Germany to Ban Online Betting

So far 13 of Germanys 16 states have handed in the documents necessary to proceed with the ban. The other three states will be following closely in their heels, according to Eric Baum from the Hesse Government, who monitors the process.

"Thats the required majority and we expect to have all the rest coming in by New Years Eve."

The new rules which are due to expire in 2011, have drawn sharp criticism from some of the large online gambling operators and lottery brokers, including Bwin Interactive Entertainment AG and Tipp24 AG.

"We think that in the second half of 2008 the European Court of Justice will have stopped this futile effort to keep us out of Germany," Hartmut Schultz, a spokesman for Bwin said.

Tipp24 said that the company "doesn't see its business model jeopardized" because it expects the new rules to be overturned in court. The company regards the regulations "as clearly contrary to law and will sue for its rights if necessary."

Past experiences have shown that the ban to block online gambling can be achieved in several ways: banning financial institutions from accepting credit from nationals, and by ordering the foreign websites to block users from the German states.

The ban will also extend to advertising; adverts over the Internet and TV will be disallowed, and print adverts will no longer be able to "directly invite, incite or prompt" customers to play; it may only "inform" about the possibility to do so.