Following an in-depth investigation opened in December 2019, the European Commission concluded on Thursday 20 June that the special German tax regimes (‘Bundesland’ or land-based regimes) applied to public casino operators (‘Spielbankunternehmen’) provided an economic advantage to public casino operators and were not in line with EU state aid rules.
Germany must now recover the incompatible state aid, including interest, and abolish the tax schemes for the future.
The Commission stresses that this advantage is certainly not automatic, but may have conferred advantages on at least some of the operators active in these Länder. Consequently, it will be up to the German authorities to determine whether or not an advantage has been granted to the operators of public casinos.
However, the Commission has also concluded that the special tax rules applied in the Land of Hamburg no longer constitute State aid, as a new compensatory tax payable by the operators of public casinos has been introduced proactively since 1 January 2024. (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)