Joint research conducted by ARD and Die Zeit and Investigate Europe, published on 6 March, reported that gambling operators have benefitted from a “secret agreement” with the federal states.
The report, covered by ARD’s Monitor programme, claimed the state of Hesse concluded a settlement with sports betting providers in 2022 before the Darmstadt Administrative Court.
As per that reported settlement, sports betting operators can use a credit bureau to check a player’s financial standing, if they seek to increase their monthly betting deposit limit past €1,000. German private credit bureau Shufa is the credit agency referenced in the Monitor report.
However, the issue raised by Tipico, among other German sector stakeholders, is Monitor’s claim that this clause was previously kept secret and Schuf has been used to increase player deposit limits without operators checking player documentation.
Tipico deposit raises questioned
Monitor’s report claimed a student that earned just €1,000 a month was able to request and obtain a €10,000 deposit limit increase within seconds from Tipico.
“The segment implies that this procedure violated regulatory requirements,” Tipico said in a public statement dated 10 March. The impression was further intensified by stating that Tipico “declined to comment” when asked why this limit increase was granted.
Tipico said in response to questions from Monitor that it would be happy to investigate the reported case. “If you provide us with the relevant details, we can comment on why this limit increase was approved,” it said. However, Tipico said it received no further response from Monitor.
“The agreement is a judicial settlement which was reached and recorded during a public hearing at the Darmstadt Administrative Court,” the operator said of the agreement.
“The federal states have publicly disclosed the contents of this settlement in their interim report evaluating the State Treaty on Gambling. This report has been publicly accessible since June 2024.”
What are the GGL requirements on increasing deposit limits?
As per the German 2021 State Treaty on Gambling (GlüStV 2021), players are limited to a €1,000 deposit per month across all providers. This can be increased, on an operator by operator basis, if a player shows no signs of gambling addiction and if they are able to present proof to an operator they have the economic capacity to make larger deposits without encountering financial difficulties.
In its website FAQs, the German gambling regulator, the GGL, said a player must provide the operator with appropriate and verifiable evidence of financial capacity, when seeking a deposit increase.
This includes income tax assessments or other proof of income and bank statements. It said self-disclosures by players are not sufficient.
But the regulator has said Shufa checks are one procedure permitted to assess whether a player should be granted a deposit limit increase, as a person’s payment history can influence the decision.
GGL’s FAQ notes: “The decision to allow Schufa-G as a possible method for assessing players’ economic capacity was made by the gambling supervisory authorities of the federal states during the transition phase from a fundamentally complete ban on online gambling to a ban subject to authorisation.
“It was assumed that the methods used, including the Schufa-G check, adequately reflect economic capacity. The GGL continuously reviews the methods used, including the Schufa-G check, also taking into account current court decisions.”
DSWV calls report “unfounded”
The German Sports Betting Association (DSWV) has also hit out at the claims that German federal states have “secret agreements” with the gambling industry.
The DSWV said on 7 March that the report is an attempt to “scandalise” an agreement made between the GGL and licensed operators providing sports betting.
“The accusation is unfounded,” DSWV said. “There is no secret agreement. The responsible gambling supervisory authority and the sports betting providers have reached and recorded a settlement in public proceedings before the Darmstadt Administrative Court in accordance with the rule of law.”
DSWV stated that the Schufa procedure is a “useful indicator” of players’ financial circumstances and prevents indebted people from gambling, thus strengthening player protection.
Malta court ruling
In another case study, Monitor interviewed a woman called Sabine who lost roughly €180,000 on a Betway site before the company had a licence to legally operate in the German market.
German courts gave Sabine written orders so that she may recover her losses from Betway, but the report said by being based in Malta, the operator may not need to comply with the rulings.
On 27 February, a Maltese Civil Court ruled it would not enforce Austrian court judgments that were in favour of players who had gambled on sites in the country run by Malta-licensed operators.
The landmark ruling argued Austria’s gambling monopoly contradicts EU Article 56 in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which sets out how services (like online gambling) can be provided across EU states.
The court said TFEU acts as a “primary source of community law” which is a “fundamental rule of the legal order” for both the EU and Malta.
The Austrian market, alongside Germany, has seen a number of court cases siding with players who have lost money on illegal sites.
