Federal Republic of Germany
Germany opened a nationwide online gambling regime on 1 July 2021 under the Interstate Treaty on Gambling 2021 (Gluecksspielstaatsvertrag). It licenses online sports betting, virtual slot machines and online poker federally through the Joint Gambling Authority of the Laender (GGL), operational since January 2023 and seated in Halle. Online casino table games were deliberately left to the individual states, so live and table casino remains a patchwork of monopolies and closed markets rather than a national licence. What makes Germany distinctive is the severity of the product rules rather than the licence itself. Virtual slots carry a stake limit of one euro per spin and a minimum spin duration, and a cross-operator monthly deposit limit of 1,000 euros is enforced centrally through the LUGAS activity file, so a player cannot simply move to another licensee to spend more. Advertising for virtual slots, online poker and online casino is barred from broadcast and the internet between 06:00 and 21:00, while sports betting sits outside that watershed. Licensed products carry a 5.3% turnover tax charged on stakes rather than gross gaming revenue, one of the strictest tax bases in Europe, and the combination of that base with the product limits keeps channelisation the central German policy question.
Interstate Treaty on Gambling 2021
Gluecksspielstaatsvertrag 2021 (GlueStV 2021)
Online sports betting licence
Virtual slot machine licence
Online poker licence
The open questions are channelisation and the future of online table games. The 5.3% stake tax and tight deposit-limit, slot-design and advertising rules push some demand offshore, and the GGL has prioritised enforcement and payment-blocking against unlicensed sites. Watch for any move to bring online casino table games into a nationwide framework and for the treaty review process among the Laender.
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Gemeinsame Gluecksspielbehoerde der Laender
ICLG (International Comparative Legal Guides)
Bayerische Staatskanzlei, Gesetze-Bayern (translated)