Next week, the European Court of Justice will decide on the legality of German’s sports betting monopoly. If Germany’s interstate gambling treaty is deemed illegal, German soccer clubs will be able to cash in on the country’s betting industry, which is currently worth $7.8 billion.
A decision to overturn the law could boost teams’ income by 300 million euros, with sponsorships and agreements giving them a slice of gambling revenue, the Frankfurt-based German Football Association estimates. Unregulated online betting currently accounts for 3.9 billion euros, or about half of Germany’s sports gambling market, according to a study by media research company Goldmedia GmbH.
Changes in other leagues have increased club incomes. In France, teams got a 20-million euro boost this season after legislation partially liberalizing the nation’s online gaming market came into effect in June, according to Andreas Ullmann, head of market intelligence at Sport+Markt, a German sports marketing research company
