Two new German sportsbook licenses have been awarded to operators Betkick and Betago. These operators will now be able to offer sports betting products to customers in the German market. In Germany, there are now 23 brands that have been approved to offer sports betting since October.
New operators obtaining licenses
Betkick is currently owned by Stoiximan, who acquired it in July 2018 from Kaizen Gaming. This brand was originally founded in Austria and has become popular with players. Betkick will now be offering legal sports betting in Germany under the Betano.de domain.
While the license awarded to Betkick is for online usage only, Betago has been awarded licenses for both retail and online purposes. Betago is currently licensed in Malta and has been growing recently with expansion into Germany.
A lag in the approval process
The German government has been working to approve more sports betting licenses since October but there has been a noticeable lag in the approval process. New regulations shook up the industry in this region at the end of last year and we are still seeing the effects of this.
According to reports from operators, there are much more applications than there are approvals in Germany at the moment. Hopefully, this is something that will speed up over time as the government sees the benefits of approving more operators and growing the sports betting industry as a whole.
It is worth noting that 22 out of 23 licenses awarded in Germany since October are for online usage. Oddset, the state lottery-owned sportsbook is the only licensee to solely apply for a retail betting license. This is something which could change in the future.
For now, affiliates should be watching the German market closely for any new opportunities.
