KARLSRUHE (dpa-AFX) - In the dispute over unauthorized sports betting, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has backed the players. Numerous people who made losses on such offers in previous years can hope for a refund of lost bets. There has not yet been a ruling. However, indications from the BGH for a hearing planned for May show a clear trend - in favor of the hitherto hapless gamblers. Experts are expecting an even greater wave of lawsuits than already exists.

The fact that thousands of such proceedings are underway is partly due to the fact that several companies offered sports betting years ago in a legally unclear situation. On the other hand, law firms and companies have specialized in providing lawyers and financing the costs of legal action in return for a commission in the event of success.

These include 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. Lawyer Thomas Schopf, who represented the plaintiff in lower courts such as the Dresden Higher Regional Court (OLG), also writes on anwalt.de that "a veritable tsunami is likely to sweep over the entire sports betting industry" following the BGH ruling.

In the 25-page document, which is available to Deutsche Presse-Agentur, the first civil senate in Karlsruhe assumes that the provider has violated the provisions of the 2012 version of the State Treaty on Gambling. Among other things, the company had not limited the maximum stake per player to 1,000 euros per month. This is clear from the fact that the man made a loss of around 12,000 euros in just under two and a half months in 2018. He is claiming this back plus interest. (Ref. I ZR 88/23)

The contracts between the provider and the player are likely to be null and void, the BGH concludes in the as yet unpublished decision. The plaintiff is likely to have a repayment claim.

This is not a judgment. Following a preliminary legal assessment, the Senate merely issued instructions to the parties in preparation for the oral hearing. However, in the opinion of attorney Matthias Siegmann, who represents the plaintiff at the BGH, the extremely careful and detailed information order is more or less the intended judgment. However, it remains to be seen whether there will be a hearing and a judgment at all. The company can also withdraw its appeal.

However, lower courts are also likely to be guided by the decision in a similar way to a ruling by the BGH, writes lawyer Schopf in his article. A reference decision would also point the way for them. This is because courts had previously ruled differently.

For example, the Dresden Higher Regional Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff. In another case, the Ulm Regional Court strengthened the position of the provider. This case, which was scheduled for March, was postponed by the BGH at short notice because both sides wanted to negotiate a settlement. (Case no. I ZR 90/23)

The issue is highly explosive due to its scale. According to Beuck and Gerstner, around 2,000 cases mediated by Gamesright alone are still ongoing. "And we get around 100 inquiries a day." One of their first cases was the Ulm case. The success rate for around 500 completed cases is more than 90 percent. On average, the amount involved is around 25,000 euros. "The highest repayment claim is over one million."

The question of a missing license plays a role time and again. This is because the providers did not have a license for a long time due to legal problems in the award procedure, but only received one a few years ago following court decisions. The background to the state of limbo between 2012 and 2020 are changes to the state gambling treaties, which were intended to regulate the sports betting offer.

According to the BGH, the defendant operator also violated the State Treaty on Gambling because it did not have a license for sports betting offered publicly on the internet during the relevant period. However, this was of secondary importance in view of the substantive violations.

The Senate expressly mentions the objectives of the treaty: For example, to prevent the emergence of gambling addiction, to channel the natural gambling instinct of the population into orderly and supervised channels 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 schemes. It also appears in identical wording at the beginning of the new State Treaty on Gambling from 2021.

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 in turn amounted to 1.4 billion euros in 2022. By comparison, the figure for lotteries was 4.1 billion euros and 4.8 billion euros for slot machines.

The growth in sports betting has been strong since its legalization in autumn 2020, the report continues. According to the Joint Gambling Authority of the federal states (GGL), 30 sports betting providers now have a license. There are 14 applications for such a license.

Players can check a GGL list to ensure that they are playing with a permitted sports betting provider. This is because participating in unauthorized public gambling is prohibited under criminal law, as Robin Anstotz and Florian Tautz from the Institute for Gambling and Society at the University of Bochum explain. "In addition, players should look for the GGL's seal of approval and authorization on the homepage of the respective provider."

According to a GGL spokesperson, around 630 complaints about legal sports betting offers were received last year. The Gambling Atlas also reports 199 illegal German-language sports betting sites on the internet in 2022./kre/DP/stw