• The most accurate list of casinos in Germany. Find addresses, read reviews and get the best offers on 69 casinos. By continuing to use the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies in order to provide you the best possible experience.
• German Online Gambling Laws. Online gambling in Germany is subject to the Interstate Treaty on Gambling (IGT) that was passed in October 2011. Under the IGT, 20 sportsbooks were allowed to apply for licenses, but the law explicitly bans online casinos and online poker rooms.

German regulators have struggled for years to craft appropriate laws governing online gambling. Finally, in March of 2020, the new Interstate Treaty on Gambling was approved, which will go into effect in July 2021 and allow the licensing of online casinos. But what are the details of the law? Read below to find out.

Poker is in Germany more popular online than in casinos because in general players have a better proposition in online poker rooms than in German casinos. Some casinos in Germany rake as much as 10% up to.20 from their poker games. Not only is the rake huge, but it also slows down the games since it takes dealers a while to calculate exactly 4.

The upcoming online casino regulations in Germany will be a sea change for the country’s gambling industry, bringing a massive new opportunity for both start-ups and established companies who want to expand into Europe’s biggest economy. The latest version of the German Interstate Treaty on Gambling, which will come into force on July 1, 2021, will allow licenses to offer online casino games across the entire country for the first time.

Gambling in Germany is regulated at the state and federal level. At the moment, land-based casinos, land-based and online sports betting, and horserace betting are all allowed, but online casino games are only allowed in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. States have a monopoly on the lottery, but can issue licenses to offer state lottery products.

While the new regulations finally allow licensed operators to offer online casino games, they do come with stipulations that some are calling overly restrictive when it comes to deposit limits, product offerings, and other industry aspects like advertising and affiliate marketing. However, Germany still offers a tempting prospect for online gambling business owners.

Details of the new law

On March 12, 2020, the prime ministers of the various states of Germany approved the newest edition of the Interstate Treaty on Gambling, which will allow licensed operators to offer online slots, poker, and other casino games throughout the whole country. Operating a sportsbook had already previously been legalized.

The law recognizes four categories of betting products: online casino table games, virtual (online) slots, online poker, and sports betting. Virtual slots and poker will follow an open licensing model, whereas each state will be able to decide whether to have a monopoly on casino table games like roulette and baccarat or to issue licenses. The number of licenses available will correspond to the number of land-based casino license holders in that state.

Sports betting licenses will still be issued, but sportsbook operators will have to follow new restrictions on in-play betting; players will only be able to bet on the final result, the next goal or score, or a similar element of the game. Unlike slots, poker, and casino games, there is an unlimited number of sports betting licenses available. When first issued, licenses for sports betting, poker, and virtual slot machines will be valid for five years; online casino (table game) licenses will be valid for seven years.

To ensure uniformity across the country, different state regulators will be responsible for different issues. The regulator of North-Rhine Westphalia is responsible for lottery and sports betting advertising, sports betting licenses are the purview of the regulator of Hesse, and the regulator of Lower Saxony is responsible for payment blocking measures for illegal gambling that crosses state lines.

Online slot games must be licensed by the official regulator (as yet unformed) and significant changes to the game cannot be made without the regulator’s permission. Additionally, a new central authority will be established to issue licenses and ensure compliance. As the centralized authority for licensing and regulation has not yet been formed, licensing fees for online casino operators have not yet been announced. When it comes to taxation, Germany’s Value Added Tax applies to online slots and casino games, and sports betting operators are subject to a 5% turnover tax.

Player protection

The new law has a series of player safety measures in place, with the aim of protecting vulnerable players, preventing underage gambling, and combating problem gambling. When players register on a website for the first time, they will be required to set a monthly deposit limit for themselves, which may not exceed €1000. If a player decides they want to raise their self-imposed limit, the change goes into effect seven days after the request is made. A request to lower a limit is granted immediately. In addition to the deposit limit, there will be a €1-per-spin bet limit on slot machines. Players must also be unable to access multiple gambling sites at the same time, and will be subject to a 5-second wait period between spins of an online slot machine.

Operators will not be permitted to offer both casino games and sports betting from the same domain unless there is an entirely separate area for each of them and cross-selling will be prohibited — for example, they will not be able to advertise sports betting in their casino section. In order to combat problem gambling, a central database of excluded players will also be established.

Advertising and affiliates

The Interstate Treaty on Gambling will have dramatic effects on gambling advertising and affiliate marketing. Advertising for the gambling industry will face certain restrictions, and affiliate marketing payment models will have to be adjusted.

Advertising for sports betting will not be allowed during sporting events, similar to the UKGC’s whistle-to-whistle ban in the UK. However, unlike the UK, sportsbooks operating in Germany will not be allowed to advertise during the run-up to the sporting event to be bet on. Advertisements for online casino, slot, and poker games will be prohibited between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m.

Revenue share payment models, the most common method of rewarding affiliates, will be forbidden. Operators will have to find other means to reward affiliates for directing high-quality traffic to their site, and cost-per-click and сost-per-acquisition will likely take the place of the revenue share model.

Transition period

In anticipation of the upcoming changes and to provide a roadmap to licensing, a transitional regime was approved on September 9, 2020. During this period, operators could offer their services, providing they had proven to be in compliance with the upcoming regulations.

Operators who were not in compliance but continued to offer their services during the transition period would be ineligible for a license when they are offered in July 2021, and operators who were compliant during the transition period will have a track record proving their reliability. However, the amount of time operators had to prepare for the transition period was not very long; on October 1, it was announced that the transition period would begin on October 15.

By October 15, potential license applicants were expected to have removed roulette, baccarat, and other table games from their platforms. By December 15, operators are expected to have introduced a €1 betting limit on slots and a five-second waiting period between spins, both of which will be permanent fixtures of the law.

However, the rules of the transition period were heavily criticized, as operators were left only two weeks to become fully compliant. Also, during the transition period, advertisements are entirely banned. Further complicating player outreach, the use of the word “casino” for the purposes of marketing online gambling is banned — forcing a number of affiliates with the word in their name to quickly rebrand.

Criticism

The Secretary General of the European Gaming and Betting Association, Maarten Haijer, has harshly criticized the upcoming regulatory changes. In his opinion, the wagering and time limits, as well as continued restriction of products will severely limit the ability of licensed operators to meet the needs of the market, giving a leg up to black-market operators who aren’t subject to the same limitations.

In addition to the limitations that will be in place, objections have been raised to the licensing process itself. In April, Austrian bookmaker Vierklee brought a lawsuit to the German courts, alleging that the licensing process, in particular the aspects involving the Federal Council on Games of Chance (Glücksspielkollegium), lacked sufficient transparency. The lawsuit froze the licensing process until it was eventually overruled in October, at which time 15 sports betting licenses were immediately issued by the Darmstadt Council in the state of Hesse, Germany’s sports betting regulator.

However, despite the criticism and the short preparation time for the transition period, Germany remains a highly desirable target market. The German gambling market could be worth as much as €3.3 billion by 2024, making Europe’s biggest economy a worthwhile opportunity despite the deposit limits and other restrictions. Several large, international operators, such as GVC, have already snapped up sports betting licenses, with many more on the way.

Ready to start your own online casino or sportsbook?

If you’re looking to start an online casino or create an online betting site facing the German market but don’t know where to start, Slotegrator has everything you need to get going.

Among the opportunities for your business is a Turnkey platform that has all features operators need for a successful start or a White Label casino that not only provides a technical framework but also comes with every tool needed for compliance. Contact our managers to learn more about the opportunities for your business.

German casino players have it pretty good. Though, you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise, since at one point many forms of gambling were illegal in Germany.

Then the European Union swooped in to save the day. They made it so that gambling is legal in the country – to an extent. They also made it so that the country cannot punish Germans for playing at offshore casinos since the county has made it so hard for operators to obtain licenses.

Take advantage of this while you can. Join one of the recommended casinos in the list below, and you can be claiming bonuses and playing your favorite games within minutes.

You shouldn’t have any issues at any of the casinos listed above. We know that because our team has done extensive research on each one to make sure it meets our standards. This means that every casino we list has the following attributes.

• A gaming license with a reputable gaming regulator or jurisdiction
• A large selection of banking options with reasonable limits and fees
• A positive reputation in the gambling community
• A large variety of casino games available to play on your computer or mobile device
• Several support options and fast response times

We only recommend casinos that we’d play at ourselves.

In fact, many of our team members have accounts at the casinos we recommend. We not only talk the talk, but we walk the walk, too. How many other gambling sites can say the same thing?

We’re also here if you have any questions. Our goal is to ensure that you have a great experience online. So, if you have questions about where to play, don’t hesitate to reach out.

We’ll do what we can to help you out.

If you’re a German casino gambler, and you’re not gambling – especially online – you’re missing out on so many opportunities that people in other countries don’t have.

You could even say that you’re taking the opportunities you have for granted.

Don’t get defensive, though. Hear us out instead. We’ll give you several reasons why German casino players have it made so that you can see where we’re coming from.

In 2008, the country passed the Interstate Gambling Treaty (IGT). This effectively banned online gambling country-wide.

Then the European Union intervened. They said that Germany’s laws were too strict, so the IGT was amended in 2012 to allow the lottery and sports betting. Schleswig-Holstein was an exception – poker games were also allowed.

Schleswig-Holstein also managed to issue 50-ish licenses to online sportsbooks and casinos. These licenses are valid until 2019.

The laws are expected to change again in 2018, but not to the detriment of German gamblers. The laws are expected to become even more liberal so that everyone can enjoy playing at online casinos.

That’s good news, right? We’re not done yet, either.

In 2016, the European Union told Germany that they couldn’t punish offshore operators for accepting German customers, nor could they punish Germans for playing at these sites.

This means that even though you might not have access to an online casino licensed in Germany, you can still legally play at an offshore casino.

Not everyone else can say the same thing. A great example of this is the United States.

Another thing that Germans get to enjoy that not everyone else does is games from specific software providers.

Many software providers operate in certain countries, while – for one reason or another – they aren’t able to operate in others.

Take NetEnt, for example. They prohibit Canadians from playing their games. You’d be lucky if you could even see the thumbnails for their games or play them for free from Canada.

In our experience, this isn’t an issue for players in Germany.

This means you get to play games from Microgaming, NetEnt, Evolution Gaming, and other popular developers.

More importantly, this means that you’ll have access to hundreds if not more than a thousand unique casino games, while players in other regions might only have access to a fraction of that.

What’s great about live dealer casinos for Germans is that you can find games where the German language is spoken.

This is great news if German is your primary and/or preferred language.

Not only will the dealers speak in German, but you should be able to chat with them, too. Most, if not all, live dealer casinos will also let you chat with the other players – all in German, of course.

Not every country will be allowed to play live dealer games. And even for those that can, there are no guarantees that you can read, speak, and play in your native language.

But Germans can.

Look at other countries and the options they have for offshore casinos.

The United States is an excellent example. Americans have some decent options for offshore casinos. They can play at sites such as Bovada, BetOnline.ag, and 5Dimes.

However, these casinos pale in comparison to the casinos that Germans can join. Some of the brands that accept Germans include Bet365, William Hill, and Ladbrokes.

These are all major brands. They advertise online as well as through TV commercials, billboards, sports teams, and more. Chances are you’ve heard of these companies even if you don’t gamble.

What’s more is that several of these companies are publicly traded. They’re in the public spotlight, day in and day out.

The point – these brands have reputations to protect. They have people to answer to when they screw up. That means they’re far more likely to be safe and offer fair games compared to some random no-name online casino.

Not everyone can join these sites. Americans can’t, for example.

Germans can, though, which is why this is another reason why they have it made.

If you decide to hop from the casino to the sportsbook, you should know that Germany charges a 5% fee on every bet you make.

This is crazy high, and it’s on top of the vig you already pay to the sportsbook. This can make it incredibly difficult to make a profit.

That is, unless you join one of the sportsbooks that covers the fees for you.

Many sportsbooks cover this fee for their customers. One example is Bwin.

This is yet another reason why German gamblers shouldn’t take their circumstances for granted.

We don’t know of another country or jurisdiction where players are taken care of like this. Maybe if they could join legit sites such as Bwin or Ladbrokes, this sort of thing might be available.

But as far as we know, it’s not – it’s one of the many things that Germans can take advantage of that no one else can.

Your Checklist for Choosing an Awesome Online Casino

Finding an online casino is easy. There’s more than one hundred of them out there for you to choose from. Choose any one of them, and you can be playing online in a matter of minutes.

But would you feel good about it? Would you feel safe?

We wouldn’t. Online gambling isn’t the same as it is offline. Brick-and-mortar casinos are subject to strict regulations and even harsher penalties when they screw up. You can play anywhere offline and feel okay about it.

Not online, though. In many ways, online gambling is still the Wild West. Operators can run online casinos with far fewer rules and few, if any, consequences if they take advantage of players.

This means that you should take your time when finding an online casino to join. We don’t want to join just any casino. We want to join an awesome one.

You want to know how to do that? Just follow this checklist.

This is easy to check for. Look at the bottom of their website or on the casino’s “about” or “terms and conditions” page. Do they say which jurisdictions they’re licensed through? Do they provide you with a license number?

If so, you can check this box.

For extra credit, we recommend you try to verify their license. You can sometimes go to the gaming regulator and type in the casino’s information, and their license will come up. Then you can check that it’s still valid.

We also recommend you give them extra credit based on who the gaming regulator is. For example, give them brownie points if they have a license through the UKGC, MGA, or AGCC. You can learn more about each gambling jurisdiction and their roles by following the link provided.

Another important item to check is the casino’s terms and conditions. You want to make sure that they’re not predatory in any way. Predatory terms are hard to describe, so here’s an idea of what you want to look for.

• That the bonus terms are reasonable. A 30x base playthrough for slot players is reasonable. A 100x base playthrough for slot players is not
• That the cash-out limits are reasonable. Many casinos will have high minimums, such as $100 or $150. This isn’t reasonable for players who play $20 or $50 here and there. We prefer cash-out limits of less than $50
• That progressive jackpots are paid in full. There’s almost no reason for casinos not to pay these out in full since the money doesn’t even come from them. However, a short-term payment plan – a year or less – is okay if the casino is reputable
• That the casino doesn’t charge maintenance fees for dormant accounts
• That you’re not punished for talking negatively about the casino online

Those are a couple of ideas of what to look for.

Every online casino is going to have terms. Some will be better than others. You just want to make sure that the terms are as player-friendly as possible.

A gaming license doesn’t guarantee that an online casino is worthy of your business. There are many casinos that have gone as far as to scam players but still had gaming licenses.

So, another thing you want to look at is their reputation. Check out casino and gambling-related forums for answers to the following questions.

• Is the casino paying their customers? Are they sending cash-outs in a reasonable timeframe?
• Are they engaging in shady behavior, such as retroactively changing terms or locking players into bonuses?
• Do they work with players when there’s an issue? Does the casino work with third-party mediation sites when an issue arises?
• Are customers happy playing here? Do they recommend that others check them out?

Think about this sort of like reading customer reviews on Amazon. You want to make sure that people enjoy doing business with the casino you’re thinking about joining.

Another important item you want to look at is the casino’s banking options. You need to ask if they accept banking options that you currently have access to or are willing to get.

The good news is that many of the larger casinos that are available to Germans accept common banking options such as credit/debit cards, bank transfers, e-wallets, cryptocurrencies, and more.

Beyond banking options, you also want to look at fees. You should expect to pay a couple percentage points on credit/debit card withdrawals and roughly $40 for a bank wire. If a casino charges much more than that, we recommend seeing if you can have a similar experience but pay cheaper fees elsewhere.

You don’t want a casino’s banking fees to cut into your winnings too badly.

The whole point of this gambling thing is to play games you enjoy. So, it’s important that you make sure the casino has the games you want to play.

Everyone is different when it comes to games. Some people prefer games from a specific software provider, such as Microgaming, NetEnt, Betsoft, or Playtech.

Others want to play variants of popular games, such as blackjack or video poker. They want to play similar games that have unique rules or twists.

Then there are people who just want variety. They want a good selection of slots, table games, video poker machines, and more so that they can bounce around when they get bored.

We can’t tell you what’s right or wrong for you. Only you know what you want to play.

The best way to get an idea of the games a casino offers is to read our reviews. We also tell you the software providers they work with.

If all else fails, you can also browse the games at most casinos for free without creating an account.

The last thing on your main checklist should be the casino’s customer support. The first thing you want to check for are the options available to you.

The casino should offer email support at the very least, but we prefer casinos that also have live chat.

We give casinos brownie points if they offer phone support since this can be hard to offer when you have hundreds or thousands of customers.

Then we look at the support response times and how helpful the support is. If we can receive an email response in as little as a few hours and our issues are squared away, we’re happy. Our rating goes down the longer the response takes and the more back and forth that’s required.

You can also check to see if they have an FAQ or help section. These sections often answer the more common questions casinos receive so that you can find an answer on your own instead of waiting for the casino to get back to you.

And that’s it – those are the items on our checklist.

Any casino you want to have an awesome time at should check every single box above. You could skimp on the games or banking options, but why would you want to?

Since there are several top-notch casinos that offer a variety of games and banking options and also happen to run legit and reputable companies, you should really shouldn’t have to skimp on anything.

The checklist above is more or less a list of must-have items if you want to have a great time gambling online.

That said, there are a few additional items that you might want to look for that apply specifically to German casino players.

• Can you play in German? Can you speak in German?
• Does the casino offer support in German?
• Can you play in euros, the currency now used in Germany? Or will your deposits be converted to a different currency?
• Are bonuses offered in euros?

The more of these options in your favor – the more German options that exist – the better the experience you’re likely to have. You won’t have to worry about wrestling with a different language, currency exchange rates or fees, or other frustrating issues.

That sounds like an awesome experience to us.

Don’t Play This, Play That Instead for Casino Gamblers

Have you ever seen the series, Eat This, Not That? It’s a book series and website that shows you healthier alternatives to unhealthy dishes that people like to eat.

Casino games are similar to foods in that there are some games that are healthier for your wallet than others. We thought it’d be fun if we took a similar approach to some of the casino’s most popular games.

So, what you’ll find below are games that people like to play most and what we feel are better alternatives.

Slots are loads of fun. They’re based on all kinds of themes, including animals, music, money, cars, and more. You can even play slots based on your favorite TV show or movie.

Then there are the features. Slot machines have features such as free spins, wilds, cascading wilds, bonus rounds, and multipliers.

These themes and features make it feel like you’re playing video games that pay out money when you win.

In fact, these games are so much fun that it makes it easy to ignore the house edge – which is often as high as 15%. This house edge makes slots one of the worst games in the entire casino.

If you’re willing to give up slots but don’t want to trade a solitary machine for a socially active gaming table, then we recommend you try video poker instead.

Video poker has a far better house edge. You can find machines that offer a house edge as low as 0.50%. You can find machines that have an RTP as high as 99% or 100% – and some that are even higher than that.

We also like how video poker gives you a lot of bang for your buck. Since slots are all about getting lucky, it’s common to experience a negative bout of variance and burn through $20 in a matter of minutes.

However, you can make $20 last much longer playing video poker, even at $0.50 per hand. It’s common to make $20 or $40 last for 30-60 minutes. That’s because it’s common to break even for long stretches at a time.

The one tradeoff is that video poker isn’t as exciting as slots in terms of mini-games and colorful characters.

That said, oatmeal isn’t as fun as a doughnut, either, but it’s better for your waistline. And video poker is far better than slots is for your wallet.

It’s hard to say what draws people to keno. Maybe it’s the fact that’s it’s pure gambling. Or maybe people like how you can give the casino money, and then sit back and do nothing. You don’t even have to choose your numbers – the casino can do that for you.

It could also be that you can win more than 150 to 1 if you hit all your numbers. This can be a nice payout for a relatively small wager.

The problem, though, is the house edge. Keno has a house edge of 25% to 30%. This makes keno one of the worst games you’ll find in the casino.

Fortunately, there are plenty of other games that offer gambling and decent payouts but with a much lower house edge.

A much better alternative to keno is single-zero roulette. It offers nearly all the same perks that keno does.

• You can receive relatively high payouts. You can receive payouts as high as 17 to 1 and 35 to 1 for splitting two numbers or picking one number.
• This is pure gambling. There is no strategy. Just pick a number, and then sit back and see what happens.

There are additional benefits, too. For example, you’ll find more roulette variants than you will keno variants. You can play live dealer roulette, too.

What’s ideal about single-zero roulette, though, is the house edge. The single-zero variant has a 2.70% house edge. The house edge is the same, no matter what bet you choose to make.

That’s why we recommend you play this instead of keno.

Caribbean Stud Poker is a fun table game. It’s almost like playing Five Card Draw, minus drawing new cards. You have to decide if your hand is good enough right then and there to raise with.

It’s also a reasonable game for your bankroll. There’s a lot of back and forth in terms of winning and losing – or breaking even. This helps your bankroll to last longer.

The problem is that – for a table game – it has a relatively high house edge. The house edge sits at 5.22%.

Does Germany Have Any Online Casinos Open

This isn’t bad for a casino game, especially when you compare it to games like slots or keno or some of the bets you can make in craps.

But you can do better.

Blackjack is far and away a much better game to play than Caribbean Stud. Here are just a few of the many reasons why.

• You have more decisions to make as far as how to play your hand. You have more control over whether you win or lose.
• There are 15+ blackjack variants that you can play. The house edge for each one varies, but you shouldn’t have a problem beating the 5.22% house edge for Caribbean Stud.
• You can (eventually) learn how to count cards to overcome the house edge. In fact, you can have a 0.50% to 1% edge over the casino if you develop your card counting skills.
• You can play live dealer blackjack (in German).

Those are all great perks. However, we didn’t mention the house edge, which totally blows Caribbean Stud out of the water.

The house edge for blackjack can be as low as 0.28%. This house edge applies to games using liberal rules, so the game you play might have a higher edge. Even then, though, it should still beat Caribbean Stud.

This is why we opt to play blackjack instead and recommend that you do, too.

It’s clear to us now and hopefully you too that Germans have it pretty good as far as online gambling is concerned. While Germany’s gambling laws are currently in flux, some Germans still have options within the country to gamble online.

And if you don’t, you can gamble online at offshore casinos without worrying about legal trouble. You have the European Union to thank for that.

We recommend you take advantage of this while you can. Who knows what the future will look like? All we can tell you is what things look like now, and things look pretty good. You can join any casino right now and have access to hundreds of games.

Does Germany Have Any Online Casinos Reopening

The fastest (not to mention safest) way to get started is to choose a casino from our list of recommended casinos. Just scroll up to the top of this page and choose a casino now.