It is no secret that as Europe's most populous and affluent country, Germany also happens to be the continent's biggest gambling market and in 2013 the nation of 80 million people generated $3.7 billion (€2.7 billion euro) in revenues, up by 5% compared to the previous year. In order to organize a framework for its burgeoning gambling industry, Germany subsequently introduced its Interstate Treaty on Gambling (ISTG) in 2012, but the new piece of legislation has since drawn criticism from the EU, especially as it forbids all types of internet gambling with the exception of sports betting.

One of Germany's 16 states, however, did not approve of the ISTG and broke ranks by awarding 50+ iGaming licenses to operators, only to reverse its decision one year later. In so doing, a number of sports betting and poker companies were told their licenses would still stay intact until 2018, although in reality these online casinos exist in somewhat of a grey area. Furthermore, the European Court of Justice (CJEU) recently ruled that it was alright for a country's separate states to have different iGaming licensing rules, and that Schleswig-Holstein's licenses do not apply to the rest of the country.

Nevertheless, the European commission still remains critical of the country's ISTG, believing the legislation to be uncompetitive and discriminatory in its approach, and experts have expressed hope that Germany's online gambling rules will become more flexible and transparent in the future. In the meantime, this year Germany became the first European country to officially prosecute one of its citizens for illegal internet gambling, the unfortunate victim being an online blackjack player who subsequently had €63,490 of online winnings confiscated. Last month, an Italian man living in Germany, too, suffered a horrific shock after trying to withdraw €40,000 of his PokerStars winnings from his bank, only to be told his funds had been frozen, and that online gambling was illegal in Germany.

Therefore, players be warned that gambling online in Germany still caries considerable risks, and that the situation is unlikely to change in the near future.

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