D-A-CH market in focus at CEEGC2019 Budapest, updates from Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Germany

There has always been quite a stir when it comes to discussing the D-A-CH region at the European Gaming Media and Events organized conferences, however, this time it is different.

Germany: The industry has seen lots of news coming out about the German gambling industry during the summer and among them is the report which showed that gambling advertising spend in Germany had increased 300% in last five years, but also PayPal’s Crackdown in Germany for transactions that are tied to online gambling. In other news, the Regional Council of Darmstadt in the German state of Hesse has issued the guidelines to apply for sports betting license in the country. As per the new guidelines, the gambling operators seeking licenses for online sports betting in Germany will have to show that they are not associated with online casino operators or affiliates offering online casino products to locals. The guidelines explicitly mention that the licensed online gambling operators in Germany would not be allowed to “operate or broker unauthorized gambling in Germany, either themselves or through affiliated companies, once the license has been granted.” Austria: IWG – the award-winning supplier of online, instant win games – has been selected to supply the Austrian Lotteries (Österreichische Lotterien) with its portfolio of games. Following the initial launch at win2day.at, the gaming site of the Austrian Lotteries, titles from IWG’s portfolio of over 100 games will be regularly added over the coming months giving players an alternative and unique playing experience. Other news also mention that players in Austria have filed lawsuit against the online casino websites, reclaiming the losses incurred over a period of past two and a half years. It is estimated that players who have filed the lawsuit lost sums to the tune of €3,000 over the past two and a half years. According to the OVWG, the reclaim is not promising: "The online operators licensed in the EU offer completely legally in Austria, because the Austrian gambling monopoly is contrary to EU law. The contracts are therefore valid and gambling losses cannot be reclaimed. The operators will defend themselves against possible lawsuits. OVWG provides its members with extensive argumentation material for this purpose”. Liechtenstein: Casinos Austria International will open Liechtenstein’s second casino in the Pirandello business centre in Schaanwald on 25 October. Liechtenstein saw the opening of its first casino, operated by Admiral, part of the Novomatic group, in August this year. Local newspaper Wiener Zeitung reported that businessman Wolfgang Egger planned to open a casino near the principality’s capital city of Vaduz after the entrepreneur won the constitutional monarchy’s initial public tender for a licence. Switzerland On Friday 5th July 2019, jackpots.ch, the online brand of Grand Casino Baden became the first legal online casino to go live in Switzerland under the new regulatory framework. It was announced earlier this year that Grand Casino Baden had made a strategic move to secure its own online destiny by investing in Gamanza, a highly promising start up with the capacity to build a world class platform solution. As mentioned above, there is more to talk about the D-A-CH region than ever before and the organizers of CEEGC (The Central and Eastern European Gaming Conference) are excited to announce that the “D-A-CH regional update compliance panel discussion will be joined by leading experts such as Hannah Kennish (Legal and Regulatory Affairs Manager at Playtech), Jessica Maier, LLM (Partner at MELCHERS law firm) and Robert Toth (Key Account Manager at Global Bet). The compliance panel discussion will be moderated by Dr. Simon Planzer (Partner at PLANZER LAW), who is the key expert in the region when it comes to the gambling industry. The 2019 edition of CEEGC Budapest takes place on the 24th of September at The Ritz-Carlton Budapest and welcomes some of the biggest names of the online and land based gambling industry from all around Europe with an emphasis on Central and Eastern Europe, North America, D-A-CH region and the Balkans.