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Gambling in Germany: Laws and Online Gambling

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Online gambling in Germany: laws and player risks

Elodie explains online casino rules in Germany, the evidence on player enforcement, offshore risks and how to assess available options. Checked 8 November 2026.

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Published by Casino News Daily editorial teamReviewed byFilip RadulovicOur editorial approach

Germany regulates gambling mainly through an interstate treaty concluded by its 16 federal states (Länder), not through a single federal statute. The current instrument, the Interstate Treaty on Gambling 2021 (Glücksspielstaatsvertrag 2021, GlüStV 2021), ended a long period in which most forms of online gambling could not be licensed at all. It now permits online sports betting, virtual slot machines and online poker under licence, leaves online table games such as roulette and blackjack to each state, and places nationwide supervision in the hands of a joint regulator, the Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL) in Halle (Saale). This guide sets out how that system developed, how licensing and enforcement work, what the law means for players, and the reforms and court decisions of 2024–2026.

Key points

Public gambling in Germany requires a permit from the competent authority; the GlüStV 2021 lists the only forms of gambling that may be licensed on the internet.
The GGL has licensed nationwide online gambling since 1 January 2023 and publishes an official whitelist of permitted operators.
Online casino table games are a state matter under section 22c of the treaty: some states use a state monopoly, some a small number of concessions, and some have not yet acted.
Players face a cross-operator deposit limit of, in principle, €1,000 per month and a national exclusion system, OASIS.
Taking part in unlawful public gambling is a criminal offence under section 285 of the Criminal Code; the Court of Justice of the EU confirmed in April 2026 that Germany’s earlier online prohibition was compatible with EU law.

Regional overview: Gambling laws in the EU and the rest of Europe puts all 55 countries and territories on one map, grouped by how they regulate gambling.

Last reviewed: 20 October 2026.

Historical development

Under the German constitution, gambling law is largely a matter for the states, which have coordinated their rules through successive interstate treaties. Before 2021 the governing text was the treaty of 15 December 2011. A 2020 analysis by the Bundestag’s Research Services describes that treaty as imposing a near-total prohibition on online gambling: for most internet games, no exemption was possible through licensing. In practice, however, a large unlicensed online market developed during the 2010s, and the prohibition was widely regarded as difficult to enforce.

In January 2020 the state governments agreed on a draft of a new treaty that would lift the prohibition for online casinos, virtual slot machines and online poker. The heads of the state governments approved the draft on 12 March 2020 and it was notified to the European Commission in May 2020. For the transitional period, the states adopted a circular resolution on 8 September 2020 under which enforcement, from 15 October 2020, focused on providers that did not meet the requirements expected under the 2021 regime (Bundestag Research Services, 2020).

The GlüStV 2021 entered into force on 1 July 2021. According to the GGL’s own account of its history, it was the first time that all 16 states agreed on comprehensive regulation of online gambling with uniform player-protection requirements. The GGL was established as a public-law institution in Halle on 1 July 2021, took over the fight against illegal gambling on 1 July 2022, and assumed its full range of tasks on 1 January 2023 (GGL, 22 September 2026).

Legal framework

Illustrated Germany landmarks with reference books and documents for the relevant legislation in germany section

The Interstate Treaty on Gambling 2021

The treaty’s basic rule, in section 4(1), is that public gambling may be organised or brokered only with the permission of the competent authority. Section 4(4) then limits what can be licensed online. According to the GGL’s summary of licensable gambling, an internet permit may be granted only for the sale and brokering of lotteries, for sports and horse-race betting, and for online casino games, virtual slot machines and online poker. Section 4(5) adds conditions that apply to all online licences, including identity verification, a ban on offering credit and measures to prevent gambling addiction.

The treaty contains detailed product rules. Under section 22a, a virtual slot machine game may take a stake of no more than €1 and must last at least five seconds. Section 22b governs online poker. Section 22c deals with online casino games, meaning banked table games such as roulette or blackjack played online. Here the treaty does not create a single national regime: each state may organise such games itself as a monopoly or license private operators, with the number of concessions tied to the number of land-based casino concessions in that state (GlüStV 2021, as published by the State of Brandenburg).

The treaty was concluded for a fixed period. Section 35 provides that it remains in force for ten years and continues thereafter only with the agreement of the states; section 32 requires a regular evaluation of its effects on the market and on addiction prevention.

Criminal law

Federal criminal law sits alongside the treaty. Section 284 of the Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch, StGB) punishes organising public gambling without official permission. Section 285 punishes anyone who takes part in such gambling with imprisonment of up to six months or a fine of up to 180 daily rates (section 285 StGB). Whether a given offer is “unlawful” for these purposes depends on whether it holds the required German permission.

EU law context

Gambling is not harmonised at EU level. Member states may restrict cross-border gambling services under the free movement rules if the restrictions pursue legitimate aims such as consumer protection and are applied consistently. On 16 April 2026, in European Lotto and Betting and Deutsche Lotto- und Sportwetten (C-440/23), the Court of Justice of the EU held that EU law does not preclude national legislation prohibiting online casino games, and that Germany’s move from a general prohibition to an authorisation system in 2021 “does not, in itself, affect the consistency or validity of the earlier regime”. The Court also held that an action for restitution of lost stakes is not precluded by EU law, leaving the question of contract nullity to national law (CJEU press release No 53/26).

Regulator and licensing model

Germany uses a mixed model. Some licences, including those for land-based gambling, remain with the authorities of the individual states, while online sports betting, virtual slot machines and online poker are licensed centrally by the GGL for the whole country. At its launch in January 2023, the GGL reported that it had reviewed nearly 600 of roughly 3,500 individual game applications, examined around 1,150 illegal gambling websites, opened more than 60 prohibition proceedings, filed more than 30 criminal complaints and started six network-blocking procedures against internet service providers (GGL, 2023). By September 2026, 129 operators and brokers held a GGL permit, covering 229 permitted sites on the whitelist; by the end of 2025, 1,843 illegal websites had been made unreachable from Germany and 178 cut off from common payment services (GGL, 22 September 2026).

The official whitelist is the authoritative record of permitted operators and brokers. It covers sports betting, virtual slot machines, online poker, horse-race betting, commercial lottery brokering, social and class lotteries, land-based casino games and online casino games, and includes providers supervised by state authorities as well as by the GGL. The version reviewed for this guide was dated 2 October 2026. A permit is specific: it names the operator, the domain and the game category, so an operator licensed for virtual slots is not thereby licensed for online roulette.

Online table games: a state-by-state picture

Because section 22c leaves online casino games to the states, the position differs across the country. According to a 2026 analysis by the law firm Noerr, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Brandenburg, Hesse, Saxony and Thuringia have chosen a state monopoly model; Schleswig-Holstein awarded four concessions in an administrative procedure announced on 18 September 2024; and North Rhine-Westphalia’s Online Casino Games Act, in force since 9 March 2022, provides for up to five concessions awarded through a competitive procedure. An amendment to the North Rhine-Westphalia law, allowing concession holders to share live-dealer studio facilities, was adopted by a law dated 21 July 2026 and took effect the day after its publication on 3 August 2026. It lets licensed live-stream service providers supply premises and staff for live-dealer table games, while the concession holder stays responsible for player protection (GV. NRW. 2026 p. 598). Noerr reports that the remaining eight states had not yet put an online casino framework in place.

Online gambling and enforcement

Online casino games on mobile devices

The treaty gives the authorities a range of tools against unlicensed operators. Section 9(1) allows them to prohibit illegal offers and advertising, to order payment service providers to stop processing payments for unlicensed gambling (often called “payment blocking”) and, after prior notice, to order internet service providers to block access to unlicensed sites (“IP” or “network blocking”) (GlüStV 2021, section 9).

Network blocking proved legally contested. The states’ second amending treaty to the GlüStV 2021, submitted to the Berlin House of Representatives on 30 September 2025, explains that administrative courts had raised concerns about the previous legal basis. It therefore re-addresses blocking orders to “intermediary service providers” within the meaning of the EU Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065) rather than providers defined by the former German Telemedia Act (Berlin House of Representatives, Drucksache 19/2688). The same text widens the authorities’ powers to obtain information from domestic and foreign law-enforcement bodies about applicants’ reliability.

The size of the unlicensed market is itself disputed. In its activity report published on 3 July 2026, the GGL put the unlicensed share of the online gambling market in 2024 at 23 per cent, meaning that regulated offers accounted for about 77 per cent. It did not publish a separate estimate for 2025 (GGL, Tätigkeitsbericht 2025). Because illegal activity is hard to measure, such estimates should be read as approximations.

Position of players

German law is stricter towards players than the law of many other European countries. Section 285 StGB makes participation in unlawful public gambling a criminal offence, and it applies in principle to online play with operators that lack a German permit. In practice, prosecutions of individual players are not systematically reported. Defence lawyers report that investigations typically begin when banks file suspicious-transaction reports after winnings from presumed illegal gambling reach a player’s account, and that the aim of the defence is usually to avoid a penalty order or conviction that would appear on a criminal record (Höper Rechtsanwalt, February 2026). No official national statistics on such cases were identified for this guide.

Civil law has developed in the opposite direction. Many German courts have treated contracts with operators that lacked a German licence as void, allowing players to sue for the return of their losses (Hahn Rechtsanwälte, 2026). The CJEU’s April 2026 ruling in C-440/23 confirmed that EU law does not stand in the way of such claims. A further reference from the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) concerning a sports-betting operator that had applied for, but not yet received, a licence (C-530/24) was pending when this guide was reviewed; the Advocate General’s opinion of 19 March 2026 supported recovery where the authorities had given no explicit assurance that they would not enforce the law (Hahn Rechtsanwälte, 2026). Outcomes in individual cases depend on the facts and on the enforceability of judgments against operators abroad.

Taxation

Gambling taxes on operators are levied under the federal Racing Betting and Lottery Act (Rennwett- und Lotteriegesetz). According to the Bremen finance senator’s guidance, sports betting, virtual slot machines and online poker are each taxed at 5.3 per cent of the stake (net of the tax itself), declared monthly, while lotteries are taxed at 20 per cent of the participation fee. Because the tax on slots and poker falls on stakes rather than on the operator’s gross gaming revenue, its burden relative to revenue is higher for games that return a large share of stakes to players. The tax is owed by the operator; the guidance describes no tax on players’ stakes or winnings.

Consumer protection and responsible gambling

Secure account login with a padlock and shield The GlüStV 2021 builds player protection into the licensing system:

Deposit limit: section 6c sets a cross-operator monthly deposit limit that, in principle, does not exceed €1,000. Compliance is monitored through a central limit file (LUGAS), which held 5.3 million registered players in September 2026 (GGL, 22 September 2026).
OASIS exclusion system: section 8 establishes a nationwide exclusion register, OASIS, run by the Regional Council of Darmstadt in Hesse. Excluded players may not take part in most forms of gambling. According to the Regional Council’s statistics page, self-exclusions run for at least three months and third-party exclusions for at least one year; players can also trigger a short 24-hour “panic button” exclusion.
Product limits: the €1 maximum stake and five-second minimum game duration for virtual slots are intended to slow down play.

Free, anonymous telephone advice is available from the Federal Institute for Public Health (BIÖG) on 0800 1 37 27 00, Monday to Thursday 10:00–22:00 and Friday to Sunday 10:00–18:00 (BIÖG). Our responsible gambling guide describes general tools for keeping play under control.

Recent and upcoming developments

Second amending treaty. The states approved a second amending treaty to the GlüStV 2021 at the Interior Ministers’ Conference in June 2025, and state governments have since sent it to their parliaments; Bremen’s Senate, for example, adopted its submission on 3 March 2026 (Senate of Bremen). All 16 states signed it between 2 and 26 March 2026, and state parliaments are now ratifying it; Bavaria’s approved it on 17 June 2026. It enters into force on the day after the last state deposits its ratification instrument, and no date had been announced by mid-October 2026 (Bavarian Law Gazette, GVBl. 2026 p. 550).
Evaluation. Section 32 of the treaty requires a regular evaluation of its effects on the market and on addiction prevention; the states’ evaluation report is due by 31 December 2026 (Bavarian Law Gazette, GVBl. 2026 p. 550), and its results will feed into decisions on the treaty’s future after its ten-year term.
Court cases. After C-440/23, further CJEU rulings on sports betting (C-530/24) and on Malta’s restrictions on enforcing foreign judgments against its licensees (C-683/24, referred from Austria) are expected to affect loss-recovery litigation in Germany. The Federal Court of Justice heard a leading online casino refund case (I ZR 216/25) in September 2026 and is due to give judgment on 28 January 2027 (beck-aktuell, 18 September 2026).
North Rhine-Westphalia. The amendment allowing licensed live-stream service providers took effect in August 2026 (GV. NRW. 2026 p. 598).

Checking German casino permissions and game providers

Start with the GGL’s official whitelist. Match the operator, exact website domain and permitted game category. A site accepting German registrations, offering a German-language interface or holding an overseas licence does not by itself establish permission to offer the intended game in Germany. Check any territorial conditions for online table games as explained above.

Playtech games and German availability

Playtech is a game and technology supplier; its name in a casino lobby is not the operator’s German gambling permit. Check the operator’s permission first, then the actual games available on its German site. Do not treat an older list of Playtech casinos, historical market withdrawals or an international game catalogue as confirmation of current availability. The GGL’s game-category guidance explains why virtual slots, online poker and online casino table games require separate attention.

After verifying permission, read the operator’s identity, account terms, withdrawal procedure and complaint contacts. Confirm payment eligibility, fees and verification requirements in the current cashier. A euro account, a recognised wallet or fast deposits do not establish licensing, bonus eligibility or withdrawal speed. Keep payment confirmations and check the status of a delayed payment before repeating it.

Software branding, a polished website and a security seal cannot guarantee a trouble-free experience. Verify claims with the issuing authority, protect account credentials, and review the limits and exclusion tools described in this guide before opening an account.

Sources and further reading

State of Brandenburg (BRAVORS), Staatsvertrag zur Neuregulierung des Glücksspielwesens in Deutschland (Glücksspielstaatsvertrag 2021 – GlüStV 2021) (accessed 5 October 2026).
Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder, GGL geht an den Start (2023).
Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder, Übersicht erlaubter Anbieter (Whitelist) (accessed 5 October 2026).
Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder, Erlaubnisfähiges Glücksspiel (accessed 5 October 2026).
Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder, Historie der Gemeinsamen Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (accessed 5 October 2026).
Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder, GGL veröffentlicht Tätigkeitsbericht 2025 (2026).
Deutscher Bundestag, Wissenschaftliche Dienste, WD 3 – 3000 – 210/20 (2020).
Abgeordnetenhaus Berlin, Drucksache 19/2688: Zweiter Staatsvertrag zur Änderung des Glücksspielstaatsvertrages 2021 (2025).
Senate of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, Änderung des Glücksspielstaatsvertrages (Senate decision of 3 March 2026) (2026).
Der Senator für Finanzen Bremen, Rennwett-, Sportwetten-, Lotterie-, Virtuelle Automaten- und Online-Pokersteuer (accessed 5 October 2026).
dejure.org, § 285 StGB – Beteiligung am unerlaubten Glücksspiel (accessed 5 October 2026).
Höper Rechtsanwalt, Ermittlungsverfahren wegen Beteiligung am unerlaubten Glücksspiel nach § 285 StGB (2026).
Court of Justice of the European Union, Press release: Judgment in Case C-440/23, European Lotto and Betting and Deutsche Lotto- und Sportwetten (2026).
Hahn Rechtsanwälte, EuGH Sportwetten und Online Casino Urteile 2026 (accessed 5 October 2026).
Noerr, Änderung des Online-Casinospiel-Gesetzes in NRW (2026).
Regierungspräsidium Darmstadt, Spielersperrsystem OASIS: Zahlen und Statistiken (accessed 5 October 2026).
Bundesinstitut für Öffentliche Gesundheit, BIÖG-Telefonberatung zur Glücksspielsucht (accessed 5 October 2026).

Casino listings for players in Germany

The table below is generated automatically from our casino database. It shows operators that accept registrations from Germany; it does not by itself show that an operator holds a German permit for the games it offers. Before playing, check the operator, domain and game category against the GGL’s official whitelist. Playing with an operator that lacks the required permit can be a criminal offence under section 285 StGB.

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