New German bill for online gambling

Last Thursday, December 15th,  President Ministers of 15 out of the 16 German länders signed in Berlin the new federal regulation surrounding online gambling activities.
Apart from the Schleswig-Holstein who adopted its own law, all the other regions have agreed to this bill.
The text allow the delivery of 20 licenses for sport bets only.
The operators who will receive the license will be taxed 5% on each bet.
In addition, a ceiling of 1,000 € was decided for any bet and for now, virtual poker and online casino are still forbidden.
Strongly criticised by the gambling industry operating on the internet, the bill still has to be approved by the European Commission, which should deliberate early February.
If the text gets the green light from Brussels, it will be applied on July 1st 2012.