State fights illegal gambling

Several online casinos and sports betting providers are suspected of having offered illegal gambling. The Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office is responsible for the investigation. In addition to a Scandinavian company, suspected companies also include the providers Tipico and Lottoland known from numerous TV spots. The ongoing investigations by an investigative report by the journalist duo Philipp Eckstein and Jan Lukas Strozyk from North American Rundfunk (NDR) have become known.

American authorities make serious

The suspicion of the unauthorized event of games of chance is against various online gambling providers in the room and seems to be high on the agenda of the American authorities, in this case the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office. Among other things, there are scenic sizes such as the American Sports betting provider Tipico or the TV-known Lottoland. They are said to have made themselves punishable for the non-licensed offer of online gambling. In the same breath, further investigations against two credit institutions are to be mentioned. According to the accusation, these have made it guilty of the unauthorized event of gambling.

Lottoland in the main visor of the authorities. In the main focus of the investigation of the American authorities, one believes the information from the SüdAmerican Zeitung, the online provider Lottoland, which is based on the island of Gibraltar. Lottoland’s offer ranges from scratch-ups to online slots on virtual slot machines to so-called “second lotteries”, a kind of copy of a real lottery. A betting slip is not really submitted with which a lottery is taken, but the tipper gives a bet on the outcome of the lottery education. This also means that if a tipper is typing the correct lottery numbers online at Lottoland online, the actual jackpot of the lottery remains unaffected. Lottoland represents such a serious competition for the 16 state lottery companies. Around three -digit million amounts are lost every year to the competition from Gibraltar, which is of course a big thorn in the side of the American state. Lottoland’s offer has already been classified as illegally, but there have been no real consequences. This is likely to change through the current investigation.

Investigations run despite the transition phase to legalize the online gap in the online gap

Gambling on the Internet has not yet been regulated in USA, but has been prohibited instead. Since applicable EU law has contradicted this and thus a legal gray area The result is, numerous providers of online gambling have been able to act with impunity in recent years. In order to finally master the situation, USA regulates the new, From July 2021 applicable State Treaty The online gambling. In the future, companies can legally acquire a American gambling license if they comply with certain requirements and guidelines. Then American players can Play legally in the online casino.

So that the online casinos and sports betting providers can implement the corresponding guidelines and requirements of the new State Treaty accordingly, the American federal states Transitional phase until July 2021 decided that has been valid since October 15. It is also surprising for the news magazine that the investigations by the public prosecutor’s investigation, through the report of the Tagesschau report, will start almost in the same breath for the transition phase. On request, however, Chief Prosecutor Noah Krüger said that the transition phase had no influence or relevance for the current investigations until the new legal regulations come into force:

“As a public prosecutor, we are bound to law and law. The norms of the Criminal Code and the State Gambling Contract cannot be overridden as a higher -ranking law by an administrative agreement. Gambling providers have to expect criminal consequences until they have approved. Tolerance can only refer to the punishment and persecution in the administrative procedure, i.e. in the procedures of the supervisory authorities. The public prosecutors are not tied to this. As a result, this means that the investigation by the Frankfurt public prosecutor continues to progress and, if necessary, also expanded to the actors who enter the market in view of the tolerance without permission. ” – Noah Krüger, Chief prosecutor at the public prosecutor’s office in Frankfurt, Investigative report by journalists Philipp Eckstein and Jan Lukas Strozyk on Tagesschau.de

According to the two journalists Eckstein and Strozyk, some employees of the gambling supervisory authorities are also suspected, since they apparently did not actively act against illegal gambling. So far, however, the accused gambling companies have shown themselves to be relaxed. According to the Tipico, the investigation would run into nothing because its own offer was legal. The sports betting provider Bwin, on the other hand European right to freedom of service within the European Union. Lottoland has also recently made a position. Their online offer was in conformity and was changed according to the new requirements on October 15. How the further investigation will develop remains to be seen. Incidentally, the state of gambling applies across federal states. The United States chose another methodwhere every state is free to offer sports betting.