Licensed bookmakers in Germany under the GGL

What does "licensed in Germany" mean?

In Germany, an operator can only offer online sports betting (Sportwetten) if it's on the whitelist of the Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL). The GGL came out of the Glücksspielstaatsvertrag 2021. It's the joint authority of the sixteen Länder. It licenses operators and enforces the rules.

The list above covers the Sportwetten category only. You won't find online casino games (virtuelle Automatenspiele), online poker or horse racing betting there. A licence confirms one thing. The operator is legally allowed to offer the activity it covers. It doesn't promise the best odds, no disputes, or bets that pay off.

Whitelist and distribution channel

The whitelist also says which channel is authorised. Some companies are licensed online. Others only for physical shops (stationär). Some for both. If you're betting online, the licence has to cover the online channel. One limited to stationär isn't enough.

The whitelist shows the company that holds the licence, often one registered under Maltese or German law. That name can differ from the brand people know, and the company may run one or more domains. That's why the table above shows both the brand or site and the licence holder. A licence from another country doesn't replace a listing on the German whitelist.

In the table, then, read the holder column alongside the brand column. You search for a brand you know and land on a company name that means nothing to you. Take a moment to link the two before deciding a site isn't licensed.

Why are some licensed bookmakers not tracked by OddScore?

The regulatory list and OddScore's coverage answer two different questions. The GGL tells you which operators are licensed to offer Sportwetten in Germany. OddScore tells you which ones are currently plugged into its odds comparison.

So a bookmaker can be fully licensed without being tracked by OddScore. And the other way round, the "Tracked by OddScore" badge never replaces checking with the regulator. It only means the platform compares some of that operator's odds.

How can you check for yourself that a bookmaker is licensed?

No third-party list replaces the official whitelist. Here's how to check a licence:

1. Open the GGL whitelist.
2. Search for the company, brand or domain.
3. Check that the licence covers Sportwetten.
4. Check that the online channel is covered, not just stationär.
5. Check that the domain you're using matches the one officially declared.

A GGL licence tells you nothing about the odds themselves, or about what's at stake once you place a bet. That bigger picture is in the risks of sports betting.

Bonuses and free bets: what the rules say

In Germany, the 2021 State Treaty on Gambling (GlüStV 2021) doesn't ban sports betting bonuses, and it doesn't cap them. The detailed advertising rules, bonuses included, sit in the conditions attached to each operator's licence (§ 5(1)). Those aren't published as a general text.

The treaty does set some limits itself. Advertising mustn't be excessive, mustn't target minors and mustn't mislead about the chances or size of winnings (§ 5(2)). It also bans bonuses or discounts for players whose self-exclusion has just been lifted (§ 8(4)). And operators can't pay affiliates, the partners who advertise them, based on turnover, deposits or stakes (§ 5(6)). Of these, the last rule is the one I'd flag, since it cuts the link between an affiliate's pay and the stakes it brings in.

So any limit on how big a bonus can be, or on its terms, would come from the GGL licence conditions, not the treaty. We haven't been able to check those. To see what an offer is really worth, read how a free bet works.

Last verified at source: 11 October 2026.

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