The sports betting industry operates in two very different worlds. There are those that include advertising with celebrities such as record national team player Lothar Matthäus or actor Frederick Lau. This world is shrill, loud and present everywhere. Since the men’s Bundesliga started again at the weekend, the advertising posters and spots on Instagram or on TV cannot be overlooked. But there is also a quiet world behind the scenes. This includes, for example, that hardly anyone knows the bosses behind the providers with their billions in sales. The names Joachim Baca (Tipico) or Denise Coates (bet365) should hardly mean anything to anyone. This world deserves a lot – and prefers to keep a low profile.
So it couldn’t be more appropriate that one of the biggest sports betting deals in recent years took place on this day of all days. While the commercials from the betting providers framed the Bundesliga coverage, according to information from the Süddeutsche Zeitung the German entrepreneur Dennis Lindner bought what was left of the sports betting provider Tipster – and put millions on the table for it. However, that alone is not enough. If you want a license, you also have to deposit a security deposit of at least five million euros with the responsible authority.
But then you also get access to a multi-billion dollar market that has grown rapidly over the years: in 2014, sales were up of the industry according to the German Sports Betting Association at 4.5 billion euros and climbed to 8.2 billion euros by 2022.
This is extremely lucrative for the betting providers as well as for the football clubs they sponsor and also for the German state, as the federal states earn a proportion of the betting stakes of the players.
With the legalization of sports betting in 2021, the responsible authority also issued licenses that made legal gambling possible for the first time. Due to the strict criteria, only a few providers made it onto the so-called whitelist, which, among other things, identifies the legal providers for sports betting. In Germany, these include, for example, the market leader Tipico, Bet365 – and, until a few months ago, the Cologne-based company Tipster. In the industry, the betting provider, with its around 350 betting shops, was in the upper midfield, but according to insiders, it is said to have recently pursued an “aggressive” growth strategy and for this purpose offered more live bets than the competition. In the long run, Tipster could have been one of the big names in the industry, but then a mega-raid shook the company, whereupon the provider lost its gaming license and the betting shops all over Germany had to close.
The background to the raid is an alleged fraud system that some executives are said to have raised over the years. According to SZ research, the suspects are said to have set up a second, secret accounting system and thus allegedly smuggled 700 million euros in betting stakes past the German state. In 2020, however, a tipster emerged that put prosecutors on the trail. They began tailing the suspects and struck with the raid almost three years later. An indictment with a subsequent trial is not expected until next year. Six suspects had been arrested for the time being, but were now allowed to go again subject to conditions.
The raid and the investigations finally led to the provisional insolvency administrator Jörg Gollnick taking over the management of Tipster. He fired all known suspects and wanted to restructure the company in order to then sell it at the highest possible price. The special asset of the company back then: one of the coveted German gaming licenses. But the Joint Gaming Authority of the States (GGL) thwarted Gollnick and revoked Tipster’s license. The company was no longer allowed to offer gambling in Germany, and the largest asset was gone. So Gollnick had to resort to plan B and sell what was left of the company.
Apparently he has now succeeded. As SZ has confirmed from various sources, the buyer is a man named Dennis Linder. According to some online registers, he is a German entrepreneur from the Ruhr area, about whom relatively little else is known. Some time ago he appeared in the gaming market as managing director of Spitch GmbH, a football manager game that Jürgen Klopp advertised in Germany and that the Bundesliga had licensed. In April of this year, the GGL classified the football manager as a game of chance, whereupon he disappeared from the market for lack of a license.
The Tipster brand is badly damaged and the buyer will probably have to invest a lot
According to the information portal Northdata, Lindner should hold at least 25 percent of the English company Spitch UK. According to the public data, he is also the managing director of a real estate company. Other than that, not much is known about him. Photo? contact address? Public performances? none. Also for the SZ Dennis Lindner could not be reached for a statement until the editorial deadline.
Of particular interest, however, is less the buyer, but rather What he actually bought it. While Tipster was one of the larger sports betting operators, things have not been the same since the raid shook the company. The image: cracked. The license: gone. But there were some nice photos of how heavily armed police officers stormed the Tipster headquarters in Cologne. Even if the betting shops had been allowed to open again, there would have been a loss of trust from the players. A shop owner told the SZ: “After a raid, no one comes anymore.”
Nevertheless, Gollnick has found a buyer in Dennis Lindner who finds the company interesting even without a license. Possible assets could be, for example, the algorithms that Tipster uses to operate its betting offer. But customer data could also be relevant, says an insider from the sports betting business. However, it is most likely that the buyer will resume business and position himself as a new competitor to Tipico & Co. For this, however, Lindner will have to invest further. Because the German market is already comparatively saturated with almost 30 licensed betting providers. Newcomers have to spend a lot of money to make their own brand known at all. Advertising with a celebrity would certainly help with that. How about Oliver Kahn, for example?