GGL presents its 2024 activity report: Effective measures although fight against illegal gambling remains challenging

Supervision of Legal Providers
Last year, the GGL processed 230 applications for permits and amendments and supervised 141 providers. The authority had to overcome a multitude of regulatory, legal, and supervisory challenges. Major events such as the UEFA European Football Championship and the Olympic Games, in particular, led to increased advertising and betting activities, necessitating increased monitoring.

Player Protection Strengthened: Markers of Harm as a benchmark for early detection of gambling addiction systems confirmed by the court for the first time

A milestone in 2024 was the court confirmation of the "Markers of Harm" developed by the GGL. These indicators were developed for audits of increased deposit limits and were first used in 2024. They serve the early detection of problematic gambling behavior. The Mainz Administrative Court confirmed their legal admissibility. The GGL sees this as an important step towards uniform player protection standards.
 

Illegal market: Measures are effective, combating them remains challenging, market share of illegal online gambling at approximately 25%

In 2024, the GGL successfully took action against illegal offerings and was able to make the offerings of numerous illegal providers inaccessible to players in Germany. A total of 231 prohibition proceedings were initiated and over 1,700 websites were reviewed. Approximately 450 illegal gambling sites were no longer accessible from Germany due to prohibition orders, and a further 657 due to geo-blocking based on the Digital Services Act (DSA). Payment blocking made deposits and withdrawals for illegal offerings more difficult.

Another success was the adjustment of Google's advertising guidelines at the initiative of the GGL: Since September 2024, only authorized providers in Germany have been allowed to advertise via Google Ads. This significantly reduced the visibility of illegal offers.

"Our measures are having an impact. Nevertheless, combating illegal offers remains challenging and requires perseverance and close cooperation with national and international partners," said Ronald Benter, CEO of the GGL. According to GGL estimates, the market share of illegal online gambling in the overall online gambling market is around 25%.

Market Development
The legal German gambling market (online and land-based) generated gross gaming revenue (equivalent to players' losses) of approximately €14.4 billion in 2024 – an increase of around 5% over the previous year. Tax and duty revenue from gaming amounted to approximately €7 billion.

The providers regulated by the GGL generated approximately €4 billion, corresponding to a 28% share of the overall permitted market.

In the illegal market, the GGL registered 858 German-language gambling websites operated by 212 operators without a license. The GGL estimates that the illegal German-language websites it records represent a market volume of between €500 million and €600 million. This corresponds to approximately 3% to 4% of the entire legal market (terrestrial and online) and approximately 25% of the legal market for dangerous online gambling, such as virtual slot machines or sports betting.

Outlook: 2025 marked by legal certainty and consistent action against illegal providers
For 2025, the GGL expects further groundbreaking court rulings on its measures, thus providing even greater legal certainty in its approach. The authority will continue to monitor the evaluation of the State Treaty on Gambling in 2021 and, among other things, further expand advertising monitoring. The further development of the use of safe servers is intended to further improve supervision of the legal gambling market and enable more precise monitoring. A particular focus is on intensive cooperation with national and international authorities to further effectively curb the illegal gambling market. This targets not only the providers themselves, but also technical service providers, advertising partners, and other supporting actors.

Ronald Benter: "Our stated goal is to make the business model of illegal providers unattractive through a comprehensive package of measures. Combating illegal offerings remains a long-term process that requires strategic action, decisive action, and close cross-agency cooperation."