Another One Bites the Dust

The ruling by the constitutional court in Hamburg, northern Germany, means the state-controlled online casino, which opened a year ago, has to be halted until the law is changed.

Giving the decision, judge Wilhelm Rapp said current legislation stipulated that games of chance must be played in a casino in the presence of players and staff.

The online version streams a real game in the Hamburg casino live onto the Internet via a web camera, allowing punters elsewhere to log on and take part after registering.

Rapp said one of the key reasons for the current legislation was so casino staff could supervise proceedings to stop clients being drawn into a "ruinous game," especially as access to Internet gaming was harder to control.

However, such supervision was not possible if gamblers were sitting behind a computer screen, meaning the cyber version did not meet legal requirements, he added.

The online casino was set up under the umbrella of Hamburg city authorities as an offshoot of an existing state-controlled gaming centre.

In a reaction to the ruling, the Hamburg state government said it would now consider whether to seek the amend the law. It said the online casino scheme had been intended to offer an alternative to illegal Internet gaming sites.