Gambling tax in Germany: what players pay

Income tax on a private win

0 % — no category of income applies

Virtual slot machines

5.3 % of the stake, § 38 RennwLottG

Online poker

5.3 % of the stake, § 48 RennwLottG

Sports betting

5.3 % of the stake, § 18 RennwLottG

Why a private win is not taxed, and why no one sends you a form

German income tax does not tax increases in wealth as such. It taxes seven exhaustively listed categories of income, and a gambling win fits none of them. It is not employment income, not trading income, not self-employed work, not investment income, not rental income and not a private disposal transaction. The element that binds all the categories together is missing: a service supplied on a market for consideration. A win is the outcome of chance.

That has three practical consequences worth knowing if you moved here from a jurisdiction that handles this differently. There is no allowance above which a win becomes taxable — the size is irrelevant. There is no line in the Einkommensteuererklärung, the annual tax return, where a win belongs. And there is no reporting by the operator of what an individual player won, because for the player there is nothing to report.

One practical point does arise with larger sums, and it is not a tax point. Banks and, occasionally, the Finanzamt may ask where the money came from — that is anti-money-laundering practice, not taxation. An account statement from the operator and the transaction history of your player account normally settles it, which is a good reason to download both rather than rely on an operator keeping them available.

The exception: when the Bundesfinanzhof treats playing as a trade

The exception applies where skill plays a substantial part, and in the case law that means poker, more or less exclusively. It is narrow, but it exists, and it has been decided twice at the highest level of the tax courts.

In its judgment of 16 September 2015 (file reference X R 43/12) the Bundesfinanzhof — the Federal Fiscal Court — held that tournament poker in the Texas Hold'em and Omaha variants is not, for income tax purposes, a pure game of chance but a mixture of chance and skill. Winnings can therefore constitute income from a trade or business. What matters is not whether someone plays well but whether the activity meets the criteria of a trade: independence, sustained activity, an intention to make a profit, and participation in general economic life.

In its judgment of 22 February 2023 (X R 8/21) the court extended that line to online poker. The test is whether, as the court put it, structurally commercial aspects come decisively to the fore — planning, scale, time committed, organisation. The decision carries a consequence that is regularly overlooked: the room containing the computer at which the person plays is a permanent establishment. Trade tax, the Gewerbesteuer, therefore arises alongside income tax.

For almost everyone this changes nothing. Playing occasionally, even profitably, is not carrying on a trade. Somebody who plays to a plan, at high stakes, with substantial time committed, manages a bankroll and lives off the result should not answer the question for themselves. It turns on an overall appraisal of the facts, and that appraisal belongs to a Steuerberater or to the Finanzamt.

The operator's duty: three times 5.3 per cent, on the stake

Since the reform of the Rennwett- und Lotteriegesetz, the Racing Betting and Lottery Act, on 1 July 2021, the same rate applies to all three licensed online forms. This is one of the points where out-of-date figures persist stubbornly online.

The virtual slot machine tax sits in §§ 36 to 38. Section 36 defines what is taxed, § 37 the assessment base — the stake less the tax itself — and § 38 fixes the rate at 5.3 per cent of that base. Online poker follows §§ 47 and 48 at the same rate. Sports betting is governed by § 17 for the base and § 18 for the rate, again 5.3 per cent. The widely quoted 5 per cent on sports betting was superseded more than five years ago; anyone citing it today is describing a legal position that no longer exists.

The assessment base is the part that matters for understanding the market. What is taxed is the stake, not the operator's margin. A 100 euro bet costs the operator tax whether the bettor wins or loses. That is the mechanical reason German payout rates sit below those of unregulated markets: the tax comes before the payout ratio, not after it. In 2025 the payout ratio in the German sports betting market was 77 per cent according to the Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL), the joint gambling authority of the sixteen federal states, on stakes of 8.3 billion euro and gross gaming revenue of 1,887 million euro.

Why you will never see this tax on a statement

This is the point most often misunderstood by people arriving from markets where gambling duty is deducted from the player. In Germany the duty is owed by the operator. It is not withheld from a deposit, not deducted from a withdrawal and not itemised anywhere in a player account. There is no certificate to collect and nothing to reclaim.

Liability attaches to the German market rather than to the company's seat. An operator running sports betting or virtual slot machines for players in Germany falls under the Rennwett- und Lotteriegesetz regardless of where it is incorporated. For the player that makes no difference at all: a win at a company based in Malta is exactly as free of income tax as a win at a company holding a German permission — which is a question about tax, and says nothing about whether playing there was a good idea. Whether the operator is permitted here is a separate question, answered only by the whitelist described under the German gambling licence.

One caveat for readers who are taxable in more than one country. This page describes German law for a person resident and taxable in Germany. If another jurisdiction also has a claim on your worldwide income, its rules may treat a gambling win differently, and that interaction is a question for a Steuerberater rather than for a comparison site.

What the state actually collects

The most recent official breakdown by form of gambling comes from the Statistisches Bundesamt (Destatis) and covers 2023. It is more informative than any market estimate because it rests on tax actually received rather than on a survey.

Sports betting produced 409 million euro, down 5.2 per cent on the previous year. Virtual slot machines produced 264 million euro — a fall of 38.5 per cent. Online poker contributed 30 million euro, down 7.5 per cent. Gambling taxes in total, including lotteries and the levies on the state Spielbanken, came to around 2.48 billion euro.

For context, the GGL's activity report for 2025 puts the channelling rate at 77.03 per cent and the black market share at 22.97 per cent of gross gaming revenue, based on a commissioned study using 2024 data with an online panel of 2,000 respondents; the report publishes no separate black market figure for 2025. The industry association DOCV considers that too conservative and puts channelling closer to 50 per cent. The wider framework is described under the German gambling treaty.

The question that follows: can losses be reclaimed?

This is not a tax question, but it is almost always asked in the same conversation, so it belongs here with an honest status rather than a confident answer.

On 16 April 2026 the Court of Justice of the European Union decided case C-440/23 on a reference from a Maltese court. EU law, it held, does not preclude a national prohibition of online casino games, virtual slot machines and certain bets; nor does it preclude the legal consequences of such a prohibition taking effect, nor the nullity of the contracts concluded, nor a civil action for the recovery of the stakes lost — and that remains so even though a licensing regime was introduced later.

The German side is not yet settled. The Bundesgerichtshof, the Federal Court of Justice, heard two cases on 17 September 2026, I ZR 216/25 and I ZR 78/25, concerning the recovery of losses from Maltese operators without a German permission; in the lead case the sum at stake is 10,092 euro from play between December 2020 and September 2022, and the lower courts found for the claimant. Judgment in both is listed for 28 January 2027.

Until that date there is no binding line from the Bundesgerichtshof, whatever a law firm's advertising suggests. What can be said is that the European route has been cleared and the German answer is scheduled. Anyone considering a claim should take advice from a Rechtsanwalt on their own facts and note that limitation periods run while they wait.

Frequently asked

Sources

1. Rennwett- und Lotteriegesetz, § 17 and § 18 — assessment base and rate for sports betting duty (5.3 per cent) — <a href="https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/rennwlottg_2021/__18.html" rel="nofollow noopener">gesetze-im-internet.de</a>
2. Rennwett- und Lotteriegesetz, §§ 36 to 38 — virtual slot machine tax, base and rate — <a href="https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/rennwlottg_2021/__38.html" rel="nofollow noopener">gesetze-im-internet.de</a>
3. Rennwett- und Lotteriegesetz, §§ 47 and 48 — online poker tax, base and rate — <a href="https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/rennwlottg_2021/__48.html" rel="nofollow noopener">gesetze-im-internet.de</a>
4. Bundesfinanzhof, judgment of 16 September 2015, X R 43/12 (tournament poker) and judgment of 22 February 2023, X R 8/21 (online poker, permanent establishment, trade tax).
5. Statistisches Bundesamt (Destatis) — gambling tax revenue 2023 by form of gambling — <a href="https://www.destatis.de/DE/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/Zahl-der-Woche/2025/PD25_03_p002.html" rel="nofollow noopener">destatis.de</a>
6. Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder, activity report 2025 (published 3 July 2026) — channelling rate, market figures for 2025.
7. Court of Justice of the European Union, judgment of 16 April 2026, C-440/23 — <a href="https://curia.europa.eu/" rel="nofollow noopener">curia.europa.eu</a>; Bundesgerichtshof, I ZR 216/25 and I ZR 78/25, judgment listed for 28 January 2027.