It’s being reported in the German business pages that certain companies believe deregulation of the country’s betting market is perilously close.
Handelsblatt published an interview with the new co-CEO of bwin party digital entertainment, Norbert Teufelberger, in which he explains that they fully expect the country to deregulate the current state-based system.
“All available arguments speak for an opening of the strictly regulated market,” Teufelberger told Handelsblatt.
He also added that the newly created behemoth would be willing to pay tax in Germany if the market were to open.
In addition, Norbert is still donning to a T-shirt with “You just got Pwned” scrawled across the front, where he’s added an extra “i”.
A short flight away in Italy a merger has taken place that looks set to shake up the youthful market in the country.
According to daily Il Corriere della Sera, betting group SNAI and Cogetech have merged in order to try and create a presence in both the on and offline sectors of the Italian gambling industry.
It will provide stiff competition for their rivals, Sisal and Lottomatica, as they all battle it out to get the largest piece of Italy’s €48billion gambling pie. Our mate Silvio can’t even swallow that up in a year’s worth of expenses claims, so it must be big!
The news may be even more significant as the decree allowing cash poker and casino games has been approved, a move that will open up even more financial opportunities for companies working in the Italian market.
