mybet operator PEI was granted sports betting licence in Germany

It can now quite legally offer betting on football, tennis, handball and many other sports on the Internet at www.mybet.de.

The 20 percent 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 last week 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 on a legally watertight basis with a German licence. The new arrangements guarantee mybet's German customers 100 percent reliability, 100 percent security and 100 percent fun.

Mathias Dahms, Management Board spokesman of the Kiel-based holding company JAXX SE, declared: “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 trailblazing 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.”

He added: “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.”

The timing of the licence's granting is perfect: there are a number of major sporting events coming up, for which mybet will be offering exciting betting opportunities. The end of the Bundesliga season will be followed by high-calibre finals to the German Football Cup and the Champions League. In June, the European Championship in Poland and Ukraine will be the year's top event. Football's summer break will be filled by the Olympic Games in London, then the 2012/2013 Bundesliga season will get under way. Through its sponsorship of the clubs SpvGG Greuther Fürth and Fortuna Düsseldorf, mybet will be actively involved in both the first and second divisions of the Bundesliga.

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.