mybet, part of the JAXX Group, is one of the first three companies to have been granted a licence for the organising and marketing of sports betting in the German province of Schleswig-Holstein.

It can now legally offer betting on football, tennis, handball and many other sports online. The 20 per cent levy on revenue is passed on to the state of Schleswig-Holstein and the bulk of this money will be used to promote mass sport. mybet was issued with the permit today by the Schleswig-Holstein Ministry of the Interior.

For the JAXX Group, the granting of the licence means that mybet can now for the first time operate legally with a German licence.

Mathias Dahms, management board spokesman of the Kiel-based holding company JAXX, commented: “Bearing in mind that we are based in Schleswig-Holstein, we are of course proud to have been granted one of the first Schleswig-Holstein sports betting licences. The permit for mybet is a document of historic importance because it represents a trail-blazing approach to the regulation of the gaming industry.

“The regulatory authorities in Kiel conducted an exhaustive and very demanding examination that in certain respects exceeded the standards applied in other European countries. It involved a great deal of work for us. But Schleswig-Holstein is the only German state to have understood how to go about drafting legislation that complies with both European and constitutional law and takes account of the interests of players, providers and the state in equal measure.

“The draft State Treaty of the other 15 federal states is clearly a shabby compromise that has lost its way in a bureaucratic jungle at federal level. The opposition in the Kiel state parliament, too, will now discover that having its own gaming law is good for the state and good for its finances.”

mybet also applied for a casino and poker licence. Because of the large number of applicants and the exhaustive examination process, the Ministry of the Interior has indicated that the widening of the permit's scope is likely to take place in the summer.