Tipico welcomes European legal clarification on reclamation lawsuits

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Tipico—the leading sports betting provider in Germany—expressly welcomes the fact that the Erfurt Regional Court (LG Erfurt) in case 8 O 1125/123 wishes to refer questions on the admissibility of reclamation suits for (online) sports betting for the period prior to the granting of a license, i.e., before October 9, 2020, to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for clarification. This confirms Tipico’s previous legal opinion: customers of sports betting providers in Germany have always made use of a lawful sports betting offer on the basis of the European freedom to provide services and there is no basis for the refund of gambling expenses.

According to the decision of the Erfurt Regional Court, all ECJ legal issues requiring clarification on (online) sports betting should be submitted to the ECJ. The Regional Court emphasizes that the ECJ has the final say here and also comments on the recent reference decision of the Federal Court of Justice in case I ZR 88/23: It is incomprehensible to the Erfurt Regional Court that the Federal Court of Justice suspends pending proceedings on online casinos with regard to a proposal from Malta (without justification), but does not, in turn, refer the matter to the ECJ on the subject of sports betting.

Therefore, because the Federal Court of Justice openly contradicted the European Court of Justice in its most recent judgment, the Erfurt Regional Court now intends to make this submission. The legal situation in the so-called player complaints cases can thus be finally clarified. Tipico assumes that similar proceedings will now also be put on hold until such a clarification has been provided by the ECJ.

Matthias Folkmann, company spokesman for the Tipico Group, adds: “We expressly welcome the Erfurt Regional Court’s approach. The arguments of the decision to refer coincide with our legal opinion, which has so far also been shared by many German courts. Not least in the proceedings that are pending before the Federal Court of Justice and in which we have been vindicated in all instances to date. We expect the ECJ to provide an obligatory clarification and harmonization of jurisdiction in Germany and Europe.” 

 

Clear signal against the instrumentalization of players

The decision also sends a clear signal to law firms and litigation financiers who pursue these types of lawsuits as a lucrative business model. Matthias Folkmann says, “For years, players have been instrumentalized in reclamation lawsuits, and the inexperience and ignorance of consumers are shamelessly exploited to underpin the business model of law firms and litigation financiers and to maximize their own profits. A decision from the ECJ has the potential to finally remove the basis for this business model.”

As a reliable, regulation-compliant and law-abiding provider, Tipico will continue to defend itself against this business model by all legal means, encouraged by the approach of the Erfurt Regional Court and thus the pending clarification of the legal issues under EU law.

 

About Tipico:

Tipico is the leading sports betting provider in Germany and offers fans exciting entertainment with sports betting for over 30 sports via www.tipico.de, the Tipico app and in around 1,000 stationary betting shops. Tipico invests heavily in the continuous development of technologies that improve the betting experience and make sports betting safer, while placing the highest value on player protection.

The group of companies based in Malta and subsidiaries in, among others, Karlsruhe was founded in Malta in 2004 and now employs over 1,800 people worldwide. Over 6,000 people work for the Tipico franchise network in Germany and Austria. Tipico has all permits and licenses required to organize its offers and works closely with the regulatory authorities.

Tipico launches Player Protection Campaign

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  • Motto: “You control the game, do not let the game control you.”
  • Support for the “Check your Game” initiative of the German Federal Centre for Health Education (BZgA) 
  • Campaign to reach millions of viewers on ARD-Sportschau and on YouTube
  • Focus is on prevention and risk awareness

Tipico – the No. 1 sports betting provider in Germany – is launching an advertising campaign for responsible gambling. The company decided to increase attention for the “Check your game” initiative of the Federal Centre for Health Education (Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung – BZgA). Featuring the slogan “You control the game, do not let the game control you”, the Tipico commercial will be broadcast on Sportschau and on YouTube from March 2nd onwards. This makes Tipico the first provider in the regulated German sports betting market to make its advertising time available for a player protection initiative and to make use of its reach for this purpose.

The visually stunning spot is part of the “Do what you want!” campaign, which was developed together with the Hamburg-based creative agency deepblue networks and realized with the American director Wes Walker and the production company BWGTBLD.

The campaign invites users to learn more about the BZgA’s responsible gambling initiative at www.check-dein-spiel.de. There is a self-test and detailed information on support services for potentially at-risk gamblers and their families, as well as online advice. Information is also provided on the subject of gambling bans. Services are available in both plain language and sign language.

With this campaign, Tipico reaffirms its commitment to player protection and sends a clear signal for responsible betting as well as prevention and education so that gambling does not become an addiction.

The Tipico Group sees player protection as a fundamental part of its product offering. Comprehensive player protection measures have been implemented. These measures are based on a scientifically sound player protection concept. Player protection information is also readily available to Tipico customers as part of the product offering. The current campaign is a further step in Tipico’s commitment to raising awareness of the risks and promoting measures to prevent problem gambling.

Details of Tipico’s player protection concept:

https://www.tipico-group.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Spielerschutzkonzept-1.pdf

Further information on the advisory services provided by the BZgA can be found at

www.check-dein-spiel.de

Credits:

Agency: deepblue networks AG

Chief Creative Officer: Oliver Drost

Consulting: Josephine Jäger, Anna Terhorst

Creative Director: Oliver Reichwald

Copy/Concept: Andreas Hatrath

Art Direction: Franziska Böttcher

Creative Producer: Daniel Lojewsky

FFF: Katja Czok

 

Director: Wes Walker

DOP: Nikita Khatsarevich

Film Production: BWGTBLD GmbH
Head of Production: Greta Müller

Executive Producer: Leonard Leis

Photo: Pascal Kerouche

 

Sound: Hastings Audio Network

Sound logo: Hooked by Hastings

Music: White Horse Music

 

 

Tipico ranks in top league of sustainability

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Tipico received a Bronze rating from internationally renowned ESG rating agency EcoVadis, landing in the top 35% of companies rated worldwide. This rating reaffirms Tipico’s prestigious recognition as an S&P Yearbook Member for 2023, awarded by S&P Global rating agency, which is equally highly regarded in the field.

This renewed success in a second internationally recognised benchmarking procedure underlines that Tipico is on the right track towards successfully reducing its emissions in line with the Paris agreement and attaining the highest standards for working conditions, social responsibility, and legal compliance.

Raising the standard

EcoVadis is well-known for its rigorous evaluation methods, assessing companies across a wide range of sustainability criteria, known to be comprehensive. The voluntary participation in the assessment is typically undertaken by companies confident in their high standards, who participate in order to compete for awards, which makes it all the more remarkable that Tipico could achieve such a high rating.

Two ratings, one direction

Tipico takes pride in being among the companies that can compete with the best when it comes to sustainability. This rating serves as proof of the group’s commitment to meeting the demands of all stakeholders while conforming to the highest international standards.
It marks another milestone for Tipico but is by no means the end of the journey. With great confidence, Tipico is steering towards the goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2030.

Tipico achieves excellent result in annual ESG Report ranking

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Once again Tipico ranks highly in the Corporate Sustainability Assessment by S&P Global Ratings, participating for the third time. This independently conducted benchmarking of ESG disclosure ranks companies within a sector and beyond. Tipico improved compared to last year’s result: Within the gambling sector Tipico ranked 6th, one rank up from the year before, and across all industries attained a percentile rank of 93, up from 85.

We pride ourselves on our efforts to be a trustworthy and engaged corporate citizen; it’s rewarding to see these results corroborate our commitment to a sustainable business practice.


Tipico is in the top 10% of companies

Every year independent rating agency S&P Global Rating compares how well companies do in various spheres of corporate social responsibility. External experts evaluate and rank factors such as disclosure, policies and processes related to environmental, social and governance performance. Overall, Tipico Group impressively finds itself in the top ten percent of all 8000 companies examined.

Tipico was therefore once again included as a member in the ‘Sustainability Yearbook 2023’, in which S&P Global Ratings lists the best representatives of each respective industry.

Years of sustainability efforts show results

The latest ESG Report (2021) details how Tipico fulfils its responsibilities as a trustworthy and responsible corporate citizen, describing a variety of successful initiatives: e.g. Tipico Shop Agencies in Germany now draw 80% of their power supply purely from renewable energy sources, with the journey to 100% continuing.
To communicate and live our values in everyday action, we regularly collaborate with local NGOs and organise CSR Days during which our employees can choose to do hands-on work for social and environmental causes.

We strongly believe that we must be a trustworthy partner to all, customers and citizens alike. Though not required to do so, as Tipico Group is not a publicly listed company, since 2018 we publish a yearly ESG report which you can find here: ESG Reporting

Through sustainable decisions, we strengthen our position as market leader in sports betting in Germany and also justify the trust which hundreds of thousands of sports enthusiasts place in us every day.