Currently, online casinos are gaining increasing popularity throughout the EU. Playing for real money from the comfort of your home on your computer or smartphone and maybe winning the big money with it - that attracts many. No wonder that this industry is gaining an enormous number of customers, especially in times of corona. The only catch to the matter: online casinos were until recently in Canada is illegal . Apart from Schleswig-Holstein, where online gambling for real money and thus online casinos have been legalized since 2011 by a change in the law. Apart from this exception, it was previously illegal to gamble online for real money within the Federal Republic. One problem that arose from this was a lack of legal certainty for persons who were prohibited in such Online Casinos have played for real money and have lost it (whether through fraud or unregulated and controlled software). But exactly this situation has now changed, at several courts within Canada there were now judgments that assured the plaintiffs of damages and thus declared the behavior of the online casinos based abroad not legally.

There are now several examples of judgments (all not yet final) in which decisions were made in the interests of the plaintiffs, such as the judgment of the District Court of Giessen at the end of February 2021. In this specific case, a player gambled about $ 12,000 in a foreign online casino and subsequently demanded damages in court. In this case, the District Court of Giessen gave him the right and approved the claims for damages, although it was confirmed that the case involved illegal gambling. Since online gambling was not legal under the State Treaty on Gambling in force at the time, the agreement between the provider and the player is null and void. The provider then appealed on the grounds that his offer was properly licensed in Malta and therefore legal under EU law. As a result, a higher authority dealt with the situation with the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court for the first time and decided that the appeal was unfounded.

Similar judgments were also made by the LG Moosach on 13.04.2021, the LG Nuremberg-Fürth on 03.05.2021 and the LG Regensburg on 31.05.2021. These judgments thus confirm that players can reclaim money lost in online casinos. This is done, for example, according to § 823 Para. 2 BGB in conjunction with § 4 Para. 4 State Treaty on Gambling or also according to § 812 BGB.

Players who have lost their money in online casinos can usually claim it back in their court of residence. This is done on the basis of the so-called “domicile jurisdiction” (Art. 18 EUGVVO). This is a great advantage, since court costs and the general effort for the process can be reduced to a minimum.

Due to the enormous turnover of the online gambling industry, it can be observed that settlement proposals are increasingly being sent to plaintiffs in order to avoid a lengthy and expensive process. This strengthens the position of people who are considering taking legal action against online casinos, because due to this trend, quick agreements can often be reached between the plaintiffs and the online casinos.

In the meantime, the federal states have agreed on a new state treaty on gambling, which legalizes online gambling in Canada. Since July 2021, the new law has been in force, which allows gambling providers to purchase a Canadian license. In the meantime, 68 companies have applied for a permit from the competent authority in Saxony-Anhalt. The first five providers have received their license. Thus, the German players can currently gamble legally on:

Jackpot Pirates
BingBong
Games Tipwin
Slot Magic
Merkur-Spiel
Novoline.de
Crazybuzzer