At a public meeting of the Sports Committee of the German Bundestag, experts rejected a ban on sports sponsorship and emphasized its importance for German sport. The loss of funding from sponsorship – including from the sports betting industry – would not be financially viable for sport. 

Inka Müller-Schmäh, Managing Director of the Association of Sports Sponsorship Providers, emphasized that a practicable legal framework is necessary to ensure that sports sponsorship continues to play an important role in German sport in the future:

“Sports sponsorship must remain possible, no matter where, when and how sport takes place and is broadcast.” 

Current political debates about possible sponsorship bans in sensitive areas such as food, alcohol and gambling could “considerably weaken” the financial foundations of sport.

Sports economist Professor Dr. Christoph Breuer from the German Sport University Cologne also considers sponsorship bans to be problematic. In some cases, over 70 percent of the budget in sport comes from sponsorship. Sylvia Schenk from Transparency International e.V. emphasized that she was not calling for a ban on sports betting advertising or sponsorship, but criticized the content of the advertising messages.