Gambling in Germany
World war two destroyed the gambling infrastructure in Germany before. After the war, the government renewed the gambling constitution. This constitution has made gambling become stricter for citizens from some particular regions.
There are many gambling types available in Germany such as lotteries and sports betting, including horse racing, at the start. These gambling forms reported to generate the best revenue for the government at that time.
Gambling Law and Regulation
Available Licenses
In early this year 2020, Prime Ministers from all sixteen German states have ratified the new Interstate Treaty (IST) on gambling. The approval includes the exclusion of any online casino licenses which means a total ban from them. Before this event, online casino licenses were issued in Schleswig-Holstein during the time of the Gambling Act of Schleswig-Holstein which repealed in 2013. Today, Germans who want to play at online casinos need to find the best online casino based in the EU.
How do They Regulate the Market?
Online gambling was not regulated in Germany before 2008. That means everyone can gamble and any operator can build online casinos and let players play.
However, the effect of online gambling was not going in a positive way, therefore the ruler of the country brought into effect the Interstate Treaty on Gambling (ITG). Until now, the law was supposed to prohibit German from engaging in any local online gambling. Technically, they can not be playing any games such as slots, poker, roulette, blackjack, or bet on sports—at least as stated on paper.
The real situation is a bit different, the regulations which are set by Interstate Treaty on Gambling (ITG), on paper, are stated only for LOCAL online casinos. Therefore, the regulations for online casinos licensed and regulated by other countries and accepting players from German remain unclear.
While Germans can enjoy playing at these online casinos, there is one issue that they might have when betting at those casinos. The issue is they will not be protected by German authorities regarding the refusal of the payout from the operators.
4 years later, the Interstate Treaty on Gambling decided to lose a bit of gambling law on local operators by giving the authority of each individual state a chance to regulate online gambling by themselves.
In 2012 and up to now, Schleswig-Holstein (one of the 16 states) issued 50 licenses to online casinos and another gambling platform.
How to Choose the Best Online Casinos for German Players?
These days, it seems like there is a new casino being launched every day. While we can assure you that isn’t actually the case, there are still hundreds if not a thousand or so options for those looking to play their favorite casino games online. If you glance at any of these sites, they all seem to look the same – flashy graphics, some sort of bonus, and all the same games.
These days, there are many online casinos that target German markets. While one thing that you can rest assured of is that the increasing number of German markets will give you many options to choose from when picking a casino. All online casinos offer you shy graphics, some sort of bonus, games. However, the quality of these is not the same. Therefore, we decided to select and find you the best online casinos to play in Germany.
Safety and Security
Safety and security should always be your first priority when it comes to picking an online casino. A reliable casino should pay you fast and protect your personal data to the best. Therefore, we consider that as the most important factor.
Besides, we honor those casinos using SSL protection which ensures your data will be well-protected and not be leaked to any third parties.
Any online casinos should have their software audited regularly by third parties such as Ecogra. Based on the regular audits, the games will run smoothly and fairly.
Game Selection
Game selection is also fundamental, imagine how awful it would be if you can not find your favorite game at a particular casino. The number of games is very different from one casino to another. To find you the best online casinos in Germany, we select those casinos offering games from top vendors such as Microgaming, NetEnt, and Playtech.
Bonuses and Promotions
Any online casino in Germany will offer you a great welcome bonus for your first deposits. However, rigged casinos will take advantage of the bonuses and promotions to fool and attract players. Bonuses can be in many forms such as match deposit bonuses, free spins, no deposits.
However, regardless of how many types of bonuses they offer, one certain thing is that there are always wagering requirements. A top online casino should be the one that has clear terms and conditions about all requirements.
Customer Support
Customer service reflects how good or bad online casinos could be. Therefore, we only select those online casinos which have a wide variety of customer support channels such as email, live chat, and FAQs to the basics. More than that, the speed of support must be fast. The answers should help to address the problems.
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Most online casinos feature free slots for fun. Just look for the 'Play For Fun' or 'Practise Money' tab alongside the Real Money option. In many cases, you don't even need to have an account to take advantage of. Simply visit the site via our top reviews pages, select a game from the drop-down slots menus, and load it up. And because many modern free slot machines work in HTML5 or Adobe Flash, you can oftentimes just load up a title in your web browser, meaning free slots with no download or registration!
Where to Play Free Slots?
If you want to practice before playing online slots at real money German casinos. We have a collection of top popular free play online slots from all top online casinos in Germany.
With these free spins no deposit in Germany, you can play these games as long as you like without spending a dime or registration, no deposit, no download needed.
Navigate to the free online slots page, you can pick either the latest video slots, classic favorites, and big-money progressive jackpot games. Some free play slots work in HTML5 or Adobe Flash, if you want to play, you will need to download them in your web browser.
Deposits and Withdrawals at Germany Casino Sites
There are some popular banking methods that you could use to deposit and withdraw at a German casino site.
Credit and debit cards
Credit and debit cards are among the most widely-used banking methods across the world. Therefore, you can use credits and debits at all types of casinos including news online casinos or established casinos.
For credits and debit cards, you can choose Visa, MasterCard, and Maestro. Visa is used in two forms which are Visa Electron and Visa Debit. One thing that takes customers away when it comes to using credits and debit cards is the slow processing time and the high fee which could be at 2.5% and 3%.
Bank transfers
This payment method is the second most popular payment for online casinos in Germany. One thing that players choose to deposit and withdraw by bank transfer is that this payment is extremely secure regarding personal information.
The cons of using banking transfer are the complicated process of identifications and check-ups and high transaction fees.
E-Wallets
These payment methods have gradually become the frequent and favorite choices of gamblers. The pros of using these E-wallets are fast, secure, and low transaction fees. However, only top companies offer you excellent services such as Paypal, Skrill, and Neteller.
Cryptocurrency
There are many German online casinos that have started exploiting Bitcoin because of fast payment and low transaction fees. Bitcoin performs on a blockchain, therefore it has gained many reputations regarding its solid stability and security.
Germany-Specific Banking Options
Those stated methods are from all foreign countries. In Germany, there are local banking too such as Sofort Banking and Giropay. Although they are local banking methods, there are a wide variety of international online casinos using these methods.
These payments will be optimized for German players. We would suggest you play at the casino featuring these 2 methods to enhance the gambling experience.
