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Germany’s Federal Court of Justice has referred a case demanding refunds for online sports-betting losses to the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ), in a step hailed by the country’s online gambling industry.
The development means the industry will not, for now, face demands for reimbursements of betting losses incurred before online sports betting was approved in 2021.
The defendant, Malta-based Tipico, had applied for a sports-betting licence under a 2012 interstate gambling treaty that was never fully approved.
The plaintiff had lost €3,720 between 2013 and October 2020, according to a press release about the ruling.
The federal court also suspended two parallel proceedings.
In the wake of the referral, shares in the Germany-listed bet-at-home rose more than 30 percent on Thursday (July 25). Its shares have been pummelled in recent years, falling more than 90 percent over five years as losses linked to player reimbursement suits mounted.
Executives at the German Sports Betting Association hailed the ruling.
"We are confident that the ECJ will decide in favour of providers and the European freedom to provide services, as it has done in the past,” said president Mathias Dahm.
“After the surprising initial indication by the Federal Court of Justice that they were not planning to send the sports-betting cases to the ECJ, this seems much more consistent with their previous case law,” said Jan Feuerhake of Taylor Wessing law firm.
A Tipico spokesman said the company was “very pleased” with the court’s decision to refer the case to the ECJ, and said it was “very confident” the court would decide in its favour.
The company would not say how much money it has paid out in settlements and court cases in Germany or Austria.
Refund lawsuits have been a huge issue in the two countries. Evoke, formerly called 888 Holdings, set aside £116m last year to cover Austrian and German legal costs.
A spokesman for the Advofin litigation finance company that backs player claims said it was “satisfied” with the ECJ referral, as it would bring “clarity” to the issue of sports-betting refunds.
The company has won millions of euros for clients who played in online casinos in Austria.
Board member Stefan Bohar said German player refunds are unlikely to total higher than in Austria, even though Germany has ten times the population, because Austrian Supreme Court rulings favoured the claims, and German statute of limitations is only ten years versus 30 in Austria.
“However, if the ECJ confirms that sports-betting losses can be reclaimed (which, as of today, is the likely scenario), that will change quickly and the German refund claims will grow significantly and quickly,” he said.
Attorneys said the sports-betting ruling has no direct impact on any cases seeking refunds from online casino and slots losses.
Still, “we expect that this decision will lead to more of the lower courts suspending proceedings to wait for an ECJ decision”, said Feuerhake.
Feuerhake said he had no estimate of how much money German operators have paid out to online casino players but, in general, operators have been much more reluctant to settle cases since Malta passed its Bill 55 legislation which seeks to prevent Maltese judges from enforcing foreign judgments if they contradict Maltese law.
