Germany’s monthly deposit cap for online gambling has moved from a compliance footnote to one of the most litigated issues in the country’s regulated market. Three rulings handed down within the past few months – by the Munich I Regional Court, the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court and, most recently, the Munich Higher Regional Court – have converged on the same conclusion: operators who fail to enforce the limit remain liable for players’ losses, regardless of whether they hold a valid German licence.

The rule everyone is talking about

Since 1 July 2021, Section 6c(1) of the Interstate Treaty on Gambling (Glücksspielstaatsvertrag 2021, “GlüStV 2021”) has capped deposits across all German-facing online gambling products at €1,000 ($1,143) per calendar month – and that cap applies across providers, not per platform. Compliance is meant to be enforced through LUGAS, the centralised limit file that operators must query before accepting any deposit. If a player has already hit the ceiling, the deposit is supposed to be rejected outright.