Germany’s reputation as one of the most efficient, well-run countries on the planet took a big hit this week as the country’s sloppy sports betting license affair took a major step backwards.
The latest episode in this multi-year drama centered on the mass resignation of the entire Sports Advisory Board (SAB). SAB representatives included figures from across the German sporting world and was supposed to advise government regulators on how best to dole out German sports betting licenses.
According to former members of the SAB, the Germany government agency in charge of issuing sports betting licenses, the Hesse Ministry of the Interior and Sport, wasn’t interested in hearing their recommendations. That caused the entire group to resign en masse.
The SAB’s biggest complaint, according to a report on CalvinAyre.com, is that the German Government ignored their recommendation. In particular, was their suggestion that the Germany issue more than 20 licenses to sports betting operators.
This idea didn’t sit too well with the same bureaucrats who have been desperately fighting to protect the state’s sports betting monopoly for nearly three years.
Germany’s long-running effort to regulate sports betting, without jeopardizing its own interests has not only hamstrung the liberalization of the country’s sports betting markets, it’s also attracted the attention of EU commerce regulators. That legal battle has put the entire process on hold as lawyers sort out their business.
AS it stands today, it looks as though it could be a long time before Germany-facing sports betting operators get a taste of that fabled German efficiency.