Germany’s Joint Gambling Authority of the Federal States (GGL) has called for a more adaptable regulatory framework as it marks five years since its creation. In its official five-year review, published on 22 September, the regulator said the 2021 State Treaty on Gambling should be evaluated not only on whether existing rules are effective, but also on whether Germany can respond faster to changing online gambling technology, business models and illegal market activity.
The GGL wants greater regulatory flexibility as Germany reviews the 2021 State Treaty on Gambling.
Germany currently has 129 licensed operators and intermediaries covering 229 authorised gambling websites.
The regulator carried out more than 600 supervisory checks on licensed providers in 2025.
Prohibition proceedings against illegal gambling increased from 68 in 2022 to 287 in 2025.
The GGL says around 77% of Germany’s online gambling market is now channelled through regulated offers.
The GGL’s five-year review says gambling products and technical structures can change within months, while amendments to the interstate legal framework can take several years. The authority therefore wants the ongoing evaluation of the State Treaty to consider how regulators can be given more technical and operational room to react to emerging risks.
GGL board member Ronald Benter said:
A market that is changing rapidly technologically and economically needs supervision that can respond promptly to new developments.
The latest position builds on issues raised earlier this year when the authority discussed Germany’s regulatory priorities at the Hohenheim Gambling Symposium, including whether the existing framework can continue to support player protection while adapting to a fast-moving digital market.
For operators and suppliers, greater regulatory flexibility could affect how quickly supervisory expectations evolve. However, the GGL has not announced specific rule changes, and any reform would still depend on the State Treaty evaluation and decisions by Germany’s federal states.
The regulator’s five-year figures also show a substantial increase in enforcement. Prohibition proceedings rose from 68 in 2022 to 287 in 2025, while around 6,300 websites were reviewed for illegal gambling or related advertising by the end of last year.
The GGL said its approach increasingly extends beyond individual gambling sites to payment providers, advertising partners, affiliate networks, hosting companies and other parts of the technical infrastructure supporting illegal operations.
The scale of that challenge was highlighted recently by a German investigation into a suspected €5.86 billion illegal online gambling network, underlining the compliance and enforcement pressures associated with high-volume unauthorised gambling activity.
By the end of 2025, the GGL said 1,843 illegal websites were no longer accessible from Germany because of prohibition measures or network blocking. Payment measures also cut 178 websites off from established payment channels.
Germany’s regulated online market has also expanded under the current framework. According to the GGL, 129 operators and intermediaries are on the official whitelist, covering 229 authorised gambling websites. More than 600 supervisory checks were carried out in 2025 across areas including player protection, advertising and product design.
The regulator cited research showing that regulated platforms account for around 77% of Germany’s online gambling market. That figure fits into the broader picture of growth in Germany’s regulated online gambling market, while also showing that a meaningful share of activity remains outside the licensed system.
The GGL’s next phase is therefore set to centre on two objectives already identified in its five-year review — maintaining safeguards within the licensed market and improving the speed and effectiveness of action against new forms of illegal gambling.
