First German licence for online poker issued

Entain plc has stated that as the leading provider for sports betting and casino games, it has acquired all five licences which it has applied for in Germany. Thus, Entain plc seems to not only have acquired the licence for virtual slot machine games, but it also holds the first licence for online poker in Germany. Are these services already accessible for players from Germany?

Around six months ago, we had reported on GambleJoe that a Gauselmann subsidiary had acquired its first German licence for online slots. Now the gambling company has also acquired the licence for online poker. The licence holder is the internationally operating company Entain plc (previously: GVC Holdings). The service is not yet available for players with a registered address in Germany-however this can change soon.

Entain plc acquires all the German licences it applied for

The gambling company, Entain plc, which was founded in 2004, is now based in Douglas (Isle of Man) and it has acquired all the licences it applied for from the German authorities. These are the licences for online slots and for online poker in Germany. The licences for online slots were issued for the brands bwin, Ladbrokes and Sportingbet. Besides these, a “poker licence” was issued for the brands bwin and Ladbrokes, thus Entain plc has acquired five German licences at one ago. All licences are initially valid for a period of five years.

Despite Entain’s announcement that the licence has already been issued, this has not yet been entered in the official whitelist, especially in Table 9 “Providers of online poker games”. However, it is expected that this list will be updated by the authorities quite soon. The official press statement of the 21st. November 2022 can be accessed online here.

Things have been going quite well for some time for the gambling heavyweight Entain plc. In October of last year for example, we had reported that Entain plc had increased its online sales for the 23 rd. consecutive time. In another article, which we had published at the end of June 2021, we had reported that Entain plc is supporting the children’s aid organisation.

First German licence for online poker issued

Entain should be especially proud of the fact that it is the first company to acquire its first German licence for online poker games. Of course, all Entain plc’s services must confirm with the benchmarks of the State Gambling Act (GlüStV). Just recently we had reported about the annoying player protection regulations of the GlüStV.

The Chief Governance Officer of Entain plc, Robert Hoskin, was very pleased that the company has acquired the German licence:

“We are happy that we now hold the licences for gambling and poker services on the regulated German market and we can offer these services to our customers. It is an important step on the way to achieving the goal of having a completely regulated sports betting and gambling market in Germany.” 

Conclusion

The multimillion gambling company Entain plc, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange has acquired five German licences at one go. They have been issued by the Administrative Department of Legal Maetrology Saxony-Anhalt (Landesverwaltungsamt Sachsen-Anhalt) and three of the licences are for virtual slot machines for the brands bwin, Ladbrokes and Sportingbet, whilst another two licences are for online poker games for Ladbrokes und bwin. It is currently still not clear, when players can make use of the online services of Entain plc online, accordingly to the regulations of the GlüStV.

Image Source: https://pixabay.com/de/photos/online-poker-poker-glücksspiel-4518185/