Bet-at-home Blocked From Sponsoring ATP Hamburg Open

Authorities of Hamburg have issued a cease and desist order against online gaming operator bet-at-home.com and local tournament organisers in an attempt to block the company’s title sponsorship of the ATP Hamburg Open.

Last week the tournament was renamed to the Bet-at-home Open, dropping the .com element from all promotional material and removing hyperlinks to the online gaming site after a legal intervention by Schleswig-Holstein’s state-licensed casino. The casino operator argued that the sponsorship deal represented a clear breach of the State Treaty on Gaming since bet-at-home.com does not hold a valid German gaming license.

Despite the name change however and removal of links to the gaming site from the tournament website, Hamburg authorities have increased pressure on the organisers to completely drop bet-at-home as a sponsor of the event.

Bet-at-home was expected to put €250,000 into the tournament in sponsorship fees alongside the €200,000 from the city of Hamburg.

The tournament which boasts a prize pool of €1 million is the highest-ranked tennis tournament in Germany and one of the top 20 tournaments in the world.