Changes in payment services in Germany
We have heard that the Ministry of the Interior of Lower Saxony started to send a "blocklist" to payment services providers. This "blocklist" contains the names and domains of several online gambling providers who, in the opinion of the authority, are offering their services illegally in Germany.
How does this affect MGA licensed companies?
As we know, operators who have applied for a license for virtual slot machine games and/or online poker to the competent state administration office in Halle/Saxony-Anhalt are allowed to continue to accept the payments.
How does this affect Curacao licensed companies?
The situation with Curacao companies is more complicated. Payment Service providers will be obliged to review their business relationship concerning the offering of the operator(s) products as a payment option in Germany and, if necessary, to stop the involvement of the concerned operator(s) in payment transactions in connection with illegal gambling in Germany.
What will be the future?
This situation was expected from the time when Germany announced the licensing. We have seen similar events happen in such markets like Norway, Sweden, Australia.
Some payment methods still are available.
The grey payment market may appear as result.
LUGAS sandbox access in Germany
We have received access credentials to the LUGAS “sandbox” in Germany, which is a step closer to the German B2C gaming license.
LUGAS is a cross-operator system in Germany that ensures that the limits stated by the German gaming laws are complied with and that players do not log in with more than one operator at a time.
As mentioned earlier, we expect to receive the German B2C gaming license within the next 6 months, which will certainly boost the company’s efforts to expand across the markets, as well as help to strengthen its position across markets where we already operate.
Risk factors of new market regulations
Changes in target market regulation are one of the risk factors, which influence both end-customers and site owners, as well as game providers. Site owners and game providers always take the risks to adapt their products to new market regulations as fast as possible, while customers may face unexpected limitations of their gambling habits.
The new German Interstate Treaty on Gambling came to effect on 1st July 2021 and affected the German gambling market in many aspects. One of the important factors that new regulations also affect is the customers' gambling experience.
What are the main changes for German online casino players under the Malta Gaming Authority/German regulation?
What we can say is that new regulations will make experienced players less happy, as they will face many new restrictions. Part of German-based players may look for options to play in less regulated jurisdictions, however, this may not be a long development strategy for regulated casinos, as they constantly face the risk of a ban from the German regulator.
Game providers are also faced with the necessity to change their games in line with the new German Gambling Law, which requires additional efforts to adapt all their existing game portfolios to new German market regulations.
As site and platform owner, 1Click Games goal is to manage all changes related to the German market both related to game portfolio and site in the most effective manner, to continue providing the best gambling experience to our players from Germany and helping them to adapt to new gambling reality.