Illegal Gambling in Germany ?!

Hello everyone,

I wanted to share a surprising experience I had recently. I received an official instruction for conviction from the police regarding my late participation in an online casino belonging to MGA (Maltese Gambling Authority). It appears that our participation can be traced and may lead to serious consequences, as it did in my case. This serves as a reminder that gambling is not legal from both Curaçao and Malta.

I find it concerning that the government for German regions does not inform or take necessary measures to ban these illegal websites. Instead, they trace and pursue individuals legally for their participation. It's disheartening that they don't provide the minimum security measures to protect citizens from falling into such traps. The situation seems absurd, where gambling addiction and money losses occur, yet there is no punishment for the operators or proper restrictions.

I would appreciate any tips or suggestions on how to handle this letter. Please keep in mind that all forms of gambling are illegal in Germany unless the operator is stated on the whitelist of Gemeinsamen Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL), the Gambling Authority in Germany.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

Best regards,

rad234

Hey, can you tell which casinos you played at? The first time I see such a letter, have more people received it?

Hey Jaymen09,

I think it's about the casinos cookiecasino and bobcasino. Both belong to MGA and Malta is part of the European Union, which is actually a bit strange. I do not know if more are affected. But I can say that the police could track all players. The problem here is that if the government thinks that it is illegal to participate in online gambling, why they leave the access and advertising of the services and the website open. I mean why they don't ban the websites like the neighboring countries of Switzerland, Austria or the Netherlands or even France. It's quite contradictory, they have to go after the operator, not the player.

Still I wanted to ask if you had any suggestions on how to proceed with this situation.

Best regards,

rad234

To be honest, I'm also surprised why the players want to tackle it now. How do the police get your information? Have you had problems with the casinos because of alleged money laundering? Did your bank do anything?

Unfortunately I can't tell you what to do now. I'm hoping someone with more knowledge and experience will chime in here.

LG

If there are problems with alleged money laundering, it would be mentioned in the allegation. But here the police only meant illegal participation in the unlicensed gambling provider. This is punishable by up to 180 daily rates or up to 6 months imprisonment.

But thanks anyway for your comment and I hope that someone who knows the case better will get in touch ^^

Best regards,

rad234

It is strange. I have never seen anything like this. As you said, according to the rules, you can only play in casinos that have a German license. (This may be sometimes different in different states).

remember If you want to play with other casinos with no Germany license, you should not do it without vpn and be sure to use the crypto currencies payment method.

at the end, I don't know enough about legal issues, but maybe you can solve the problem by stating that you are not aware of the law and that if the site is illegal, it should be filtered.

Not German - but just to add a quick note with regulations. Some casinos are being blocked, but always find ways to be accessible again, it's a never-ending cat and mouse chase.

Not saying that the player should be punished, but unregulated casinos are most of the time one step ahead.

I am curious about this, but not not sure the translation of your picture I got was correct.

Does it say how you were tracked ? ISP ? Bank ?

Anyway, get yourself a VPN and avoid bank/card transfer if you plan on using some of those websites again 😬

Hey Thebaum,

thank you for your comment to this thread. Well if they got a big fine from the german side they will be obliged to cut their services once for all from the german market like the netherlands government did to most of illegal operator this year. It's somehow proving that the sanctions set from german government quite not efficient and than penalizing the player who participated at the "illegal gambling in internet" It's really contradictory honestly speaking. I hope they will make big changes in future to assure that the german player will be in both cases protected ^^

No they just stated that they charge me of illegal participation to illegal gambling activities by an unlicensed operator in Germany. They provided an approximated time frame with dates and the place where i supposedly took part of this gambling activities. By place i mean the address. And the ridiculous thing is they assume it was on Internet. I mean Internet is really huge and could be out of nowhere. They didn't provide of how they tracked my activities. It's honestly strange !

Hey JosephMeyer,

thanks for your reply and supportive words. I guess in Germany even if you state that you aren't aware of the law, you will still not be let off because of that. But i totally agree with your point if the operator is not regulated why is the services offered and the website isn't down ? That’s the big deal honestly

That's odd 🤨 that's quite a lot of approximations for a legal paper actually. The minimum for a situation like this would be your IP Address, the exact time where you played, and the website address.

Does it states that you gotta pay some fines directly ?

Hello.

May I share my point of view?

I would say that players should do some digging first to find out whether playing in a properly unlicensed casino won't harm them.

I mean, we live in the era of phishing emails, calls, and chatbots trying to steal our sensitive data.

The question in my mind is: How likely is any government capable of solving the fact that casinos without a German license keep offering their services to German players?

What works in the Czech Republic for instance - some bigger and global internet providers can block some of those casinos, but the rest is up to the player. If you are aware the casino is not licensed in your country, don't play there - the message is clear.

But setting the course to punish players, I'm quite convinced it makes sense to the authorities, but for the players, it is more like a double edge sword. 🙁

I would never believe an ordinary player might be fined for playing in an unlicensed online casino.

I'll wait for the next hints regarding this topic, that's for sure!

Hello, since I don't speak German, could you please tell me what the possible consequences are for you? I suppose it's written there...

Anyway, I feel like playing in licensed casinos (in Germany) or using crypto will be the only option for German players. I feel very sorry for all the players in Germany. You either have to play with lower RTP (=chance for winnings) than any other player in the world or you're persecuted.

When it comes to your question about handling the letter: According to information that I have, German players can play in unlicensed casinos if they don't play from the German territory. In that case, the GGL would need to prove that you played in those casinos from the German territory.

If the MGA licensed casinos provided your data to GGL (for example the IP address you played from), then I personally believe it goes against GDPR standards since they shouldn't provide such data about you. They would break the GDPR rules by doing this. Additionally, if your IP address shows Germany, it doesn't mean you played from the German territory. You could use VPN.

I'm not a lawyer so don't take this as a legal advice, but I believe it's something you can start with.

Meanwhile, I kind of translated the letter. Doesn't it say that you can request to see the evidence they have against you? There's a part that mentions the evidence...

Hey Thebaum again,

yes i totally agree with you about this fact being odd. No they provided me with the initial paper (Instruction / written statement in criminal proceedings) where they accused me of having committed the following criminal offense about my participation in illegal gambling activities by an unlicensed operator. As i stated previously they provided a lot of approximations about the place, the timeframe and the crime scene on Internet. In addition to that they provided me two papers optional to fill in. One Paper where I either admit to the crime for which I am accused or deny the crime of which I am accused and should argue and explain my opinion based on the said statement. The second one they're asking if i answered all the question on both papers by my own and/or help from another person was needed to write my assertion (like translation to german language or to ask for support by formulation of my assertion)

No they didn't state if i'll be obliged to pay fines directly because it's after all the public prosecutor's decision either it will be a fine up to 180 day fine or imprisonment up to 6 months according to the § 285 section from the german penal code.

I just want to add that even though it looks scary, I feel like GGL goes beyond the line in your case. If they didn't provide you with any evidence, there's clearly no reason to admit you committed a crime.

Hey Radka,

thank you for your comment to this post. I really agree with your point of view and the example you stated of Czech Republic blocking the casinos and it's after all the sole player's responsiblity to play or not. But here in gerrmany such a block doesn't exist at all !! I mean we agree all that Germany isn't a negligent country it's like the 4th largest GDP in the world and they can't provide such a block system with all their development in the IT industry ?! And in comparison to other countries we really see a quite efficient and bypass-able only via vpn block systems to the unlicensed operator as i stated originally in my post the example of the neighboring countries and even the example you stated of Czech Republic.

Sure i'll follow you up regarding the next updates of this case and would thank you for your attention to this matter ^^

Hey Daniel,

thank you for your reply to this post. No the consequences weren't written on the initial letter of accusation that was sent to me. What is exactly written the criminal offense which i've been accused of, an approximation of the time frame when it occurs, the place where it happened and the crime scene "Internet" which is obviously so wide to restrict. Of course they stating the usual code of criminal procedure where i have the right to express myself to such accusation in written form. With my made statement i could remove this suspicion's reason and bring it to my favor. Plus they're explaining that i can choose a lawyer to defend my case. At the end they assume that i don't want to express my point of view against this accusation, if ever i don't sent the forms filled in upon two weeks from the day i received this letter. The consequences are findable in the § 285 section from the german penal code where it's either a fine up to 180 day fine or imprisonment up to 6 months.

I totally agree with your point where the MGA licensed casinos would be offending the rules of GDPR standards but it could be anonym reported to GGL and in such a case there's no way to find out which part provided such data. I mean the contradictory thing is that while playing in those MGA licensed casinos i always provide a second address and not the main and principal one. It's really strange how in the approximation stated in the letter the main address was reported too.

Regarding the point of requesting file inspection i checked and asked about it and i'm not 100% sure but it should be done through a lawyer. Thank you for your advice and for your attention. I will update here with the next events.