Getting money back from casinos without a German licence: 2026 status

Anyone who has lost money at an online casino without a German permit usually asks first whether the stakes can be recovered. The starting point is always the same check, summed up under the heading German casino licence: did the operator hold a permit under the State Treaty on Gambling 2021 (GlüStV 2021) at the time of play, and was it listed on the official whitelist of the Joint Gambling Authority of the German States (GGL)? Whether the losses were paid in via Sofortüberweisung, credit card, Klarna or cryptocurrency only matters after that.

The core rule is in section 4(1) GlüStV 2021: public gambling may only be organised or brokered with a permit from the competent state authority; unpermitted gambling and taking part in payments for it are prohibited. Which operators hold a permit is shown on the GGL whitelist under section 9(8) GlüStV 2021, last updated on 02.10.2026. According to the GGL, an offer remains unpermitted until an application has been approved and the operator has been added; the authorities give no information on pending applications.

For the money itself, two provisions of the BGB are decisive. Section 134 BGB states that a legal transaction violating a statutory prohibition is void, unless the law provides otherwise. Section 762 BGB opens with the sentence that gambling or betting does not create a binding obligation, but adds that what was paid cannot be reclaimed for that reason alone. Claims for the refund of gambling losses move between these two provisions.

The BGH has opened a „Leitentscheidungsverfahren“, a leading-decision procedure on the refund of losses from unpermitted online gambling, case number I ZR 216/25. According to press release no. 086/2026 of 20.05.2026, a player is claiming back €10,092 that he lost between 2020 and 2022 playing online casino games with an operator without a German permit. The lower courts ruled in his favour, and the hearing was scheduled for 17.09.2026. The press release does not state an outcome.

Winnings are a different matter: an article on redell.com is headed „Kein Anspruch auf Gewinnauszahlung, wenn Online-Casino keine deutsche Lizenz besitzt“, meaning no claim to the payout of winnings. Losses and winnings are therefore treated separately. What playing with such operators means for accounts, banks and winnings is covered on the page on the legality of casinos without OASIS, without judgement and with the provisions quoted.

A foreign licence does not change the starting question. Under section 6e(3) GlüStV 2021, permitted online gambling exists only under a „.de“ domain; according to the GGL, offers without „.de“ are always unpermitted, while a registered office in Germany is not required. For Curaçao and Malta licences the same therefore applies as for any other licence: the entry on the whitelist.

What a Curaçao licence covers for players from Germany and what it does not is described on its own page, including which body accepts reports there. For Malta, guides in the search results carry their own sections such as „Rückforderung von Spielverlusten bei MGA-Casinos“; the legal question in Germany stays the same. The four brands on this website, 7Signs, Wild Tokyo, MyStake and Sportaza, are not listed in the GGL whitelist according to a full-text search, and neither are any of their operator names.

Many players first try to get the money back from the payment service rather than from the casino. What matters here is what the law requires of payment service providers. Section 4(1) GlüStV 2021 prohibits taking part in payments for unpermitted gambling, and under section 9(1) no. 4 the supervisory authority can, after notification, prohibit banks and payment service providers from taking part in such deposits and withdrawals. No automatic refund claim for the player follows from this.

On Sofortüberweisung, the law firm Dr. Bahr reported under the headline „OLG München: Kein Erstattungsanspruch gegen Sofortüberweisung“ on a case of participation in an unpermitted online casino, meaning no refund claim against the payment service. Other results for the same search, for example from helpcheck.de or myright.de, treat Klarna, PayPal and Trustly as a starting point. The sources therefore contradict each other: according to the court report no claim against the payment service, according to the guides a possible refund. How PayPal relates to such operators and why the service is usually missing there is explained on the page on PayPal without OASIS.

• SEPA direct debit: under section 675x BGB, the payer can demand a refund from their bank within eight weeks of the debit without giving reasons; the bank decides within ten business days.
• Unauthorised payment: section 675u BGB obliges the payment service provider to refund the amount at the latest by the end of the business day following notification. The provision only covers payments the account holder did not authorise.
• Cryptocurrency: permitted operators may not accept anonymous means of payment in distance selling (section 6b(4) GlüStV 2021). The provisions examined here do not provide for a chargeback via a payment service provider for crypto transfers, as there is for direct debit or card.

A case from the r/LegaladviceGerman forum shows how this looks in practice. A player with an active block wrote: „Ich habe eine aktive, behördliche OASIS-Spielersperre in Deutschland“, meaning he had an active official OASIS block in Germany. He nevertheless deposited around €1,700 by Klarna card with two operators not connected to OASIS and asked about a chargeback. He also stated that the casinos had deliberately debited the amounts on the Klarna statement under false names. With permitted operators, by contrast, the payment reference of a withdrawal must make clear to outsiders why the payment was made (section 16(7) GwG, the German Money Laundering Act).

The balance still sitting in the player account is a separate matter. The GGL explicitly names as a risk with unpermitted operators that they „often“ refuse to pay out winnings, and points to the lack of enforceability of claims. How long withdrawals without OASIS take in practice, which limits apply and which methods they use is covered on their own page.

Losses incurred while a block was in place are a case of their own. The law is clear here: blocked players may not take part in public gambling (section 8(2) GlüStV 2021). Operators must identify people who want to play and check them against the block register: according to section 8(3) sentence 4 in conjunction with section 6h(3) when the account is activated before the first game, according to the GGL at registration and every time the player signs in. According to the GGL, operators must also block players themselves if there are serious indications of addiction or over-indebtedness. Since 2021, gaming arcades and gaming machines in pubs have also been connected to OASIS.

Of eight player voices on reclaiming losses, a large share concern exactly this situation. One player had been blocked since November 2023 but was still admitted to a gaming arcade and wanted to know whether he could reclaim his stakes. Another had his account closed several times, asking that it not be reopened because of his addiction, and was reactivated anyway. A third was looking for a lawyer for a loss of around €5,000.

With operators not connected to the block system, an OASIS block has no effect because no query takes place there. According to the GGL, such operators lack protective measures such as deposit limits or self-exclusion. What defines casinos without OASIS, who is behind them and what this means for players is summarised on the home page.

Authorities help with reclaiming money only to a limited extent. The GGL accepts reports on unpermitted gambling, but by its own account is not responsible for civil claims such as the payout of balances or the reclaiming of gambling losses. The European Consumer Centre Germany writes about gambling operators that they mostly refuse to cooperate with it. Free counselling on gambling problems is offered by BIÖG on 0800 1 37 27 00.