Germany’s gambling regulator has published new findings showing that unlicensed online gambling generated approximately €547 million in gross gaming revenue during 2024. That’s a 17% increase from the previous year’s €466 million. The figures emerge from a substantial 132-page study commissioned by the Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL) and conducted by the Blockchain Research Lab.

Despite the growth in absolute terms, the research calculated a channelisation rate of 77.03%. More than three-quarters of Germany’s online gambling market now operates within the regulated framework established by the 2021 Interstate Treaty on Gambling. For a market that only formalised its regulatory structure three years ago, that’s actually quite an achievement.

“The scientifically calculated channeling rate confirms our previous assumptions about the size of the black market,” said Ronald Benter, chief executive of the GGL. “The results support the fact-based regulatory approach within the framework of the 2021 Interstate Treaty on Gambling.”

Methodology and Market Measurement

The two-part investigation began with a comprehensive review of existing methodologies for measuring illicit gambling activity. It’s a notoriously challenging exercise, given the opacity of unlicensed operations and the wide variation in measurement approaches employed by different jurisdictions. Regulators across Europe have long grappled with the difficulty of accurately quantifying black market activity, with estimates often varying substantially depending on the metrics and data sources employed.

The study’s empirical component surveyed 2,000 individuals who had participated in online gambling (excluding lotteries) within the preceding 12 months. Respondents identified up to seven gambling platforms they used regularly and reported average stakes and losses per session and monthly across each operator. Researchers then cross-referenced these operators against the GGL’s official whitelist and other authoritative sources to determine licensing status, applying data cleaning protocols and imputation techniques where gaps existed.

The survey captured 4,027 individual mentions of gambling operators. Licensed operators accounted for 79.7% of these mentions. Unlicensed platforms comprised the remaining 20.3%. When weighted by financial activity rather than simple frequency, unlicensed platforms represented approximately 22.4% of total stakes and 22.97% of player losses.

Betting Patterns and Platform Preferences

The research revealed notable differences in gambling behaviour between users of licensed and unlicensed platforms. Players who exclusively used unlicensed operators reported average monthly stakes of €1,425 and losses of €475, compared to €1,243 in stakes and €358 in losses among those using only licensed providers.

Average stakes per individual session showed a smaller differential. Unlicensed-only users wagering €88.96 compared to €77.00 for their licensed-platform counterparts, though the study noted this difference lacked statistical significance.

Licensed market activity concentrated heavily around established sports betting brands including Tipico, Bwin, Bet-at-home, and Betano. The unlicensed segment featured platforms such as Stake.com, WooCasino, and PlatinCasino among the most frequently mentioned operators.

Future Monitoring and Enforcement

The authors emphasised that these figures should be regarded as indicative rather than definitive, advocating for regular, standardised surveys combined with technical monitoring capabilities. The report specifically highlighted emerging tools including machine learning classifiers for identifying gambling websites, web crawling technologies, payment flow analysis, and blockchain monitoring as promising supplements to traditional survey methods.

This approach reflects the increasingly sophisticated nature of unlicensed gambling operations, many of which now operate through cryptocurrency channels and employ technical measures to obscure their payment infrastructure. The GGL’s commitment to mixed-method monitoring frameworks suggests a recognition that effective regulation in the digital age requires both behavioural data and technical intelligence. You need both.

The publication follows a separate national gambling survey indicating that 36.4% of respondents had gambled within the past year. This provides broader context for the scale of Germany’s gambling market and the regulatory challenge facing authorities as they work to consolidate the licensed sector’s position.