambling industry running as a monopoly or if it will decide to share its market with the rest of Europe.
