A recent 300-page study conducted by three high-ranking German academics, found that Germany’s Interstate Treaty on Gambling has had a disappointing impact on sports integrity, customer protection, and tax revenues.
At the heart of the research was a comparative “Channelization Index,” mapping the success that various national regulators had had in funneling players towards safe, regulated products. Germany came bottom of the list, seeing the lowest percentage of players accessing regulated gambling products.
“Only when online gambling is legalized can the State achieve a number of goals: protecting players, combating gambling addiction and preventing the manipulation of sports,” commented Professor Haucap, director of the Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the German state of Schleswig-Holstein’s new coalition government has said it intends to ignore the federal Interstate Treaty on Gambling in favor of an independent and more liberal regulatory scheme.
