by Mario Alfonsi | Published on Feb 24, 2012 | Updated on Feb 24, 2012In the past month or so we have reported on a number of different European countries who are either in the midst of poker regulation, or right on regulation’s doorstep. One of those countries, Germany, is inching closer and closer to making legal online poker nothing more than a memory. Out of the 16 German states, or Lander, 15 voted in favor of a law that will make online gambling and poker illegal and limit the number of sports betting providers to just a handful.The only German state that opposed the new law is Schleswig-Holstein, and their reasoning is because they are drafting pro-gaming legislation and have their own course of action to keep online poker and gambling legal. The current proposed law still must be approved by a European Union Commission and many think that is where it will hit a roadblock. It is really hard to say whether or not the law will be upheld, but we as an online poker community are hoping that it will die in the hands of the EU.One of the many arguments against this bill is the fact that they are still going to have legal sports betting, but not poker. It doesn’t make sense to take one and not the other considering most people see them as being a package deal. While the law may be upheld, it will be difficult for Germany to completely halt online poker because we are assuming that there will be some sites taking their chances and offering their services to German players. After all, IP Address blocking is not allowed under any circumstances in Germany. All German online poker players can do at this point is sit and wait for the EU’s decision. There is still a decent chance that the EU will put a halt to this law and online poker in Germany will be preserved.
