GGL Advocates for Flexible Oversight as Germany Evaluates 2021 State Treaty on Gambling
The GGL reports licensing 129 operators, authorising 229 sites, completing over 600 investigations in 2025 and monitoring 5.3 million players. Enforcement actions against illegal gambling rose sharply. The regulator is urging lawmakers to build faster adaptation mechanisms into the 2021 State Treaty review. (52 words)
SCCG Take — The treaty evaluation must address the gap between market velocity and legislative timelines. Granting the GGL targeted flexibility would sharpen enforcement and improve licensed operators’ competitive position. (29 words)
The Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL) is pressing for a more adaptable regulatory framework as Germany reviews the 2021 State Treaty on Gambling. Five years after its creation, the nationwide authority has catalogued its licensing, monitoring and enforcement record while warning that business models and technology now change faster than multi-year legislative processes can accommodate. Ronald Benter, GGL board member, set out the case in the regulator’s own five-year stocktaking, as reported by Focus Gaming News.
Benter described the transition from start-up mandate to operational maturity. The agency recruited staff, built technical systems and established centralised supervision across 16 states. That foundation, he said, now equips the GGL to supervise a highly digitised and cross-border online market.
The GGL in Numbers
The authority oversees 129 licensed operators and 229 authorised websites. It employs around 100 staff. In 2025 the GGL conducted more than 600 supervisory investigations into player protection, advertising rules and game design. It has revoked two licences to date.
The LUGAS central database held records for 5.3 million registered players at the end of 2025. Enforcement against unlicensed activity has scaled sharply: prohibition proceedings rose from 68 in 2022 to 287 in 2025. Officials examined roughly 6,300 websites, blocked or removed 1,843 illegal websites, and saw 254 unlicensed operators exit the German market. Payment blocks cut off another 178 sites. Benter emphasised that success lies in measurable disruption of illegal business models rather than raw case counts.
The Need for Greater Adaptability
New business models, technical structures and forms of illegal supply can appear within months, yet amendments to the state treaty routinely require years of political negotiation. This mismatch, the GGL argues, limits effective supervision. Benter stated that the regulator must combine legal expertise with data competence and technical understanding to keep pace.
“A market that is changing rapidly, both technologically and economically, needs a regulatory body that can react promptly to new developments,” he added. The current treaty evaluation therefore should examine not only past performance but also concrete ways to accelerate regulatory response times and widen the GGL’s operational discretion.
The review outcome will determine whether Germany equips its central regulator with tools that match the speed of the digital market it polices. Licensed operators stand to gain from clearer, faster rule-setting that reduces grey-market distortions while preserving consistent player protections.
Reporting: Focus Gaming News
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