Erlaubnis für den Betrieb eines Totalisators erteilen

If you are a racing club and want to organize horse races and place bets, you need permission to operate a totalizer.

If you are a racing or horse breeding club and want to operate a totalizator on the racecourse on the occasion of public performance tests for horses or operate a betting office for horse races outside a racecourse, then you require a totalizator permit in accordance with the Race Betting and Lotteries Act.

In totalizator betting, bettors bet against each other and not against a bookmaker. The totalisator is a procedure by which, in the run-up to the horse race, the respective winning odds are determined continuously from all bets placed up to the start of the race and the proper distribution of winnings is processed after the end of the race. Bets can be placed at the totalisator on the racecourse, but also at betting offices outside the racecourse.

A small portion of the betting proceeds goes directly to the racing club, which must use it exclusively for the best interests of the state horse breeding program and for the organization of horse races.

• Articles of association
• extract from the register of associations or proof of membership in a breeders' association
• annual budget
• annual report of the previous year
• betting requirements
• purchase, rental or lease agreement, if applicable
• Proof of actual power of disposal over suitable premises as a betting office outside the racecourse

• You must be a racing or horse breeding association with or without legal capacity.
• Your association's articles of association must state that the exclusive purpose of the association is to promote state horse breeding, including by organizing performance tests for horses.
• Your board members and other officers of the association must provide assurance that the purpose of the association will be accomplished.
• They must undertake to allow bookmakers who have been granted permission to place or arrange bets at the Association's racecourse to carry on their trade on race days at the racecourse in return for the payment of a stall fee.
• Organizing or brokering gambling (horse betting) does not run counter to the defined objectives of the State Gambling Treaty.

• variable from 210,00 up to 2.050,00 EUR (fee number 203.3.1)

You apply for the totalizer permit at the Ministry for Climate Protection, Agriculture, Rural Areas and Environment M-V. You indicate whether you want to operate the totalisator on a racecourse or a betting office outside a racecourse.

Your application will be reviewed by the responsible office.

If you meet all requirements, you will receive a permit after completion of the procedure.

The permit can be issued with a time limit or a reservation of revocation, or it can be combined with a condition or a reservation of a subsequent change or addition to a condition. It can also be limited to individual events.

• 4 to 5 weeks

The application must be submitted no later than 3 months before the races are held.

Anyone who operates a totalisator business without a permit is liable to a custodial sentence of up to two years or a fine!

Please note that you must comply with the obligations of the State Treaty on Gambling when operating a totalizator business. These are regulated in particular in §§ 1 to 3, 5 to 7 and 27 of the State Treaty on Gambling.

• Action before the Administrative Court

Permission to operate a totalisator

• Racing clubs that want to organize horse races and place bets need a totalizer permit
• Requirements:
  • Stipulated in club bylaws that the exclusive purpose of the club is to promote state horse breeding by, among other things, organizing performance tests for horses.
  • Members of the board of directors and other leading personalities of the association must provide assurance that the purpose of the association will be realized.
  • Obligation to allow bookmakers who have been granted permission to place or broker bets on the Association's racecourse to practice their trade on race days at the racecourse in return for payment of a stall fee.
• Application informal and in writing
• responsible: Ministry for Climate Protection, Agriculture, Rural Areas and Environment M-V

Ministry for Climate Protection, Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Environment Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Department 320

• Forms available: No
• Written form required: Yes
• Informal application possible: Yes
• Personal appearance required: No
• Online services available: No