Properties raided in coordinated operation against illegal gambling in Germany

Police officers in three states took part in a coordinated operation against illegal gambling and slot machine manipulation.

Germany.- More than 300 police officers from departments in three states have taken part in a series of coordinated raids on suspected land-based illegal gambling operations.

Led by Freiburg police, officers from Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg used 30 search warrants to inspect premises accompanied by tax investigators.

Officers are said to have seized allegedly manipulated slot machines and amusements machines. Several people are being investigated for illegal gambling activities, the manipulation of slot machines and tax evasion.

Germany has seen such coordinated operations in the past.

German court orders operator to refund loss due to unlicensed gaming

For the first time, a regional court (the second highest level of court in Germany) has found in favour of a player who took legal action in a bid to recover gambling losses incurred before Germany legalised online gambling.

The Regional Court in Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalenone, has ordered an unnamed Gibraltar-based operator to refund €25,375 in losses.

The player had used the operator’s products between October 2017 and April 2020. At that time, online casino gaming was only permitted in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, but the operator’s games were available in German to all German residents.

Until now, German courts had rejected such claims from players, forming the opinion that the players themselves had also broken the law and should have known that online gaming was not legal.

Several cases have been brought by customers who lost money with gaming operators before the legalisation of online gaming last year.