Lottoland has threatened to take legal action against Gemeinsamen Glücksspielaufsicht der Länder (GGL) over claims that its services are illegal in Germany.
The GGL sounded off against Lottoland earlier this week in a post on its website, calling for internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to Lottoland.
The GGL has been targeting Lottoland since July, citing prohibition of betting on state lottery outcomes under the Fourth Interstate Gambling Treaty (GlüNeuRStv).
But the GGL’s position has been heavily criticised by Lottoland, who argue that the regulator’s request for the country’s three main ISPs to block access to the Lottoland.com and lottohelden.de sites goes against EU law and EUKOM and ECJ policies.
“Blocking orders are generally prohibited vis-à-vis providers in the protected area of the free movement of services in Europe,” a Lottoland statement read.
“The Lottoland Group is willing to regulate and has been demonstrably seeking German permits since 2017.
“In 2020, Lottoland Deutschland GmbH was founded specifically for this purpose. The permit applications have not been decided or rejected to date, so the procedures are still ongoing.
“It is obvious that the state-owned GGL wants to create facts on behalf of the state lottery companies and federal states in order to protect the ultimately remaining lottery monopoly and to eliminate competitors in the lottery sector – for purely fiscal reasons.”
Lottoland further stated that the group is prepared to defend its case with ‘state liability in the three-digit million range’.
“The lottery betting bans are quite obviously not compatible with European law. It speaks for itself that the federal states’ and lottery companies’ own advisors have already determined this in an expert opinion in 2019,” Lottoland’s statement concluded.