Royal Panda withdraws sports betting offering from Germany

Royal Panda Casino & sportsbook has announced it will no longer offer its sports betting component to Germany, after changes in local laws.

RoyalPanda.com, which recently handed back its UK Gambling Commission Licence, is one of many sports betting operators to withdraw from Germany in recent times.

This follows January’s announcement that sports betting would be regulated from July 1, 2021, but would be licensed under the third amended State Treaty until then.

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Germany’s new regulator will be called The Glücksspielneuregulierungstaatsvertrag (GlüNeuRStv) and will oversee online casino and online poker for the first time in the country, with legal digital gambling previously limited to lotto and sports betting.

Until the new regulator takes over, sports betting in Germany remains under the third State Treaty, a licence that Royal Panda does not have, and effectively forced it to stop offering online betting to this market.

GlüNeuRStv said in February, 30 applications had been received, while another 20 betting sites had expressed an interest in becoming licensed.

But for Royal Panda, March 31 will be last drinks, with German players informed they would no longer be able to use the sportsbook. But in the same email Royal Panda said they would still be able to use the online casino facilities.

RoyalPanda is also advising fans to bet with LeoVegas, which holds a Schleswig-Holstein licence in Germany, and is part of the same casino group.

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