German gambling regulator calls for more attention to unregulated market
The GGL is holding its annual Gambling Addiction Action Day.
Germany.- The federal gambling regulator, the GGL, has urged German states to recognise illegal online gambling as a pressing public health concern in the country, To mark the regulator’s annual Gambling Addiction Action Day today (September 24), it called on regional agencies to examine promotional content and offerings linked to unlicensed gambling platforms.
Ronald Benter, CEO of the GGL, said unregulated sites posed risks due to the lack of safeguards for players.
Licensed operators in Germany have long been raising concerns over the size of the black market in the country and questioning official figures. They have called for more intervention from the regulator. The GGL has been carrying out enforcement action but has also been calling on parliament to grant it more powers.
The GGL’s Gambling Addiction Action Day this year has the theme “Gambling Harms – Recognise, Name, Avoid”, intended to communicate the importance of identifying and addressing gambling-related issues. It’s overseen by professor Hendrik Streeck, who serves as the Federal Government’s commissioner for addiction and drugs.
A symposium on sports betting will bring together representatives from various states to share strategies. Sebastian Buchholz, head of Permits and Supervision of Legal Gambling department at GGL, will provide insight into the legal framework, the limits of regulation and the challenges of controlling the online market.
“Sports betting is a growing market, consistent supervision of legal providers is important in addition to combating illegal betting offers in order to protect players and ensure legal certainty in the market,” he said.
The campaign also aims to remind the public to verify operators against the GGL’s whitelist. The GGL recently warned consumers that token-based social betting platforms and event contracts on prediction-based trading platforms like Polymarket are not permitted in Germany under the Fourth Interstate Gambling Treaty of 2021 and are not licensed by the regulator. It made specific reference to what it described as an explosion of media reports about rising numbers of “entertainment-type bets” on the results of the Ukraine war.
