Playing online black jack at a UK-licensed online gambling site cost a German player a fine and left him in breach of German gambling laws, a court ruled.
A district court in Munich said the player had participated in unlawful gambling and was in breach of the German Criminal Code, which prohibits playing at sites that don’t have a valid German license.
The player, whose identity has not been revealed, was fined 70 days wages and had approximately €64,000 in profits from the game confiscated.
The UK site was not named, but lawyers said the site warned players to check if it was legal to play in their country. No action was taken in the German court against the operator since it operates outside of Germany.
Police brought charges against the player after finding a large amount of cash at the player’s home. The player said some of the money came from playing online black jack games, but also claimed he did not know it was illegal to play on the site.
However, the court found that player did know the gambling could be illegal in his home country by agreeing to the terms and conditions on the gambling operator’s website.
The case is being appealed.
