The football Bundesliga "fears to lose millions in sponsorship money from the gambling industry," according to Stefan Merx of the WALL STREET JOURNAL DEUTSCHLAND. Bayern Munich Marketing Dir Andreas Jung appraises the additional sponsorship money the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga could receive from the gambling industry to be a "three-digit million amount." Jung said, "At the moment, not even a third of it is exhausted." Jung warns that this new source of income could ebb away before it even starts and added: "The states protect the state-owned betting providers, and the clubs are the ones that suffer. There's a concrete danger that the gambling industry will lose its interest in the German market and invest in other countries, which have reasonable regulations that are in conformity with the market." Just a few months ago, Bundesliga managers were celebrating when the European Union announced a controlled opening of the multi-billion dollar sports gambling market. Private competitors were supposed to establish a legal alternative to the state-owned sports betting game Oddset. Through taxation millions were supposed to go to the revenue department. However, the restructuring of Germany's gambling regulations "threatens to descent into chaos." From the betting providers' view, the problems start at the licensing procedure. Many private providers will end up empty handed following the current ongoing licensing procedure as the amount of approved private betting providers is capped at 20. Sport marketing company Sport+Markt expert Andreas Ullman said, "The advertising potential of the gambling industry in Germany is largely passing by." However, 17 Bundesliga clubs, with the only exception being Wolfsburg, have a betting provider in their sponsorship portfolio. According to marketing industry magazine Sponsors, the money the clubs receive from their deals with betting providers translates into a manageable sponsorship volume of €14.1M ($18.3M) (WSJ DEUTSCHLAND, 10/12).
