Several German online gambling sites have announced they are closing down for real-money play.
A group of casino sites including Casino.com, MansionCasino.com, LesAcasino.com, Club777.com, and SlotsHeaven.com all announced plans to block new players from Germany from joining their sites at the beginning of February. Players will still be allowed to sign up for play money accounts, but real money play will be restricted.
All of the online casinos use Playtech software.
The move has led to speculation that is was caused by Germany’s sometimes confusing online gambling regulations. Individual German states have tried to regulate online gambling, but the federal government has allowed only for sports betting to be offered online.
In 2012, Germany enacted a federal gambling treaty that allowed only for the regulation of online sports betting while banning other forms of online gambling.
The move also comes after a Munich court found that a German man was guilty of illicit online gambling for playing on an online casino site based outside of Germany.
The unnamed 25-year-old was ordered to repay $72,100 in winnings and pay an additional $2,400 fine after the court heard that he had withdrawn more than $227,000in winnings from online blackjack games in 2011.
