Germany Gambling License

Germany is by far the most developed country in Europe. As such it possesses some of the most encompassing and comprehensive legislature. However, that is definitely not the case when it comes to their laws on gambling. This is because there are still a lot of grey areas which are not covered neither by the German State Treaty on Gambling nor by any of its amendments.

While there is a general sense of being in a state of limbo when online gambling is concerned, there is one thing which is for certain, online gambling is 100% legal in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The German state has issued more than 20 online casinos licenses so far and has also been allowed to extend those licenses until June 30, 2021. It is to be expected that this trend will also mean that online casinos will become completely legal in all German states sooner rather than later.

State Treaty on Gambling

The German State Treaty on Gambling is the highest law concerning gambling activities on German soil. There have been three amendments to it so far and the most recent one extended what was known as the experimental phase which allowed betting companies to operate in Germany in congruence with the state betting and gambling operator.

This shows a tendency towards allowing more private betting companies to enter Germany’s gambling scene legally. All sports betting licenses for private companies for example were made to be valid not only until the previous deadline of June 30, 2019, but after it as well, until June 30, 2021.

The main purpose of this amendment was to grant new online and offline betting and gambling licenses, predominantly to sports betting operators. The expiration date of June 30, 2021 can even be extended to June 30, 2024. In addition to this, the number of sports betting licenses issued by the state can now be higher than the previous limit of 20.

However, one of the biggest drawbacks of the third amendment is the fact that it deals mostly with sports betting licenses and doesn’t mention, at least not clearly, the possibility of applying the same rules to online casinos.