GGL licence under the Interstate Treaty on Gambling 2021 (GlüStV 2021): what it covers and what it means for players

For players in Great BritainA German (GGL) licence does not allow an operator to offer gambling to people in Great Britain. Under the Gambling Act 2005 (s.33, read with s.36(3) and (3A) as amended by the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014), providing remote gambling facilities used in Great Britain without a Gambling Commission operating licence is an offence, and s.330 makes advertising unlicensed gambling an offence. The GGL states that German-licensed operators may only use '.de' domains, so the licence is tied to the German market. How to check a site.

Licence types

Virtual slot games (virtuelle Automatenspiele) - GGL
Online poker - GGL
Online sports betting and horse-race betting - GGL
Nationwide social lotteries, class lotteries and commercial lottery brokering in several states - GGL
Online casino table games (Online-Casinospiele, s.22c GlüStV 2021) - licensed by the individual states, not the GGL
Land-based casinos, arcades, betting shops and state lotteries remain with the state authorities

What players get

Cross-operator deposit limit, in principle a maximum of EUR 1,000 per month, enforced through the LUGAS limit file; players can set lower limits and per-operator deposit and loss limits
Ban on playing with several online operators at the same time, enforced through the LUGAS activity file
OASIS national exclusion system: self-exclusion for at least 3 months and third-party exclusion for 12 months, free of charge; operators must check OASIS at registration and login, and must themselves exclude players where there are serious signs of addiction or over-indebtedness
A visible 'panic button' giving a 24-hour short-term block
One account per operator, identity verification before full play (a provisional account is limited to 72 hours and EUR 100 deposits, with no withdrawals), no credit, and payments only through accounts in the player's own name
Operators must run an automated early-detection system for at-risk players; the GGL defined binding 'markers of harm' in 2023 for players allowed higher deposit limits
Operators must transmit gameplay data to a 'safe server' that the GGL analyses
The GGL does not handle individual transaction disputes or civil claims (e.g. withdrawals or recovering losses); its reporting portal is for breaches and illegal offers

How to check a licence

Check the official whitelist (amtliche Whitelist) published by the GGL under s.9(8) GlüStV 2021 at https://www.gluecksspiel-behoerde.de/de/fuer-spielende/uebersicht-erlaubter-anbieter-whitelist; it also lists offers supervised by state authorities. Licensed operators must state on their home page that they hold a German licence and which authority issued it, and may show the official 'GGL Prüf- und Erlaubnissiegel'. The GGL says licensed operators may only use '.de' domains, so a gambling site on another domain is not licensed in Germany.

Recent changes

2023-01-01: The GGL took over administration of the LUGAS supervision systems; the GGL describes its tasks as having been transferred in stages.
2024-09: Following GGL enforcement, only licensed gambling operators may advertise through Google Ads in Germany.
2025: The GGL ran 287 prohibition proceedings against illegal gambling (68 in 2022); 1,843 illegal websites were no longer reachable from Germany and 178 sites were cut off from established payment routes.
2026-09-22: On its fifth anniversary the GGL said the GlüStV 2021 is being evaluated and asked for a more adaptable framework; it reported 129 licensed operators and brokers and 229 permitted gambling sites on the whitelist.

Context

The GGL cites a channelisation study finding about 77% of the German online gambling market is in regulated offers, meaning a significant share remains outside regulation.

In 2025 the GGL carried out more than 600 supervisory procedures on licensed operators; it has revoked two licences to date.

By the end of 2025 the GGL had checked about 6,300 websites for illegal gambling or advertising, and LUGAS held 5.3 million registered players.

Not yet verified

Game-level rules for virtual slots (e.g. EUR 1 stake cap, 5-second spin) are widely reported but were not on the GGL pages read
Date the GGL became fully operational for licensing (commonly cited as 1 January 2023); only the LUGAS handover date was confirmed
Outcome and timetable of the GlüStV 2021 evaluation
No ADR body for player disputes was identified

We could not confirm these from a primary source, so we have not stated them as fact.