Sport, addiction, debt: Sport, addiction, debt: The dangerous business of betting providers

Online sports betting in Germany generates billions, including through partnerships with football clubs. However, this was forbidden for a long time. A starting point for specialized companies to reclaim money for those affected. A case is now coming before the Federal Court of Justice.

It started with ten euros. While “watching football with the boys”. Friends registered, Manuel too. The first tip, the first bet, the first deposit. That was eleven years ago. It was ten euros that would change his life for years, and still do today.

At the time, Manuel, whose name has been changed because he wants to remain anonymous, doesn’t know this. Before that, he says, he “once made a one-euro bet.” After the first sports bet, however, he quickly fell into a fatal spiral from which he didn’t get out for a long time.

The savings were quickly gone, but leaving was not an option, on the contrary. He knew, he says, “that wasn’t good.” But he wanted to continue betting, bet more, because “now the money has to come back in somehow.”

Manuel’s story could be told hundreds of thousands of times, even millions of times, in Germany. Gambling addiction is a recognized illness. According to figures from a survey by the Hamburg Institute for Interdisciplinary Addiction and Drug Research and the University of Bremen, 2.3 percent of the total population in Germany had disordered gaming behavior in 2021.

Addicts rely on their supposed expertise

According to the Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA), online sports betting is “much less common than slot machine and casino games, which are also very risky”, but “problematic to pathological gambling behavior” occurs here to a particular extent.

Especially because, as in Manuel’s case, getting started is so easy. “Due to their supposed specialist knowledge in the area of ​​the respective sport, users often seem to be unaware that it is still a game of chance,” says the BZgA. Young men in particular are affected.

Sports betting from morning to evening

Men like Manuel, who says he follows “every sport.” The BZgA’s assessment corresponds to its experiences, because “the stakes have become larger”. At some point he was betting every day, morning, evening, “depending on what was going on.” The fatal thing: He no longer “saw what you were losing, but tried to see what you could get out of it.” This was also fueled by “the fact that there were small successes in between.” They kept him in the system.

The online sports betting business in Germany is worth billions. According to current figures from the German Sports Betting Association (DSWV), 7.72 billion euros were spent on sports betting in the Federal Republic last year – with “legal sports betting providers”, as the association emphasizes. Because the black market is big – and growing.

A Billion dollar business

At least the companies organized in the DSWV – including companies like Tipico, Bwin, Bet365 and Oddset – turned over a good five percent less in 2023 than in the previous year, when it was 8.2 billion euros. The association sees a “reason for the decline” in the “migration of many players to illegal offers”.

Many of the providers who are now organized in the DSWV have been operating their business in the Federal Republic for many years without a license. Online sports betting was only officially permitted in Germany as part of the 2020 State Treaty on Gambling, when the necessary licenses were awarded. Previously, they had been completely banned since 2008.

The recent history of online sports betting in Germany

Many providers from abroad – preferably Malta, Gibraltar or Cuaracao – relied on EU law, operated German-language websites and advertised them with football greats such as Oliver Kahn, Lukas Podolski or Michael Ballack. But not only individual players as advertising faces, most professional clubs in Germany also earned and continue to earn a lot of money through advertising partnerships with betting providers.

Advertising for sports betting on all channels

A big problem for those at risk of gambling addiction, especially if they are fans of a club, as Manuel says. Because “advertising is everywhere” – and it gave the appearance of being legal, not least through advertising by stars and clubs. The BZgA also complains about “the easy availability around the clock”. It increases the risk “of developing a gambling addiction”. This applies in particular to “combination bets and live bets with high winnings”.

There was no talk of winning for Manuel. On the contrary: his debts grew. He kept getting new loans from banks – “I don’t know how,” as he says in retrospect. It is the developments of this market and fates like Manuel’s that have also led to the founding of companies like “Right Now”, “Zockerhelden” or “Gamesright”.

“Gamesright” helps those affected get their money back

“Gamesright”, based in Hamburg, has set itself the task of “getting back money from those affected that they have lost in online bets,” explains Hannes Beuck, one of the founders. The company provides specialized lawyers for this purpose and only retains a proportionate commission in the event of success.

Roughly speaking, “Gamesright” can be imagined as “Flightright,” which is committed to enforcing passenger rights against airlines. The case of “Gamesright” is about reclaiming money lost through sports betting from before 2020.

More directional Case before the BGH

They are looking after around 2,000 cases, says Beuck: “That’s just the tip of the iceberg.” Because they receive around 100 new inquiries every day.

And there could be significantly more. Because a potentially groundbreaking case will come before the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) on March 7th. Beuck says it’s about a relatively small sum from the years between 2013 and 2018. But if the plaintiff is proven right, the process could “set off a wave”.

Company repeatedly threatened

“Gamesright” quickly learned that there was a lot of money at stake for the betting providers: blackmail letters and even a bullet casing ended up in an envelope at the Hamburg headquarters. Then the word “Malta”. The company called the police.

In the case that will come before the BGH on March 7th, the plaintiff has lost the two lower courts at the district court and the regional court. The defendant provider Tipico is correspondingly confident. He is of the opinion that Germany has “violated EU law for many years” with its ban, as a spokesman says.

Tipico sees good chances of winning

The betting provider’s justification: “Until October 2020, Tipico was also allowed to legally offer its offering in Germany on the basis of the Maltese sports betting license that had been issued since 2004 and on the basis of the freedom to provide services in the internal market of the European Union.”

With a success rate of almost 100 percent, “Gamesright” is confident of victory, as many judgments from higher regional courts in Germany have recently been in favor of plaintiffs.

Four years ago, nothing was working for Manuel

Manuel also demands money back. Around four years after he stopped betting. He exited when he wanted to make an investment but it was blocked. Rien ne va plus – nothing worked anymore. It was the point at which he said to himself: “I can’t hide this anymore.”

He confided in his “closest environment,” “cleared the air,” and also received psychological support for a year. That was in 2020. He stopped betting and is still in debt today. “Between 10,000 and 20,000 euros,” as he says.

First tentative rethinking among football clubs

There will be no way back – football without betting providers – believes Manuel. “There’s no point in banning it.” There will “always be opportunities, it can’t be stopped.” But Gamesright founder Beuck says the trial before the BGH could bring “clarity in case law,” “set an example” and make more people aware of the issue.

There also seems to be a tentative rethinking among the first clubs with regard to their role as multipliers and platforms. “Gamesright” has a prominent partner in Bundesliga club Mainz 05 – and second division club FC St. Pauli let its advertising partnership with Bwin expire last summer. It takes small steps to ensure that people like Manuel who are at risk of gambling addiction are not constantly in danger of betting again.

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Sports club | 02/25/2024 | 10:50 p.m