{"id":73374,"date":"2018-03-20T13:05:29","date_gmt":"2018-03-20T20:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=73374"},"modified":"2018-03-20T12:11:23","modified_gmt":"2018-03-20T19:11:23","slug":"888-mulls-german-exit-after-court-ruling-threatens-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-mulls-german-exit-after-court-ruling-threatens-operations\/","title":{"rendered":"888 Mulls German Exit After Court Ruling Threatens Operations"},"content":{"rendered":"

888 Holdings is giving serious consideration to abandoning the German market<\/a>, the company revealed in an earnings call Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

\"888
888 Holdings is considering its options in Germany. It may appeal a court ruling that ordered it to cease operations in Baden W\u00fcrttemberg, or it may choose to leave the country completely. (Image: 888 Holdings)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The news follows a German federal court’s appeal ruling in November that ordered 888\u2019s German subsidiary to cease offering online gaming in the southwestern state of Baden W\u00fcrttemberg.<\/p>\n

888<\/a> had always considered Germany, which accounts for just under 10 percent of its revenues, a gray market rather than black because the federal government has never passed laws to license and regulate online gaming.<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s Interstate Gambling Treaty makes it clear that online gaming is banned unless individual states pass laws to regulate it, but this is possibly in contravention of EU laws on the right to trade freely across borders.<\/p>\n

Only one German state has legislated to license online gaming \u2013 Schleswig-Holstein, in 2012 \u2013 but the law was repealed the following year.<\/p>\n

50 Shades of Gray Market<\/strong><\/h2>\n

But with November\u2019s court ruling, the gray market went several shades darker for 888. While the judgment is ostensibly only related to one German state, 888 said it included \u201cgeneral findings of law upholding the prohibition on offering online gaming in Germany under the German Inter-State Gambling Treaty\u201d and is likely to embolden other states to crack down on unlicensed operators.<\/p>\n

\n

888 isn\u2019t the only one. It recently emerged that several online payment processors, handling about 9 per cent of German gambling deposits, had withdrawn their services in the wake of the ruling, and others were considering their positions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t made a decision to pull out. We owe it to ourselves and to our shareholders to review and understand the situation before we can take a view,\u201d said 888 CEO Itai Frieberger. \u201cWe are using local counsel to help us make a decision as to whether we challenge this ruling or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tax Hit Looming<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Brian Mattingley, 888 chairman, was more combative.<\/p>\n

The company is highly disappointed by this far-reaching ruling and, together with the Group’s legal counsel, is considering potential courses of action, which may include a petition to the German Federal Constitutional Court and is assessing the status and breadth of its offerings in the German market,” he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In September last year, 888 said it may have to absorb a charge of $45.3 million against a potential tax liability in Germany. 888 believes it shouldn\u2019t have to pay the tax because it is located outside the country, but Germany argues it should because German citizens have used 888\u2019s websites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

888 Holdings is giving serious consideration to abandoning the German market, the company revealed in an earnings call Tuesday morning. The news follows a German federal court’s appeal ruling in November that ordered 888\u2019s German subsidiary to cease offering online gaming in the southwestern state of Baden W\u00fcrttemberg. 888 had always considered Germany, which accounts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":73376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,19,61,13592],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n888 Mulls German Exit After Court Ruling Threatens Operations<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"888 Holdings poised to quit Germany after federal court\u2019s unfavourable online gambling ruling and $45.3 million tax bill.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"888 Mulls German Exit After Court Ruling Threatens Operations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"888 Holdings poised to quit Germany after federal court\u2019s unfavourable online gambling ruling and $45.3 million tax bill.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-mulls-german-exit-after-court-ruling-threatens-operations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-20T20:05:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-20T19:11:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/888.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"939\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-mulls-german-exit-after-court-ruling-threatens-operations\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-mulls-german-exit-after-court-ruling-threatens-operations\/\",\"name\":\"888 Mulls German Exit After Court Ruling Threatens Operations\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-mulls-german-exit-after-court-ruling-threatens-operations\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-mulls-german-exit-after-court-ruling-threatens-operations\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/888.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-20T20:05:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-03-20T19:11:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"888 Holdings poised to quit Germany after federal court\u2019s unfavourable online gambling ruling and $45.3 million tax bill.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-mulls-german-exit-after-court-ruling-threatens-operations\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-mulls-german-exit-after-court-ruling-threatens-operations\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-mulls-german-exit-after-court-ruling-threatens-operations\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/888.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/888.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":939,\"caption\":\"888 Holdings is considering its options in Germany. 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