Illegal Gambling in Germany: Legal Risks and Criminal Liability

If you have received a summons, you should never make a statement without legal representation. You should retain an experienced criminal defense attorney to keep any potential penalty—if conviction occurs at all—as minimal as possible.

The expected penalty depends on factors such as the frequency of participation, the amounts wagered, and any prior convictions. Beyond criminal consequences, you may face forfeiture of winnings, entry into the OASIS player exclusion system, and possibly a Schufa credit report entry.

It is important to understand what German law defines as gambling to better assess your own conduct. These are games where payment is required for the chance to win and where the decision about winning depends entirely or predominantly on chance. The outcome depends on chance when it is determined by whether the occurrence or result of game events is uncertain—that is, unpredictable and random. This includes wagers, particularly sports betting for payment, and online casinos.

Anyone who plays and is therefore subject to the chance-based prospects of winning or losing participates in gambling. However, you also participate—and become equally liable — if you play as a representative or agent for another person on their account.

The same applies to participating organizers or operators of the event. However, the game must have already begun. For a slot machine, this occurs when a coin has been inserted. As a general rule, anyone who organizes, operates, or provides facilities for gambling without official authorization commits a criminal offense. Gambling is also considered public when conducted in clubs or private societies where gambling is habitually organized.

Less obvious actions can also lead to criminal liability. A bar owner who tolerates gambling on their premises commits an offense as an accessory. The same applies to financial backers.

Generally, caution is advised when engaging in gambling. Even if a player assumes the game is permitted, this does not always protect them from punishment if the opposite is actually true. They can then be accused of at least negligent conduct. The same applies if one assumes authorization is not necessary.

In addition to public gambling, German law regulates unauthorized organization of public lotteries or raffles. Unlike lotteries, German law defines raffles as drawings where the prize consists not of money but of goods. A tombola is one example. The decisive factor is official authorization. The organizer of the lottery faces criminal liability. The player remains free from punishment.

The only exception is when official authorization exists for the game. In this case, the game is permitted, and no criminal liability arises. In contrast, lotteries or raffles in closed societies or clubs are not subject to criminal punishment.

Caution is also necessary with foreign gambling operations. The existence of a foreign license does not mean it is valid in Germany. There are also distinctions between EU member states and other third countries. As always, each individual case must be evaluated. It is important to emphasize that participation in gambling is already punishable. Therefore, merely participating with a provider not licensed in Germany already constitutes the offense of illegal gambling. You cannot regularly claim this was an oversight, as the official whitelist shows whether each provider holds a valid license under the State Treaty on Gambling (GlüStV 2021) and is accessible to everyone.

A very practical scenario is participating in online casinos. Online casinos also fall under the definition of gambling. Therefore, the same rules apply: if no authorization exists, it is illegal, and playing is punishable by law. It does not matter whether you play from Germany with a foreign operator.

The applicability of German law is regularly problematic in these cases, as websites are accessible from anywhere. In civil law cases, a consensus has been reached that German law should only apply when the website is intentionally accessed from within Germany. Specific features, including language, currency, top-level domain, and place of performance, determine this.

Criminal court jurisprudence has not yet reached agreement on this point. To date, the Federal Court of Justice has sided with the legislature’s position that it is sufficient if the site is accessible in Germany for German criminal law to apply.

In this case, anyone participating in a foreign casino would commit a criminal offense, even if the gambling is state-approved and permitted in the operator’s home country. Taken to its logical conclusion, this would also mean that a participant commits an offense by accessing online casino sites from Germany. However, if they traveled to the online casino’s home country and accessed the site there, they would not face punishment. Therefore, legitimate voices have called for a different approach, as this perspective overlooks the global nature of the internet.

In summary, current jurisprudence shows no clear line. However, convictions in practice for mere participation in online casinos rarely occur. Should an investigation proceed, it is typically dismissed as a minor matter. Nevertheless, consulting a criminal defense attorney is advisable here as well, as they can assess the situation considering all the circumstances and properly navigate it.

Once an investigation into illegal gambling begins, the public prosecutor will request the confiscation of winnings as a monetary equivalent. In plain terms, this means the state confiscates the winnings, which the player cannot retain. However, this requires a conviction for illegal gambling. In some cases, this may also trigger an investigation for tax evasion. An entire chain of consequences can follow from an illegal gambling investigation. In any case, contact us early to reduce or ideally avoid unwanted consequences.

Participating in online casinos carries a certain risk of attracting suspicion from prosecutors for money laundering (Section 261 German Criminal Code). If certain deposit patterns are observed, providers may report transactions. Most money laundering proceedings arise not from active investigations but from suspicious activity reports from banks, incidental findings in other investigations, or self-reporting by casinos. The standard here is: even “reckless failure to recognize” money laundering is sufficient. Recklessness refers to gross negligence and, in this context, implies failing to recognize an illegal origin when it should have been obvious.

Most commonly, you will fall under a variant in paragraph 1 of the offense by concealing the origin or obstructing or endangering the investigation of the origin. This quickly occurs with “chip dumping” because proving a legitimate origin through “gambling winnings” will be difficult. Account-to-account transfers are also problematic when money is moved between player accounts. This is particularly relevant in poker when accomplices intentionally lose. Crypto mixing also carries high risk. Depositing Bitcoin, for example, and later withdrawing in another currency also creates a chain of concealment.