Germany’s online gambling market operates under the Interstate Treaty on Gambling 2021 (GlüStV 2021) and is supervised (for cross-state online gambling) by the Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL). The whole point of the framework is channelisation (moving players into legal offers), but with strong player protection baked in – limits, checks, and advertising rules that directly shape what a “welcome bonus” can realistically look like.

If you’re looking to play online poker in Germany, the good news is that it’s legal on platforms that hold a German permit under the Glücksspielstaatsvertrag 2021 (GlüStV 2021) and are listed on the regulator’s official whitelist.

Germany’s online gambling market is tightly regulated, and the only way to know whether a casino is truly legal under the Glücksspielstaatsvertrag (GlüStV) is to check whether it appears on the official GGL Whitelist.