The OLG Bremen ruled on 4 November 2025 that an operator of illegal gambling machines must surrender all takings, according to the report. The case involved around €440,000 in stakes and about €150,000 in profit; the lower court had ordered confiscation of profit alone.
The ruling makes total takings, rather than only profit, relevant to confiscation in illegal-gambling cases.
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The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in case C-77/24 that claims to recover losses from unlicensed online gambling are governed by the law of the player’s habitual residence. The ruling covers claims against operators and, where their conduct directly causes the loss, company directors; the case concerned an Austrian player and a Malta-based operator. European Lotteries welcomed the decision, saying it clarified the law applicable to such claims.
The Catania review court overturned the order validating the seizure of goods from a shop in Acireale investigated over alleged illegal betting collection. It sent the records to prosecutors for the immediate return of the seized property. The ruling concerned the seizure and was not a final decision on the allegations.
The Catania review court has annulled the decree validating an evidential seizure issued in an investigation into an alleged illegal betting collection point in Acireale. The judge ordered the case records to be sent to prosecutors so that the goods seized from the business, a stationery shop in the town, could be returned immediately.
The Viterbo Review Court overturned the evidentiary seizure of materials from a betting shop in Blera under investigation for alleged unauthorised betting collection. The court’s 17 July 2025 order directed the return of the seized items; the defence said the shop was authorised under contracts with two online gambling concessionaires.
Italy’s Court of Cassation declared inadmissible an appeal by a person convicted of illegally collecting bets, upholding the Reggio Calabria Court of Appeal’s decision, according to the report. The case involved a €2 wager placed at a club using a gaming account belonging to the manager’s brother; the court also ordered the appellant to pay costs and €3,000 to the Cassa delle Ammende.
The Court of Appeal of Catania acquitted a betting-shop owner on 23 June 2026, overturning a first-instance conviction over alleged unauthorised betting intermediation. The court said computers, betting slips and schedules alone did not establish that the defendant collected stakes, paid winnings or transmitted bets.