How to get a gambling licence in Germany: fees and steps

A single inter-state treaty governs gambling across all 16 Länder; a single authority now licenses the online products that are federally uniform.

• The GlüStV 2021 (Glücksspielstaatsvertrag) entered into force on 1 July 2021 in all 16 Länder and allows virtual slot machines, online poker and online casino games under restrictive conditions; Schleswig-Holstein's online-casino permits from before the treaty continued at most until 31 December 2024 (Section 29(7)).
• The Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL) is an institution under public law (Anstalt des öffentlichen Rechts) seated in Halle (Saale). It was set up on 1 July 2021 and has issued permits since 1 January 2023; Land authorities licensed until 31 December 2022: Hessen for sports betting, sports-betting intermediation and internet horse betting, Sachsen-Anhalt for online poker and virtual slot games (Section 27p(1) no. 3).
• Applications for online poker and virtual slot machine permits go to the GGL, Referat 21, Hansering 15, 06108 Halle (Saale), using the mandatory forms in the GGL download area.
• The primary objectives of the GlüStV 2021 are preventing gambling addiction, protecting minors and players, and channelling demand into the legal, supervised market.

Laws that apply

• Glücksspielstaatsvertrag 2021 (GlüStV 2021), inter-state treaty, in force 1 July 2021; nationwide online products licensed by the GGL under Sections 4a-4c, 21, 22a, 22b
• GlüStV 2021 Section 22c, Online-Casinospiele reserved to the individual Länder (state-level regulation)
• Rennwett- und Lotteriegesetz (RennwLottG) of 25 June 2021 (BGBl. I S. 2065), in force 1 July 2021, taxation of sports betting, virtual slot machines, online poker, horse-race betting and lotteries
• Geldwäschegesetz (GwG), anti-money-laundering obligations for gambling operators
• State implementing laws (Ausführungsgesetze, GlüStV 2021 Section 28(1)), set by each state and not covered in this guide

What the GGL licenses nationwide is not the same set of products the states control. There is no national online-casino licence.

The GGL grants a separate permit (Erlaubnis) per product. Permits are time-limited and personal to the applicant.

• A distinct GGL permit is required for each vertical: sports betting, virtual slot machines and online poker are applied for separately (an operator offering all three needs three permits).
• Term (Section 4c(1) GlüStV): on first grant to an applicant the permit runs for five years; on subsequent grant it runs for seven years. The authority may set a shorter term in justified cases.
• Permits are not freely transferable, transfer or delegation to a third party requires the prior consent of the competent authority (Section 4c(1)).
• Online casino permits, where a state issues them, follow that state law rather than the GGL rules above.

The special permit conditions in Sections 4a-4c GlüStV apply to sports betting, online poker and virtual slot machines.

• Full disclosure of ownership and shareholding structure, including the identity of every partner, shareholder or person holding more than 5% of capital or voting rights (Section 4a(1)).
• Reliability and expertise (Zuverlässigkeit und Sachkunde) of the applicant and responsible persons for operating public gambling (Section 4a(1)).
• A security and IT concept, including real-time interfaces allowing the authority to inspect all gaming transactions (Section 4a; Section 4b application file).
• A bank guarantee (Sicherheitsleistung) as a hard condition of grant, see Section 6 below.
• The applicant must have its seat in an EU or EEA state; a company seated outside the EU/EEA cannot hold a GGL permit (Section 4a(1) no. 3 b). An applicant without a seat in Germany must name a person in Germany authorised to receive documents and to represent it before the authority.

The GGL verticals are taxed on stakes (turnover) under the RennwLottG, not on gross gaming revenue.

The binding capital item is the bank guarantee, set in the statute; administrative fees scale with expected turnover.

Germany runs one of the strictest cross-operator player-protection regimes in Europe, enforced through central state-operated files.

• Cross-operator monthly deposit limit of 1,000 EUR (Section 6c(1)): the anbieterübergreifendes Einzahlungslimit aggregates a player’s deposits across ALL online operators in a calendar month and generally may not exceed 1,000 EUR. Until 31 December 2026 a GGL decision rule lets an operator set a higher limit for a player: up to 10,000 EUR on proof of financial capacity, and up to 30,000 EUR for at most 1% of its active players aged 21 or over; nothing above 30,000 EUR.
• LUGAS (Länderübergreifendes Glücksspielaufsichtssystem, the cross-state gambling supervision system): central files operated by the GGL since 1 January 2023 (service provider Dataport). The Limitdatei enforces the 1,000 EUR cross-operator deposit limit; the Aktivitätsdatei prevents parallel play, a player cannot be active at more than one operator at a time, with a five-minute wait when switching provider.
• OASIS: the central, cross-format self-exclusion register (Section 8 GlüStV: zentrales, spielformübergreifendes Sperrsystem; Sperrdatei under Section 23), operated for all Länder by the Regierungspraesidium Darmstadt (Hesse). Operators must query it and must block self-excluded and third-party-excluded players before play (Section 8(3)).
• Safe server: operators must maintain a safe server accessible to the authority, with real-time interfaces for supervision of all gaming transactions.
• Operators must offer a panic button that locks the player for 24 hours (Section 6i(3)), additional daily, weekly or monthly stake, deposit and loss limits (Section 6c(2)), and a player can be excluded through OASIS for at least one year, or for a period of at least three months if the player asks (Section 8a(6)).

Virtual slot machine gameplay is tightly constrained by statute, these limits shape the entire product.

• Stake limit of 1 EUR per game by statute (Section 22a(7)); since 1 July 2026 a GGL decision rule lets operators voluntarily raise it to 3 EUR for players aged 21 or over, and to 5 EUR after a 90-day qualification period with no addictive-play markers, until 31 December 2027 at the latest.
• A game must last at least five seconds on average, counted from the player's declaration that starts it to the display of the result (Section 22a(6)).
• No autoplay: program sequences that automatically start a further game after the previous one, and player declarations to take part in several games in a row, are prohibited.
• Jackpot prohibition (Jackpotverbot): stakes, winnings or parts thereof may not be pooled to create winnings for future games.
• No parallel play across operators (enforced via the LUGAS Aktivitätsdatei).

Nationwide products must connect to the state supervisory infrastructure and appear on the public whitelist.

• Real-time interfaces (Schnittstellen) for the authority to inspect all gaming transactions (Section 4a).
• Mandatory connection to the LUGAS central files (Limitdatei and Aktivitätsdatei) and to the OASIS self-exclusion register before go-live.
• Compliant, tested gaming software and a safe-server setup satisfying the GGL security and IT concept requirements.
• Once permitted, the operator and its domains are listed on the GGL whitelist (Übersicht erlaubter Anbieter), the official list of organisers and intermediaries holding a permit or concession, updated at least monthly. It does not list, among others, amusement-arcade operators, lottery collection points, local betting shops and small lotteries.

Online gambling operators are obliged entities under the German AML statute.

• Operators of online gambling are Verpflichtete (obliged entities) under the Geldwäschegesetz (GwG) and must run customer due diligence, monitoring and suspicious-transaction reporting.
• The GGL is the money-laundering supervisor for the operators it licenses (Section 50 no. 8 GwG, which names the authority competent for gambling supervision).
• Payment providers need a permit from BaFin, and the GGL cooperates with BaFin (Section 9(3a)).

Advertising is permitted but heavily time-boxed and restricted for the online verticals.

• TV and internet advertising for virtual slot machines, online poker and online casino games is prohibited daily between 06:00 and 21:00 (Section 5(3) sentence 1); sports betting has no daytime watershed. The GGL's model permit conditions also ban advertising for virtual slots and online poker in public space, such as billboards (Nr. 5.11).
• Sports-betting advertising for a specific event is prohibited immediately before and during the live broadcast of that event on the transmitting channel (Section 5(3) sentence 2).
• Advertising for sports betting featuring active athletes and officials is prohibited (Section 5(3) sentence 3).
• General GlüStV rules also bar misleading advertising and any suggestion that gambling is a route to social or financial success.

The GGL has direct powers against illegal operators and publishes annual market data.

• Prohibition orders against the operation, conduct, brokerage and advertising of unlawful gambling (Section 9(1) sentence 3 no. 3).
• Payment blocking: the authority can order credit and financial-service institutions to stop participating in payments to and payouts from illegal gambling after prior notification (Section 9(1) sentence 3 no. 4).
• IP / internet blocking: blocking measures directed at internet service providers and registrars where action against the operator is impractical (Section 9(1) sentence 3 no. 5).
• Market data (GGL figures of 22 September 2026 and the whitelist updated 2 October 2026): 129 organisers and intermediaries hold a GGL permit and 229 sites are permitted; the whitelist shows 50 companies with permits for online-capable products (72 permits: virtual slot games 36, sports betting 26 online-capable, online poker 5, internet horse betting 5) plus five online casino entries licensed by the Länder. For the end of 2025 the GGL reports 1,843 illegal websites unreachable through prohibitions or network blocks, 178 payment-blocked, 254 providers withdrawn from the German market and a legal share of 77% of the online market.

Illustrative path for an operator seeking a nationwide GGL permit (sports betting, virtual slots or online poker). Online casino games require a separate, state-by-state track under Section 22c.

1. 01

   Choose the vertical(s) and confirm the level

   Scoping

   Decide which products you will offer. Sports betting, virtual slots and online poker go to the GGL; online casino/table games go to the relevant Land. A full product mix means one GGL permit per vertical plus separate state dealings.

2. 02

   Establish corporate and ownership transparency

   Section 4a

   Prepare full disclosure of ownership and shareholding, including every holder above 5% of capital or votes. The applicant needs a seat in an EU or EEA state; without a German seat it names a representative in Germany authorised to receive documents.

3. 03

   Demonstrate reliability and expertise

   Section 4a

   Assemble evidence of the reliability (Zuverlässigkeit) and sector expertise (Sachkunde) of the applicant and its responsible persons.

4. 04

   Arrange the bank guarantee

   Section 4c(3)

   Secure an unlimited-term, self-debtor bank guarantee from a credit institution seated in the EU or EEA: base 5,000,000 EUR, scalable up to 50,000,000 EUR according to expected average monthly turnover; a new permit period needs a new guarantee.

5. 05

   Build the security and IT concept

   Section 4a/4b

   Design the safe-server setup and the real-time supervisory interfaces required for the authority to inspect all gaming transactions.

6. 06

   Integrate the central player-protection files

   LUGAS + OASIS

   Connect to the LUGAS Limitdatei (1,000 EUR default cross-operator monthly deposit limit) and Aktivitätsdatei (parallel-play prevention), and to the OASIS self-exclusion register (Section 8).

7. 07

   Engineer the product to the statutory limits

   Section 22a

   For virtual slots: 1 EUR stake limit per game (voluntary higher limits under the GGL decision rule of 1 July 2026), 5-second average game duration, no autoplay, jackpot prohibition, no parallel play. Configure deposit-limit and self-limitation/pause tooling.

8. 08

   File the permit application with the GGL

   Referat 21, Halle

   Submit the mandatory forms, declarations and evidence to the GGL, Referat 21, Hansering 15, 06108 Halle (Saale), plus the vertical-specific submission addresses. The permit fee is a banded percentage of expected stakes.

9. 09

   Clear GGL vetting and technical checks

   Review

   Work through the GGL review of reliability, ownership, security concept and technical integration; resolve deficiencies as requested.

10. 10

    Receive the time-limited permit

    Section 4c(1)

    The first permit is granted for five years (seven on subsequent grant); it is personal and not transferable without authority consent.

11. 11

    Go live and appear on the whitelist

    Whitelist

    On grant the operator and its domains are published on the GGL whitelist (Übersicht erlaubter Anbieter).

12. 12

    Operate under ongoing tax and compliance

    RennwLottG + GwG

    File and pay the 5.3% stakes tax monthly by the 15th (Sections 21/41/51 RennwLottG), maintain GwG AML controls, keep player-protection files live, and advertise only within the Section 5 limits (for virtual slots, online poker and online casino games, no advertising on broadcasting and the internet between 06:00 and 21:00; sports betting has no daytime watershed).

Tier-ordered: official government first, then practitioner, then trade media. Every primary figure was read from the in-force text on 6 Oct 2026.