Würzburg Court Sides with Player in Online Gambling Dispute

In a landmark decision, the Würzburg District Court has ruled that online gaming provider Tipico must reimburse a player approximately €167,000. The core of the court’s argument rested on Tipico’s failure to enforce the legally mandated monthly deposit limit of €1,000, a requirement stipulated by their gaming licence. Furthermore, the court found that Tipico operated illegally in Germany before obtaining said license.

Deposit Limit Violations Lead to reimbursement Order

The case, brought forward by CLLB lawyers, centered on violations of Germany’s 2021 Gaming state Treaty (GlüStV), which sets a strict €1,000 monthly deposit limit across all online gaming providers. According to attorney Thomas Sittner of CLLB lawyers, It is crucial that this deposit limit is applied consistently across all providers. A player should not be able to deposit €1,000 with one provider and then additional funds with another.It is the obligation of the provider to prevent this from happening. However,many gambling operators routinely allow this limit to be exceeded.

Between February 2013 and September 2020, the CLLB client incurred losses of around €77,300 on Tipico’s German-language website. During this period, Tipico lacked the necessary license to operate legally in Germany, rendering the contracts void and entitling the player to a refund of their losses.

Post-Licensing Violations Compound the Issue

Tipico obtained its license on October 9, 2020, which came with the explicit obligation to adhere to the GlüStV’s requirements, including the cross-provider deposit limit of €1,000 per month, as outlined in Section 6c (1) sentence 2. Despite this, the player continued to participate in online sports betting with Tipico, incurring an additional €90,000 in losses by October 2022. CLLB lawyers argued that these losses should also be reimbursed due to Tipico’s continued failure to enforce the monthly deposit limit.

Court Highlights Unjustified Deposit Limit Increases

The Würzburg District Court agreed with this line of reasoning, noting that Tipico had increased the plaintiff’s deposit limit to €3,000 in August 2021 and further to €5,000 in October 2021. Attorney Sittner explained, Increasing deposit limits is onyl permissible in exceptional circumstances, where the player has demonstrated their financial capacity. this was not the case here, as our client had a monthly net income of only around €2,000. Therefore, the increased limits were objectively unjustified.

The court further emphasized that even if increased limits were permissible, a corresponding loss limit, capped at 20% of the deposits, should have been implemented. Tipico failed to do so, resulting in approximately €90,000 in damages for the plaintiff due to the repeated breaches of the deposit limit. In total, the court ordered Tipico to repay the player €167,000.

Implications for Online Gambling regulation

This ruling serves as a stark reminder to online gambling providers that obtaining a license is not a carte blanche to disregard legal obligations. As attorney Sittner emphasized, This judgment demonstrates that obtaining a license does not grant gambling providers a free pass. If they fail to comply with legally mandated protective measures, such as the deposit limit, players are deprived of their protection and are entitled to claim reimbursement for their losses.