Rhineland-Palatinate coalition proposes stronger action against illegal gambling

The CDU and SPD factions in Rhineland-Palatinate's state parliament have proposed stronger measures against illegal gambling, according to a joint motion reported on 28 October 2026. The motion calls on the state government to strengthen enforcement authorities and the gambling supervisory body in staffing terms and to consistently confiscate profits made illegally. The second State Gambling Treaty is intended to give authorities and the courts more room to act, including the ability to block illegal operators' websites through IP blocking.

The treaty is also intended to improve exchange and cooperation with foreign law enforcement, the report said. CDU state parliament member Philip Rünz said such a scenario occurs daily in Germany, and that until now there had been few options for acting against illegal gambling websites based abroad. The factions wrote in their motion that illegal offerings account for around a quarter of gambling offerings online, while no reliable figures exist for the land-based market; for illegal slot machines, estimates assume tens of thousands of illegally installed gaming devices nationwide.

Online gambling was prohibited in Germany until 2021, with the exception of Schleswig-Holstein. The first State Gambling Treaty allowed it under strict conditions, including a cross-provider deposit limit of €1,000 per month and a ban on playing simultaneously with several providers. The report said the market for illegal gambling remains large: in September, a raid in Frankfurt led to the arrest of an operator of several prohibited online casinos, which are alleged to have generated almost €6bn in turnover between July 2021 and the end of 2023 alone.

The factions also see the competitiveness of legal providers as a way of combating illegal offerings. SPD parliamentary group deputy leader Benedikt Oster said gambling had existed since the Middle Ages and would always exist, and that a clear distinction must be made between legal and illegal offerings; gambling is also an economic sector in Rhineland-Palatinate that creates jobs. He said the aim must not be to restrict legal offerings and end up strengthening the black market. Lotto Rheinland-Pfalz alone generated €424m in turnover last year, according to the report.

Carl-Bernhard von Heusinger of the Greens rejected Oster's argument, saying that if the thesis that a legal offering removes demand from the illegal offering were correct, the black market in Rhineland-Palatinate should be particularly small, yet the state has the highest density of gaming halls nationwide. He said legal gambling is also a risk factor and that legislation must be oriented towards players rather than the competitiveness of providers. The report also noted that Lotto Rheinland-Pfalz's current managing director, Christian Baldauf, is the former CDU state chairman and former parliamentary group leader.