Germany’s Federal Court preliminarily backs players’ claims — Deutsche Welle

In Germany, the Federal Court, during a preliminary oral hearing, supported the principle under which players may demand that operators refund their losses if the company did not have a German license at the time bets were placed. As Deutsche Welle reports, a final ruling in the Tipico Games case is expected in January 2027.

The Tipico Games case

In September 2025, the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart sided with a plaintiff from Baden-Württemberg in a dispute with the Maltese company Tipico Games. The plaintiff lost about €10,000 between 2020 and 2022.

The court concluded that the operator received these funds without legal grounds and must return them, as online gambling in Germany was prohibited until 2021. Tipico Games appealed this decision to Germany’s Federal Court, the country’s highest civil and criminal court instance.

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Online casinos and slot machines were prohibited in Germany from 2008 to 2021. At the same time, several operators worked on the German market with licenses issued in other European Union countries.

The position of the EU Court and possible lawsuits

In April 2026, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that EU law does not prevent member states from banning certain services and establishing civil-law consequences for such bans. This means that a gambling license issued in another EU country does not override the requirements of German legislation.

Lawyer Thomas Dünchheim, who specializes in gambling law, said that law firms are already recruiting clients for possible mass lawsuits. At the same time, he warned that refunds are possible only if the player themselves did not act unlawfully. Operators’ defense may argue that some clients knowingly used services in a legal gray area because of potentially higher winnings.