Poker product changes for German players from 1st July 2021

[Andy-Relax]

** The below changes are now confirmed to take place on July 1st 2021 **

 

As you may be aware, a new turnover tax on gambling is expected to come into effect in Germany from the 1^st of July 2021. This new tax will have a big impact on poker, and we anticipate that we’ll have to make the following changes from the 1^st of July onwards: -

·         Cash games will be disabled for DE players

·         SNGs will be disabled for DE players

·         The loyalty program will be disabled for DE players

We felt it was best for the players to give you this information as soon as possible to allow you to the maximum time to use bonus points, tickets and bonuses if you normally play one of the affected game types. We would also like to reiterate that these are proposed changes and are subject to change if there are any developments regarding the implementation of the new tax before July 1^st.

Will my account be closed?

No, your account will remain open after July 1^st and you’ll still be able to play Hexapros and MTT as well as still being able to access the bonus shop to use any remaining bonus points you have.

Will I have to pay tax on MTTs/Hexapros?

No, Initially Unibet will cover the cost of the tax but this may be subject to change in the future.

What will happen if I move to another country?

Any players that move to another country will be required to open a new account and we will transfer any tickets, bonus points, challenge points and playthrough bonuses over to the new account.

What will happen to my tickets and challenge rewards after July 1^st?

The current proposal for tickets and rewards are below (may be subject to change): -

SNG Tickets – Any unused SNG tickets will be converted to bonus points.

Cash Game Tickets – Cash game tickets will be converted to cash if 50% or more of the flop requirement has been met.

Challenge Rewards – If your primary game in Q2 was cash games or SNGs and you earned more than 500,000 challenge points in Q2, the rewards you would have received at the start of Q3 as part of your carryover from Q2 will be awarded as cash.

Active Bonus – If your primary game in Q2 was cash games or SNG the current step of your active bonus will be paid out in cash if you have completed 50% or more of the rake requirement. Any other outstanding steps will be converted to bonus points. This will only apply to bonuses bought in the bonus shop or won via the loyalty system.

Pending Bonuses – If your primary game in Q2 was cash games or SNGs then any pending bonuses will be converted to bonus points. This will only apply to bonuses bought in the bonus shop or won via the loyalty system.

 

If you have any questions, please post them here or you can send me a PM and I’ll try to help wherever I can.

[LeVsKaRa]

Thank you very much, that you inform us on the topic now and not in the last minute! Sad to hear that SNGs and loyality system are going to be gone, but still this is better than to close the client for Germany.

 

[Juli]

Maybe A private tournament invitation only is also possible for Germans? Idk hehe

 

[WuDu]

Schland! "Für ein Land in dem wir gut und gerne leben!" 

@Andy-Unibet 

For once, this is good communication from you guys, giving us a 6 weeks heads up, so we can get ready. 

What about my Unibet Open tickets, are they affected by these changes?

Are you increasing the rake for MTTs and Hexapros?

Also, how high is the rake you currently charge for Hexapros?   

[Andy-Relax]

UO won't be affected as they're MTT tickets

No rake increase

About 6.8% for Hexapros on average.

[WuDu]

2 minutes ago, Andy-Unibet said:

About 6.8% for Hexapros on average.

 

For the 2s, 5s and 10s specifically? 

[Andy-Relax]

Hexapros in general. It's going to be +/- a little bit based on whether you're running below/above EV on the multipliers and the swings will be bigger if you play less volume but it'll converge to about 6.8% for all customers eventually.

[Stubbe-Unibet]

1 minute ago, Andy-Unibet said:

Hexapros in general. It's going to be +/- a little bit based on whether you're running below/above EV on the multipliers and the swings will be bigger if you play less volume but it'll converge to about 6.8% for all customers eventually.

Unless you also play during the JP Mania promotions, then it can be a fair bit less (depending on volume during and outside promo as well as you multiplier luck of course) 😉

[WuDu]

@Stubbe-Unibet @Andy-Unibet

What happens to the access to exchange tournaments for Unibet Open tickets for German players? Technically, they should be part of the tax base as well.

[Roche]

@Stubbe-Unibet
Hello,

When do we recieve awards for carryover from previous Q? 

Thank you

Edited July 1, 2021 by Roche

[Stubbe-Unibet]

On 5/28/2021 at 10:34 AM, WuDu said:

What happens to the access to exchange tournaments for Unibet Open tickets for German players? Technically, they should be part of the tax base as well.

Will likely be removed, but no decision yet. 

39 minutes ago, Roche said:

Hello,

When do we recieve awards for carryover from previous Q? 

Thank you

Later today. Can't say exactly when but sometime in the afternoon most likely 

[WuDu]

57 minutes ago, Stubbe-Unibet said:

Will likely be removed, but no decision yet. 

 

 

What about the 25 Euro to 4 Euros? I mean, we're paying 1 Euro in rake here just to exchange, they should stay for Germans? Correct?

[LeVsKaRa]

3 hours ago, Stubbe-Unibet said:

Will likely be removed, but no decision yet. 

 

@Stubbe-Unibet don't remove them entirely, please! As mentioned above there is rake in the exchanger from 25€ to 6x4€ tickets. You can adjust the others for example 50€=4x10€ tickets + 2x4€ tickets for German customers or maybe limit the acces to X exchanges per month. Removing them entirely will be very dissapointing, I find these exchangers one of the best things at Unibet.

[Andy-Relax]

DE customers have now been credited their leftover SNG/Cash tickets and playthrough bonuses. We decided to convert all active tickets and bonuses rather than just those over 50%. The bonuses have been removed from accounts and the tickets will just expire as normal.

If you're a DE customer and still have a Unibet Open Challenges freeroll ticket in your account, let me know and I'll convert it to 2x €10 MTT tickets as you can't access the freerolls.

[Netspeedy]

On 7/1/2021 at 12:40 PM, LeVsKaRa said:

@Stubbe-Unibet don't remove them entirely, please! As mentioned above there is rake in the exchanger from 25€ to 6x4€ tickets. You can adjust the others for example 50€=4x10€ tickets + 2x4€ tickets for German customers or maybe limit the acces to X exchanges per month. Removing them entirely will be very dissapointing, I find these exchangers one of the best things at Unibet.

Totally Agree! But it looks like unibet removed all exchange tourneys 😞 Why? @Andy-Unibet

[Andy-Relax]

For the existing exchangers, obviously we don't want them to cost anything so we can't have DE players in them. I know the €25 -> €4 exchanger would be ok but it's probably better to have all or nothing in this situation to avoid confusion. I don't think there has been any discussion regarding DE only exchangers yet so they may be an option but looking at active tickets it'll be for < 10 players benefit. 

[WuDu]

15 minutes ago, Andy-Unibet said:

For the existing exchangers, obviously we don't want them to cost anything so we can't have DE players in them. I know the €25 -> €4 exchanger would be ok but it's probably better to have all or nothing in this situation to avoid confusion. I don't think there has been any discussion regarding DE only exchangers yet so they may be an option but looking at active tickets it'll be for < 10 players benefit. 

 

"Dear German customers, due to the new 5.3 % turnover tax in Germany, we're unable to offer UO exchanges for you anymore. The only exception to that rule is the 25--->4 UO exchanger, where we steadily collected 1 Euro in rake per customer over the last years."

You see, confusion avoided, problem solved! You're welcome, Andy...

[Andy-Relax]

Total number of DE entrants to the €25 -> €4 Exchanger since Jan 1st 2018 - 188 (68 unique)

Total number of DE entrants to the €25 -> €4 Exchanger since Jan 1st 2021 - 53 (16 unique)

Of the 16 unique players 4 have used the exchanger more than twice in 2021. 

Like I said, no discussions as far as I'm aware have happened regarding DE only exchangers and I assume Leo removed them all without seeing this thread as he's on holiday. 

[LeVsKaRa]

Hi @Andy-Unibet

thanks for your replies. The idea of DE only exchangers is an interesting one, like I suggested you can make them with rake. I will use them even with the whole 5,3% rake. When I see the numbers above it is going to be logic to make these DE only exchangers once a week or even twice a month. Please discuss this idea, even if there are just few players using them. One of the big advantages of Unibet over the years is that you really take care of each individual player/customer. "By players, for players", right xD

[WuDu]

Unibet-mods,

Why do I need a VPN to sign up to the community? Unibet.com is not supported in Germany anymore and Unibet.de doesn't log you into the community. 

So in case someone from Germany wonders why he cannot log in right now, VPN is your answer.

[WuDu]

7 hours ago, WuDu said:

Unibet-mods,

Why do I need a VPN to sign up to the community? Unibet.com is not supported in Germany anymore and Unibet.de doesn't log you into the community. 

So in case someone from Germany wonders why he cannot log in right now, VPN is your answer.

@Stubbe-Unibet

[Andy-Relax]

Checked with Jami and we're not intentionally blocking access to the community. The link was removed from the home page but other than that access should still work. It's being looked at.

[Netspeedy]

7 hours ago, Andy-Unibet said:

Checked with Jami and we're not intentionally blocking access to the community. The link was removed from the home page but other than that access should still work. It's being looked at.

Its not working. Without vpn I can't login from Germany!

Why is the 4€ Unibet open Satellites removed for me? I can see the 25€ with my tickets but the 4€ Tickets don't show a tourney any more.

WTF?

If its true what you posted before about the numbers of useres of this exchangers i dont understand the problem. So little numer of exchangers should not be a significat cost factor....so why killing the game for geramns just because of a little tax. You subvent some of the satellites anyway? What can i do now with the ticktes you blocked?

[Andy-Relax]

9 hours ago, Netspeedy said:

Its not working. Without vpn I can't login from Germany!

Why is the 4€ Unibet open Satellites removed for me? I can see the 25€ with my tickets but the 4€ Tickets don't show a tourney any more.

WTF?

If its true what you posted before about the numbers of useres of this exchangers i dont understand the problem. So little numer of exchangers should not be a significat cost factor....so why killing the game for geramns just because of a little tax. You subvent some of the satellites anyway? What can i do now with the ticktes you blocked?

There are no country restrictions on any of the €4 to €25 Unibet Open qualifiers I could find in the back office.

Edit: Checked a DE test account and 3 qualifiers are showing for today. When you checked they may have not launched in the client for the following day.

[Netspeedy]

@Andy-Unibet you are right, they are back. Unfortunately the following points are not solved:

1. VPN is still needed to post here.
2. Satellites 4€ at 23 o'clock seems to be removed? These are the not subsidized ones, I mean no guarantees for 4 tickets ..... Why?
3. Without exchangers these satellites are not useful playable anymore. Everybody can use the winnings to exchange and optimizes the gameplay. For Germans now it means you need a straight run from one sattelite to an other. There are no space for mistakes. This is not fair play if I cannot use my ticktet I won like any body else! Please speak with the people they decide this at unibet poker department. If unibet not find another technical way for ticket exchage without tax or a way with extra tax removed, this unequal treatment will end up in moving playes to other .... 
4. In addition to point 3 my Tourney bankroll in tickets is now only half usefull than it was before. Is there a posibillity to change them into normal MTT Tickets?
5. Sorry to say it  so clear. If Unibet not changes the offers by cashgame, tourneys, satellites for german Players there are better providers on the market now. I regret that because I liked the unique features of unibet the most .... The new regulation of german stupid politicians are just a scam and unibet and others should ignore or fight agaist this "lokal gambling industry lobbyist law".