Zeal’s Lotto24 secures first German licence under GlüNeuRStV

The seven-year licence will run through to 30 June 2029, in accordance with the new State Gambling Treaty (GlüNeuRStV) and will allow Lotto24 to continue to offer its lottery brokerage products nationwide.

The follow-up licence is Zeal’s first issued under the GlüNeuRStV, which came into force on 1 July last year. Lotto24’s existing licence came into effect on 26 July 2017 and had been due to expire on 30 June this year.

It is also the third time its licence has been renewed, after it was approved in 2012 and 2017. Zeal noted that a separate advertising licence required under the State Gambling Treaty is no longer necessary.

The responsible gambling authority is the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior and Sport, though this will switch to the Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder, the new national gambling authority based in Saarland, from January 2023.

“We are pleased about the trust of the federal states; the licence duration of seven years underlines the company’s reliability under administrative law, which has already been proven for 10 years,” Zeal’s chief executive Helmut Becker said.

The licence renewal comes after Zeal this month reported a 101.6% year-on-year increase in net profit for the first quarter of its 2022 financial year, following a rise in revenue and reduction in operating costs.

The new State Treaty also allows for online slots and table games licences for the first time, though to date only Gauselmann Group subsidiary Mernov, which operates the Jackpot Piraten and Bing Bong brands, has been certified.