SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The Court of Cologne of North Rhine-Westphalia has been informed that the business of Tipster GMBH is to be restructured and sold.
The decision has been taken by Cologne law firm Heidland Werres Diederichs (HWD), which on 9 May was placed in charge of Tipster GMBH’s insolvency proceedings.
The offices of Tipster GMBH – the operating company of German Interstate (GlüNeuRStv) licensed sportsbook Tipster.de – were raided by the Rhine-Westphalia police force and federal anti-corruption units in April.
The raid was carried-out as part of a pan-European investigation of Tipster GMBH’s business on suspicion of “large-scale money laundering and tax evasion” – as the group management filed for immediate bankruptcy.
A Cologne-registered business, Tipster GMBH has operated in the German sports betting market since 2010, with its flagship Tipster.de brand originally licensed under a provisional license granted by the Regional Council of Darmstadt.
Tipster.de would transfer to GlüNeuRStv licence on 1 July 2021 and was amongst the first operators to join Germany’s Fourth Interstate Gambling regime.
On 1 June, HWD informed the Court of Cologne that “with the bankruptcy application for Tipster Ltd. in Germany, the course has been set for restructuring the entire Tipster group of companies”.
As a practitioner, HWD has outlined is preference to sell the business and its assets that “generated an annual turnover of €250m”.
HWD further cited Tipster established presence in German sports betting, in which the company operates several hundred betting points operated by the business and its franchise partners.
Stakeholders were informed that HWD will begin a “structured process” to find an investor to secure the businesses operations, which employ over 1,000 staff.
Tipster.de will be allowed to continue to service its customers ‘without any restrictions’ as HWD continues to restructure its business.
