Germany's GGL Marks Five Years With 287 Prohibition Cases a Year and Asks the Länder for Room to Act Faster

The Joint Gambling Authority of the Länder says it supervises 129 licensed operators, made 1,843 illegal sites unreachable from Germany by the end of 2025 and puts about 77% of the online market in the licensed channel. It wants the treaty evaluation to give it more discretion, because changing the rules takes years and the black market adapts in months.

• The Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL) said on its fifth anniversary that 129 operators and intermediaries hold its licences, covering 229 permitted gambling sites, supervised by about 100 staff
• Its prohibition proceedings rose from 68 in 2022 to 287 in 2025, and 1,843 illegal websites were no longer reachable from Germany by the end of 2025 after prohibitions or network blocks, with 178 more cut off from established payment routes
• The regulator puts channelisation at about 77% of the online market, citing the latest scientific study, and says the remaining share outside regulation is "not insignificant"
• It wants the current evaluation of the 2021 Interstate Treaty on Gambling to make regulation more adaptable and give it more professional discretion, working with its Administrative Board, because treaty changes take years
• The call follows the Frankfurt investigation into an alleged illegal casino network that took €5.86 billion in stakes

Five Years, One Regulator for Sixteen States

The GGL was created under the Interstate Treaty on Gambling 2021 (GlüStV 2021) to bring the 16 Länder's supervision of online gambling into one authority. In its anniversary statement it said it now supervises a largely established legal online market with about 100 employees. According to the statement, 129 operators and intermediaries hold a GGL licence and appear on the official whitelist, covering 229 permitted gambling sites. In 2025 it carried out more than 600 supervisory procedures against licensed operators on player protection, advertising and game design, and it has revoked two licences so far.

Enforcement against the illegal market has grown faster. Prohibition proceedings rose from 68 in 2022 to 287 in 2025, and by the end of 2025 the GGL had checked about 6,300 websites for illegal gambling or advertising for it. The authority says it increasingly targets the ecosystem around illegal operators, including payment providers, advertising partners, affiliate networks, hosting companies and other technical service providers. In 2025, 1,843 illegal sites were no longer reachable from Germany because of prohibitions or network blocks, 178 were cut off from established payment routes, and 254 illegal operators had withdrawn from the German market by the end of the year. Since September 2024, only licensed operators may advertise gambling through Google Ads in Germany.

The LUGAS system, the Länder's central gambling supervision database, held 5.3 million registered players in its central files at the end of 2025, according to the GGL. On channelisation, the regulator cites the latest scientific study as putting about 77% of the online gambling market in regulated offers, and describes that as a positive but differentiated result, since a significant share remains outside regulation.

"A Market That Changes Fast Needs Supervision That Can React"

The request is about speed. "A market that changes rapidly in technology and economics needs supervision that can respond promptly to new developments," said Ronald Benter, a member of the GGL's board, according to the statement. The GGL notes that new business models and forms of illegal gambling can emerge quickly, while changes to the treaty framework usually take a multi-year political and legislative process. It wants the evaluation of GlüStV 2021, now under way, to answer how the system can become faster and more adaptable, and to give the GGL "the necessary professional room for manoeuvre" where rapid responses are needed, working with its Administrative Board, which represents the Länder. Speaking to the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, Benter also called on prosecutors to pursue more individuals abroad who target German players without a licence, SBC News reported.

The Ask Is Delegated Rule-Making, and the Länder Will Weigh What They Give Up

The GGL is not asking for new laws so much as for authority to adjust the details itself. Under GlüStV 2021 much of what operators must do, from stake limits to game design, is written into a treaty that all 16 Länder must agree to change. Moving detail from the treaty to decisions by the regulator and its board would make Germany faster, but it would also shift power from sixteen parliaments to one authority in Halle. That trade is the political question the evaluation will have to settle, and the Länder that value their veto are unlikely to give it up lightly.

Seventy-Seven Per Cent Is the Number Both Sides Will Use

The industry has argued for years that Germany's strict product rules, including the €1 slot stake cap and the monthly deposit limit, push players to unlicensed sites. The GGL's 77% figure, and its fourfold rise in prohibition cases, will be read by the regulator as proof that enforcement works and by operators as proof that nearly a quarter of the market still escapes it. Both readings point to the same conclusion the GGL is drawing: rules that cannot change quickly are losing ground to a black market that can.

The GGL has built the enforcement machine the treaty asked for. It is now asking for the authority to retune it without waiting years for sixteen governments to agree.