Red Rhino loses appeal against fine from German gambling regulator

The Malta-based operator was fined for offering unlicensed gambling.

Germany.- Red Rhino has lost its legal bid to overturn a fine from the German gambling regulator, GGL. It was issued with a €50,000 fine last month for offering online gambling without a licence.

The GGL noted that while Red Rhino had taken down its German-facing site Platincasino.de, it was still allowing German players to use Platincasino.com despite the Malta-based operator not having a German online gambling licence. The regulator said it had also fined the payments provider that worked with Red Rhino.

In Red Rhino’s subsequent legal action, it contested the GGL’s right to block its use of the unnamed payment provider. However, the Higher Administrative Court of Sachsen-Anhalt ruled that it did not qualify for legal protection as it does not have a German licence. It said that the GGL has the power to block payment services in cases of unlicensed gambling.

the court upheld a decision not to reveal the name of the payment provider to avoid this impacting on its business with licensed operators.