Online Gambling in Germany: Legal or Illegal?
The legal situation is clear, yet thousands of users are caught out by seemingly reputable online gambling offers every month. In Germany, online gambling is only legal if a license has been granted by the Joint Gambling Authority of the Länder (GGL). This license isn’t just a formality; it’s the foundation for the entire legal admissibility of the offer. Anyone who organizes or participates in gambling without a license is committing a criminal offense.
But how do you know if a provider has such a license? The answer: via the GGL’s “Whitelist.”
The Whitelist – The Key to Legality
The Whitelist is a publicly accessible directory of all legally approved gambling providers in Germany. The GGL lists all domains for which permission exists – specifically, not only the provider but also the exact internet address. It’s not enough for a company to have a license; it must also apply to the specific domain through which gambling takes place.
For example, this list includes:
- lottoland.com
- lottoland.de
These domains are assigned to Lottoland Deutschland GmbH – a provider that has the necessary approval.
What is NOT on this list:
The domain lottohelden.de.
Caution with lottohelden.de – Why This Domain (or Gambling) Is Not Legal
Although the name sounds almost identical and the design of the site appears trustworthy at first glance, the domain www.lottohelden.de is not listed on the Whitelist – and is therefore illegal under German gambling law.
This means: Anyone who registers on this site, makes deposits, or even wins prizes is participating in unauthorized public gambling. And that is punishable by law – even for the player.
Even those who didn’t know that lottohelden.de is not licensed risk facing a criminal investigation under § 285 of the German Criminal Code (StGB).
§ 285 StGB – Participation in Unauthorized Gambling
A brief look at the law:
§ 285 Participation in Unauthorized Gambling“Anyone who participates in public gambling (§ 284) shall be punished with imprisonment for up to six months or with a fine of up to one hundred and eighty daily rates.”
What many don’t know: Criminal liability doesn’t only apply to the provider, but also to participation. This means that anyone who gambles on an unlicensed site like lottohelden.de – even with small amounts – is at criminal risk.
Investigations & Confiscation – What Really Threatens in Practice
Many of those affected learn about their alleged crime not through a sudden house call or arrest, but by letter. Suddenly, a police summons for suspicion of participating in unauthorized gambling (§ 285 StGB) is in the mailbox. Often, the accused don’t even know what they’ve done wrong. They’ve “only” played on a website – usually for many months.
How Does the Report Even Come About?
The most common trigger is not a targeted prosecution, but an automated money laundering suspicion report. Banks or payment service providers are required by the Money Laundering Act to report unusual money movements or conspicuous transactions to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). In particular, transfers to well-known gambling providers outside the Whitelist are considered “conspicuous.”
The FIU, in turn, often forwards this information directly to the responsible police authorities or public prosecutor’s offices – and that’s how the investigation begins.
What Can Happen If the Public Prosecutor’s Office Becomes Active?
First, the suspicion is examined. If the proceedings are discontinued under § 170 Para. 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (StPO) because, for example, no concrete act can be proven or there is no public interest in prosecution, this is usually a stroke of luck for those affected.
But beware: If the proceedings are instead discontinued due to minor guilt (§ 153 StPO) or against conditions (§ 153a StPO), the risk remains that the state will subsequently initiate independent confiscation proceedings.
In such proceedings, the public prosecutor’s office can demand that all winnings or even stakes that have flowed through an illegal gambling site be confiscated from the player – even if the criminal proceedings themselves are no longer running.
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