Germany’s new gambling regulator, the Glücksspielbehörde, has detailed its ambition to pursue a dual leadership strategy, appointing Ronald Benter and Benjamin Schwanke as its leading executives.
The regulatory body aims to strengthen its leadership and supervisory oversight of the German betting and gaming market, which was officially launched according to a re-regulated format on 1 July.
All 16 of the nation’s federal states have chosen to observe the regulatory requirements of the Fourth Interstate Treaty (GlüNeuRStv), the passage of which ended a 12-year deliberation concerning gambling at a national federal level, although the new laws have faced some criticism for implementing anti-competitive’ tax rates among other issues.
Prior to joining the regulator, Benter worked for the Ministry of the Interior of the north German state of Schleswig-Holstein – the first state to have moved forward with online betting and gaming – leading and overseeing the regional gaming and municipal business law department.
“Our task for the next one and a half years is initially to set up the authority in such a way that it is able to act,” Benter remarked.
Schwanke, meanwhile, is a previous member of the EU Gambling Expert Group, and most recently held the position of Head of the Hamburg Gambling Authority as part of the city’s Interior and Sports Authority.
The Glücksspielbehörde’s dual leadership strategy will see Benter and Schwanke jointly coordinate the organisation’s oversight and activities, with the commission aiming to amass around 110 employees and begin taking full supervisory responsibility of the German market by July 2022.
Glücksspielbehörde will be based in the city of Haile, Saxony-Anhalt, which was awarded the rights to house the country’s new gambling regulator last year.
In July 2021, the state’s former State Secretary in the Ministry of the Interior and Sport, Anne Poggemann, was appointed as the first officer of the new regulator. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party member holds responsibility for selecting the authority’s first executive team – including the dual leadership of Betner and Schwanke.