Best Online Casinos in Germany

Federal legislation regulates the market of gambling only in a very limited manner. The majority of regulation depends on competency and authorities of every of the 16 German states. On the one hand, it means that legal gambling situation can be slightly different from state to state. On the other hand, it means that some states may be more web gaming friendly.

However, the main law is actually the same for the whole country. Organization, promotion, and even participation in an unlicensed and unauthorised game of chance (or game of skill) is a criminal offense that falls under the sections 284 and 285 of the German Criminal Code. Advertising of the games of chance is also prohibited.

These rules do not comply very well with the rules of free market for countries that are part of the European Union. However, while both businesses and players hope for the situation to be improved, German government does not seem to be very willing to change anything in the current legislation.

Regulatory Authorities in Germany

Every state has their own Ministries or Senates of the Interior. These agencies are responsible for the gambling-related situation in the state, plus they collaborate closely with the federal government. These state agencies can also appoint other lower agencies that are local, to deal with specific problems or aspects. Generally, the main task of every state’s local authority is to license and supervise brick and mortar gambling houses, and watch for unlawful operation by unlicensed companies.

Some of the lower bodies that are assigned responsible for gambling niche in the particular state, include, for example:

• Regional Council of Darmstadt (Hesse) - issues sports betting licenses
• Regional council of Darmstadt (Hesse) - issues licenses for horse betting entertainment, plus watch for expiring licenses
• Ministry of the Interior of Lower Saxony - watches for violation of the law on national lotteries, expired licenses, and also implements blocking payment options for unlicensed online casinos
• Regional government of Düsseldorf (North Rhine-Westphalia) - approves and regulates issuing TV and Internet ads of lotteries and sportsbooks.

These examples show how well the Deutschland does its job of regulation and control. State agencies are free to assign as many smaller local agencies as they deem necessary, to closely observe the market, and persecute the violators.

On the one hand, this is good news, because it means that the market is safe and regulated for the players. On the other hand, it means smaller operators cannot get through the wall of licenses and permits to provide their services - whatever good! - to willing punters in Deutschland.

Taxation Laws on Gambling in Germany

All operators offering punting entertainment in Deutschland, whether offline or somehow online, have to pay taxes to the state. There are nuances, of course, but in the majority of cases, gambling businesses are to pay 19% of the gross gaming revenue. Lotteries have to pay 20% of the revenue, while sports gaming pay 5% of every stake.

On the part of the player, most winners do not have to pay taxes on their winnings, because their tax is already included into the sum of the minimum bet allowed, and all the taxation is done by the gaming business. As far as we know, maximum tax per winnings for the player is 5%.

However, professional punters like poker players have to beware, because they are expected to add their winnings to their standard income tax. Depending on your income as such, plus the size of your winnings, sometimes the sum of the income tax can reach up to 18%.

If you gamble at real money online casinos operated from abroad, it is up to you to decide whether you want to pay taxes on your winnings as a result of online gambling in Poland or other country. If the winnings are not that impressive, you may choose not to do that. However, in case you hit jackpot, or win a huge sum playing poker, we are afraid you won’t be able to hide such winnings from the authorities, and will have to pay the tax. Moreover, you should consider a reliable banking method to use for withdrawal of your winnings, because some German states do block transactions to and from platforms that might be online casinos.

When you gamble in Deutschland offline, you will find a bunch of banking methods available to you freely and legally, without any issues. You will be able to make bets paying with cash, or you can use your plastic cards issued by local or international banks. Talking about plastic, cards accepted include:

• Visa
• Mastercard
• Maestro
• American Express

Some land based facilities will be able to accept payments provided via online systems, like

• iDebit
• Giropay
• Sofort
• Klarna
• Trustly
• Payone
• Heidelpay

Yet, if you prefer playing online, despite all the risks, what you definitely need is an e-wallet or another web payment processing system that would be fast, safe, and casino-friendly. We remind you that many German banks are likely to block your deposits and withdrawals. Instead, consider using one of the following systems:

• Paysafecard
• Neteller
• Skrill
• PayPal
• EcoCard
• Paydirekt
• Paymill
• Poyolution
• Amazon Payments

Most of them are included into banking methods list available at gambling site that operate on international basis. What is more important, most of these payment systems are casino-friendly.

To give you a bigger picture about the country, here are some fun facts:

• there are over 2100 castles 
• there are over 1500 kinds of beers in Germany 
• Berlin is 9 times bigger than Paris 
• the first book ever printed was written in German 
• the very first magazine launched was German 
• there are over 300 different kinds of bread 
• there are over 1000 kinds of sausages 
• the biggest beer festival in the world is held in Bavaria 
• Christmas tree tradition originated from Deutschland 
• one third of the country is covered with forests 
• Berlin zoo is one of the largest in the world 
• gummy bears were invented in Deutschland