The company was awarded the license by the Regional Council of Darmstadt on 9 October.

Gauselmann founder and management board spokesman, Paul Gauselmann, expressed his excitement at acquiring the license. He said: “Back in 2014, my corporate group more than satisfied all of the requirements for the first licensing process and emerged as number one from the examination of this extensive process.

“Unfortunately, it has taken until today to end this state of legal uncertainty. However, it gives me all the more pleasure that we are now finally the first to be license holders.”

GVC Holdings and Tipwin have also confirmed that they have received German sports betting licenses.

Ivica Batinic and Damir Böhm, managing director and head of legal for Tipwin respectively, released a joint statement in which they expressed their relief that the long-standing legal uncertainty had ended.

The pair described it as “the first step towards a real and responsible regulation of sports betting in Germany.”