German court orders operator to repay player for unlicensed play

The Landgericht Köln, in Nordrhein-Westfalen, has ordered an online casino to repay a player €25,375 (£21,266) whilst online gambling was still illegal in Germany.

The player played online casino games hosted by the unnamed operator between October 2017 and April 2020.

The operator was based in Gibraltar and did not have the appropriate licence to operate in Germany with online casino only legal in Schleswig-Holstein at the time. Despite this, the player was still able to access the casino.

The games were available to all German residents and the website was in German.

These actions violated section 4, paragraph 4 of Germany’s State Treaty that was in place at the time of the breach. The court ruled that the operator did not have a legal way to obtain the player’s money.

The Fourth Edition of the State Treaty came into force on 1 July 2021 and allowed online casinos to offer other games beyond sports betting, which was the only form of gambling that was legal before this treaty took effect.

The lawyer of the plaintiff, István Cocron of CLLB Rechtsanwälte, said: “The online games of chance should not have been offered in Germany.”

It was not until July 1 2021, that the requirements for offering online gambling in Germany were relaxed.” Cocron added.

“However, these changes do not apply retrospectively, and a licence valid in Germany is absolutely necessary for offering games of chance on the internet.”

This was the first time a regional court in Germany had sided with the player; however, lower courts had found the same verdict.