Is online gambling legal in Germany?

Legal overview

Germany regulates gambling through a treaty concluded by all sixteen federal states, the Interstate Treaty on Gambling 2021 (GlüStV 2021). It created a nationwide licensing system for online sports betting, virtual slot machines and online poker, supervised by the Joint Gambling Authority of the Federal States (GGL) in Halle. Licensed providers are listed on the GGL's official whitelist, which can be filtered by game type and shows the responsible authority, permitted websites and licence dates. Licensed sites must state on their homepage that they hold a state permit and name the issuing authority.

Online casino table games such as roulette or blackjack are treated separately. Under Section 22c of the treaty, each state may either offer them itself, through a public body or a company controlled by the state, or grant a limited number of concessions, capped at the number of land-based casino concessions it could issue. Such offers are valid only for players in that state. Lotteries remain largely with the state lottery companies.

Offering or advertising gambling without a German permit is prohibited, and the treaty bans advertising and sponsorship for unlicensed gambling. Licensed operators must follow strict player-protection rules and check players against the national exclusion system OASIS. The GGL acts against unlicensed sites with prohibition orders and payment measures, but in March 2025 the Federal Administrative Court ruled that the treaty did not provide a sufficient legal basis for its blocking order against an internet access reseller. The states are now ratifying a second amending treaty that revises the rules on network blocking.