The German government has amended its new online gambling legislation. Due to this, one of the world's largest online poker sites has radically changed its offering for players.
The government introduced a new turnover tax of 5.3%. In addition to this, the new legislation prohibits Germans from playing more than four tables, depositing more than 1000 euros per month on the site and choosing their seats at the tables for cash games.
At PokerStars, this tax is levied on buy-ins - operators will be taxed based on how long the player is sitting at the table. For example, for every 100 euros from a player, the poker room will pay 5.30 euros to the German government.
The new tax took effect on July 1. In response, PokerStars is raising commissions and rejecting high-stakes offers from German players. Due to changes in legislation, most German professional poker players have already left the country and settled elsewhere in the European Union.
Cash games have also changed. The highest bets will be no-limit and pot-limit with blinds of $ 1-2 and $ 3-6. The commission for games with a limit will increase to 35%, and in games with high stakes, the commission has increased by 25%. Thus, the German poker player will pay more to offset the state tax. The new policy will not affect tournaments.
Another major change has been made by the government - when players sit down at a table, they must play a certain number of hands before getting up and out of the game. If players do not follow this rule, they will not be able to return to the table within a certain amount of time.
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