Open licensing, split by function
Alderney
A Channel Island jurisdiction whose licence separates the customer relationship from the platform operation.
Licensed online casino
Germany
Europe's largest economy licenses online slots and poker but not online table games, and taxes stakes rather than revenue.
| Product | Position | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Online casino | Partly restricted | Licensed in part only, or licensed subject to limits that exclude part of the usual product. |
| Sports betting | Licensed | Commercial operators can be licensed to offer this product to local customers. |
| Online poker | Licensed | Commercial operators can be licensed to offer this product to local customers. |
| Lottery | State monopoly | Reserved to a state or state-controlled operator; no commercial licence is available. |
How the market works
Germany's framework took effect on 1 July 2021 and is the most product-interventionist in Europe. Online slots are licensed federally under the name virtual slot machine games, but with a stake cap per spin, a mandatory minimum spin duration, no autoplay, no jackpots and no parallel play across games. Online poker is licensed. Live casino and online table games are not covered by the federal licence and remain a matter for individual states, so a large part of the normal casino product has no licensing route.
The tax is levied on stakes rather than on gross revenue. For a product with high turnover and a small margin, a stake tax is a much heavier burden than a revenue tax at a similar headline rate, and it is the single most cited reason why channelling into the licensed German market has been weaker than in Denmark or Britain.
A central system, LUGAS, enforces a monthly deposit limit across all licensed operators at once, and the OASIS register handles exclusion across both online and land-based gambling. Germany is the clearest case in Europe of a licensed market whose design, rather than its legality, determines how much of the demand it captures.
Who regulates it
Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL), based in Halle (Saale) and operating under Interstate Treaty on Gambling 2021. The joint authority of the German states, which licenses online slots, poker and sports betting under the 2021 interstate treaty.
Licence types issued
- Virtual slot machine games
- Online poker
- Sports betting
Questions about Germany
Other markets in Europe
Online licence tied to a land-based licence
Belgium
Online licences exist only as supplements to land-based licences, and advertising is prohibited.
Tied to land-based online casino
Open licensing per game type
Czechia
A licensed market with a mandatory central exclusion register that covers more than self-exclusion.
Licensed online casino
Open licensing
Denmark
An early licensing regime whose certification programme and exclusion register were widely copied.
Licensed online casino
Monopoly, with licensing legislated for 2027
Finland
One of Europe's last gambling monopolies, legislated to open to licensed competition from 2027.
State monopoly online casino
Open licensing, three verticals only
France
The largest European economy with no legal online casino: only betting, horse racing and poker can be licensed.
Prohibited online casino
Background reading
Legal and compliance
What a gaming licence actually covers
A licence is not a badge of quality and it is not valid everywhere. What it authorises, who it binds, and why one company often holds a dozen.
Legal and compliance
How gambling is taxed, and why the base matters
A tax on stakes and a tax on gross gaming revenue can carry the same headline number and produce completely different businesses.
Legal and compliance
How a company enters a new market
The sequence from legal assessment to launch, and the parts that routinely take longer than anyone plans for.
Legal and compliance
What grey and black markets actually mean
The industry uses three words for the legal status of a market and rarely defines them. Here is what each one means in practice.