Is there a threat of a lawsuit “tsunami”?
BGH strengthens gamblers in sports betting
April 5, 2024, 10:35 a.m
No verdict yet, but 25 pages long: With a consumer-friendly decision on sports betting, the BGH could provide clarity for countless proceedings involving large sums of money. Meanwhile, experts see a “tsunami” of lawsuits coming.
In the dispute over illegal sports betting, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has supported the players. Many people who have made losses on such offers in previous years can hope for reimbursement of lost bets. There is no verdict yet, however. However, information from the BGH for a hearing planned for May shows a clear trend – in favor of the hitherto hapless gamblers. Experts expect an even greater wave of lawsuits than already.
The fact that thousands of such cases are ongoing is partly because several companies offered sports betting years ago in a legally unclear situation. On the other hand, law firms and companies that refer to lawyers and finance the costs of legal prosecution against a commission in the event of success have specialized in this.
This includes Gamesright, whose founders Hannes Beuck and Christoph Gerstner compare the whole thing to the “diesel scandal” due to the dimensions of the sports betting market as a whole. Here the volume is twice as large. However, the statute of limitations is longer in the case of sports betting. However, this point did not play a major role in the current case. Attorney Thomas Schopf, who represented the plaintiff in lower courts such as the Dresden Higher Regional Court (OLG), also writes on anwalt.de that after the BGH decision, “a real tsunami is likely to hit the entire sports betting industry.”
The maximum stake is 1000 euros per month per player
In that same 25-page document, the first civil senate in Karlsruhe assumes that the provider violated the regulations of the State Treaty on Gambling in the 2012 version. Among other things, the company did not limit the maximum online stake per player to 1,000 euros per month. This is clear from the fact that the man lost around 12,000 euros in just under two and a half months in 2018. He demands it back plus interest. (Az. I ZR 88/23) The contracts between the provider and the player are likely to be void, the BGH concludes in the still unpublished decision. The plaintiff is likely to have a claim for repayment.
That’s not a judgment. After a preliminary legal assessment, the Senate only gave the parties instructions on how to prepare for the oral hearing. However, according to lawyer Matthias Siegmann, who represents the plaintiff at the BGH, the extremely careful and detailed information decision is more or less the intended judgment. Whether there will even be a trial and a verdict remains to be seen. The company can also withdraw its revision.
But lower courts are also likely to use the decision in a similar way to a ruling by the Federal Court of Justice, writes lawyer Schopf in his article. A notice decision would also point the way for them. Until now, courts had ruled differently. The Dresden Higher Regional Court decided in favor of the plaintiff. In another case, the Ulm regional court strengthened the provider’s position. The BGH canceled this procedure, which was planned for March, at short notice because both sides wanted to negotiate a settlement. (Af. I ZR 90/23)
The highest claim is one million euros
The topic is extremely explosive because of its scale. According to Beuck and Gerstner, around 2,000 cases brokered by Gamesright alone are still ongoing. “And we get around 100 inquiries every day.” One of their first procedures was the Ulm. The success rate for around 500 completed cases is more than 90 percent. On average, the volume is around 25,000 euros. “The highest repayment claim is over one million.”
The question of a missing license always plays a role. The providers did not have a license for a long time due to legal problems in the procurement process, but only received it a few years ago following court decisions. The background to the limbo between 2012 and 2020 are changes to the state gambling treaties that were intended to regulate sports betting.
According to the BGH, the defendant operator also violated the State Treaty on Gambling because it did not have permission for sports betting offered publicly on the Internet during the relevant period. However, this is secondary in view of the content violations.
The Senate expressly states the objectives of the treaty: for example, to prevent the emergence of gambling addiction, to direct the population’s natural urge to play in an orderly and monitored manner through a limited offer, to counteract unauthorized gambling in black markets, to ensure the protection of young people and players and to ensure that Players are protected from fraudulent activities. It also appears word for word at the beginning of the new State Treaty on Gambling from 2021.
The number of players is constantly increasing
According to the current gambling atlas, five percent of the population took part in sports betting in 2021 – a doubling within two years. The gross gaming revenue from sports betting would have been 1.4 billion euros in 2022. For comparison: it was 4.1 billion euros for lotteries and 4.8 billion euros for slot machines.
The growth in sports betting has been strong since it was legalized in autumn 2020, it goes on to say. According to the Joint Gaming Authority of the States (GGL), 30 sports betting providers now have a permit. There are 14 applications for this.
Players can check a GGL list to make sure they are playing at an approved sports betting provider. Participation in unauthorized public gambling is prohibited under criminal law, as Robin Anstötz and Florian Tautz from the Institute for Gambling and Society at the University of Bochum explain. “In addition, players should look for the GGL test and approval seal on the homepage of the respective provider.”
According to a GGL spokeswoman, around 630 complaints were received about legal sports betting offers last year. The Gambling Atlas also reports on 199 illegal German-language sports betting sites on the Internet in 2022.