Legendary reunion at the DSWV summer festival: World champion Rudi Völler talks to Weißbier-Waldi
Rudi Völler and Waldi toast a wheat beer at the DSWV summer party after 16 years. More videos from the event can be found here.
Berlin - At the summer party of the German Sports Betting Association (DSWV), presenter Waldemar Hartmann took stock of the past Bundesliga and Champions League seasons with world and vice world champion Rudi Völler, Hesse's Interior Minister Peter Beuth (CDU) and DSWV President Mathias Dahms, and discussed the further sporting and economic prospects of German soccer. In "Waldi's DSWV Club," Hartmann and his guests demonstrated an hour of concentrated soccer expertise. The renewed encounter between Völler and Hartmann was eagerly awaited, as it was a new edition of the legendary "wheat beer interview" of September 6, 2003, when Völler, then head of the German national team, engaged in a passionate debate with Hartmann before the eyes of German television.
As in those days, Rudi Völler appeared in tandem with Hartmann as an opinionated talk show guest with a clear stance and language - for example, on the idea of a closed "European Super League" of the continent's biggest clubs:
"One thing must never happen: It would be the death knell of soccer if we no longer had to qualify for international competitions on a sporting basis. Nobody can want that. Anyone who wants that must be moronic."
Völler is more open to other innovations in European soccer. In the case of video evidence, he himself has been proven wrong:
"I was skeptical about video evidence at the beginning, and my skepticism was confirmed. In the first six months, I felt that what was decided was a disaster. But at the 2018 World Cup, it worked wonderfully. And in the meantime, I've also moved on a bit from my initial opinion: By now, video evidence helps more than it hurts."
And Völler gives German soccer fans the courage to once again hope for success for the national team and in European club soccer:
"In Germany, everything is always buried when we play a bad World Cup. But German soccer is still good, of course. We're still in the race."
Sports betting also thrives on precisely this tension and emotion, adds DSWV President Mathias Dahms:
"Many people like to bet on sporting events especially during the game, this is the so-called live bet. Sports betting is primarily about being a fan, cheering along and pocketing a small profit if your own club wins its match. And because there is no sports betting without sports, the member companies of the DSWV also invested around 50 million euros in professional sports sponsorship last year. In addition, sports betting providers pay around 400 million euros a year in sports betting tax, part of which we would like to see earmarked for promoting grassroots sports."
In order to stabilize tax and sponsorship revenues in the coming years, it is also essential that the federal states finally reform German gambling regulation in principle and provide legal certainty for providers. To date, sports betting providers in Germany have been forced to operate in a legal gray area due to the failed licensing process. The state premiers are currently negotiating a new gambling regulation from 2021. In this regard, Peter Beuth, Hesse's Minister of the Interior and Sports, once again reiterated his state government's desire to overcome the failed State Gambling Treaty, which is characterized by bans and restrictions:
"We in Hesse would have liked to have brought about a change a few years ago that would have put the whole area of gambling on a sounder footing. I am happy that we are now making it possible, as a first step, for sports betting to be offered legally from January 1, 2010. However, we in the state of Hesse, together with Schleswig-Holstein, believe that we must also enable online casino gaming in order to successfully regulate the market."
The DSWV supports Beuth in his reform efforts. From the perspective of sports betting providers, the Third Gambling Amendment Treaty is only suitable as a transitional solution until 2021. It is a small, but not sufficient step to regulate the German sports betting market. While it is good that the federal states are finally establishing a licensing system for sports betting providers after seven years of regulatory chaos. However, it is problematic that the equally outmoded and restrictive regulations of the State Treaty remain in place: The popular live betting - about 60 to 70 percent of the market - is massively restricted, and blanket gaming limits are arbitrarily set. This makes licensed sports betting unattractive compared to the black market. In the digital age, however, unlicensed offers are always just a click or swipe away on a smartphone. If consumers now migrate here in droves, the state treaty has failed to achieve its goals.
About the German Sports Betting Association
The German Sports Betting Association (DSWV) was founded in Berlin in 2014 by the leading German and European sports betting providers and sees itself as a public contact, especially for politics, sports and the media. All member companies hold licenses in EU member states and are seeking regulation and licensing for the German market as well. Since 2012, they have paid around €2 billion in sports betting taxes in Germany. Most members are also active as sponsors in German professional sports.