The GGL has stressed that platforms such as Polymarket are not licensed in the country.
The GGL has stressed that platforms such as Polymarket are not licensed in the country.
Germany.- The German federal gambling regulator, the GGL, has issued a warning against the use of token-based social betting platforms and event contracts on prediction-based trading platforms like Polymarket. It advised consumers that such platforms are not permitted under the Fourth Interstate Gambling Treaty of 2021 and are not licensed by the regulator.
The GGL made specific reference to what it described as an explosion of media reports about rising numbers of “entertainment-type bets” on the results of the Ukraine war.
Event contracts offered by providers like Polymarket and Kalshi allow players to predict the outcome of a wide range of events such as elections and other political events and economic changes as well as sports results. Players can then trade their contracts as shares representing the probability of the outcomes called. In the US, they are treated differently from betting, coming under the oversight of the regulator for derivatives, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
However, the German regulator said that events contracts constitute illegal betting in Germany. It stressed the volatility of real-world events not connected to sports and that such products cannot be approved under German legislation
It said: “Such formats are particularly susceptible to manipulation, as they are often based on unclear, subjective or controllable events. The legislator has only allowed bets on defined sporting events with verifiable results and clear rules as eligible for approval.”
Meanwhile, Polymarket is to return to the US market with its $112m purchase of the CFTC-licensed exchange QCEX. It will operate under QCEX’s licence and list events contracts as tradable derivatives.
German gambling stats
Last month, the GGL began publishing quarterly statistics on Germany’s regulated gambling market, covering both state-controlled and charity lotteries and what the GGL calls “transnational high-risk games of chance”, which include online gambling on slots and sports betting.
According to the report, lottery stakes totalled €377m in Q1 and €371m in Q2. State-controlled class lotteries generated stakes totalling €61m in Q1 and €58m in Q2. Charity or social lotteries generated €315m in Q1 and €313m in Q2.
As for higher risk games, online slots generated €1bn in wagers in Q1 and €1.1bn in Q2. Online poker stakes totalled €204m and €184m respectively and online horseracing betting €25m and €32m.
Online sports betting was the biggest vertical overall for stakes, with totals of €1.6bn in Q1 and €1.4bn in Q2. The figures for retail sports betting were €585m in Q1 and €494m in Q2. Total sports betting stakes came in at €2.1bn in Q1 and €1.9bn in Q2.
Meanwhile, the state of Hesse has provided an update on the German gambling self-exclusion system OASIS. Four years on from its launch, the system had 336,980 registrations as of the end of July. For the past year, an average of around 44,000 registered each month, with a seasonal peak of 56,844 seen in December, 2024.
The largest number of people excluded themselves for a full year, followed by bans of between one and two years, while bans of between five to ten years were chosen by just 7,459 people and a ban of over 10 years by 22,381 people.
https://focusgn.com/regulator-issues-warns-social-betting-platforms-not-permitted-in-germany