Judgment of the LG Constance: Losses After June 30, 2021 Can Also be Recovered

Losses after June 30, 2021 can also be recovered – judgment of the LG Constance

München, 13.07.2023. In the end, the bank also wins in online casinos. A player who had lost a total of around 14,700 euros at the virtual roulette table, online poker or online slots also had to experience this. CLLB Rechtsanwälte has now recovered the money for him. The Constance Regional Court ruled on July 11, 2023 that the operators of the online casinos must reimburse the loss because their offer violated the ban on online gambling from the State Treaty on Gambling.

“Our client only suffered some of his losses after the strict ban on online gambling in Germany was relaxed somewhat with effect from July 1, 2021. The defendant also has to reimburse him for these losses because they still did not have a valid license in Germany for organizing public games of chance on the Internet,” says attorney István Cocron, CLLB Rechtsanwälte.

Between May 2019 and August 2022, the plaintiff took part in online gambling via two different German-language websites and lost a total of around 14,700 euros. The defendant operators of the websites belonged to the same group of companies. One of the websites was shut down in October 2020 and users were automatically redirected to the other site.

“Since the operators of the online casinos did not have a valid license in Germany, we demanded that our client be reimbursed for his losses,” says lawyer Cocron.

The lawsuit was successful. The Koblenz Regional Court ruled that the player was entitled to full repayment of his loss. As justification, it explained that online games of chance, which also include poker, are prohibited in Germany without a permit according to § 4 Para. The defendants therefore had no legal claim to the money and would have to reimburse the plaintiff for his loss, the court explained.

The defendants could also not invoke a toleration of online gambling. The mere fact that no action was taken against the offer of online gambling does not mean that the offer was legal and that the plaintiff then had no civil claims, the court said.

In addition, the ban in the State Treaty on Gambling serves, among other things, to protect players from addictive, ruinous or fraudulent forms of gambling. However, these goals would be thwarted if the providers of illegal games of chance were allowed to keep the money, the court went on to say.

“Even if the rules for online gambling were relaxed somewhat on July 1, 2021, this does not apply retrospectively and a license valid in Germany is still mandatory for the public offer of gambling on the Internet. Therefore, players still have a good chance of recovering their losses – even if they occurred after June 30, 2021,” said attorney Cocron.