Stakes go over €3bn as Germany begins quarterly reporting

Germany’s regulator, Gemeinsamen Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL), has ushered into a new era of gambling market analysis.

In a first for the local market, the gambling authority released quarterly data depicting the value of cross-state (within national borders) bets made on games of chance.

The numbers were fed to the GGL by licensed operators, which under the new rules are now obliged to do so every quarter for the foreseeable future. 

According to the GGL, this is so that stakeholders, policy makers, and the public alike have a clear view of the developments in Germany’s regulated market. 

Similar comprehensive monitoring of quarterly market activity has already been implemented elsewhere in the EU, and indeed it’s so far proven to offer valuable insights that later shape national policies.

The report includes amounts calculated in million Euros, and is divided into two segments – value of cross-state lottery bets and value of cross-state ‘dangerous’ (or high-risk) games, with the latter mainly referring to online offers as described under the GlüStV 2021 regime.

Summer is hot for online gaming & betting

In Q1, class lotteries (state oversight) attracted stakes worth a total of €61m, while that number dropped to €58m in Q2. Social lotteries (charity) proved to be far more popular, with €315m in Q1, only to similarly drop in Q2 to €313m. This translates to total lottery revenue of €377m in Q1, and €371m in Q2.

Regulated high-risk, cross-state offers were not only more varied in choice but also more popular, in large part due to the easy online access that operators provide 24/7.

Virtual slot games came in at €1bn for Q1, only to surpass the €1.1bn mark in Q2. Online poker was first at €204m and subsequently fell to €184m, while online horse betting was €25m in Q1 and then climbed to €32m in Q2.

As it stands, online sports betting has the highest stakes value at €1.4bn in Q2, although down from the €1.6bn in Q1. This drop of course correlates to the international slowing down of sports during the summer period. 

This downward trend was also replicated in retail sports betting, where total stakes value was down to €494m in Q2 from the €585m in Q1.

Total sports betting stakes made up €2.1bn in Q1 and €1.9bn in Q2. Coupled with the rest of the ‘high-risk’ proposition, this makes a total of €3.5bn for Q1 and €3.2bn for Q2 in revenue.

Will it cool down disputes?

Division currently exists within the sector on the accuracy of previous attempts to evaluate Germany’s market size and trends, particularly around the prominence of the black market.

GGL’s Annual Activity Report for 2024 claimed that the size of the black market was around 25% of the total market for online gambling, which was viewed with suspicion by the German Sports Betting Association (DSWV).

According to the DSWV’s own estimates at the time, the black market share exceeded 50% of the regulated online gaming market, which directly contradicted GGL’s statement, leading to the two bodies clashing over the exact figure.

With Germany expected to go through major gambling advertising reforms in 2026, these clashes were only destined to intensify. However, given that the GGL will now analyse market trends on a quarterly rather than a full-year basis, tensions might ease as the picture becomes clearer for both the regulator and operators.