OASIS · Self-exclusion

OASIS self-exclusion: how to apply

Self-exclusion from OASIS takes a signed form, a copy of your passport and no explanation of any kind. It costs nothing, it works at every operator licensed in Germany, and it can be done without ever logging into a German government portal. The one decision you have to make before you start is the length: if you do not write a period on the form, the law gives you a year.

By the Casinohafen deskUpdated: 7 October 2026Checked: September 2026

In brief

No reason required. Nobody examines your playing behaviour, and no medical evidence is asked for.
Three routes: in person at a venue, a paper form by post, or the Hessen-Portal online — the last of which needs a German eID.
A copy of your passport is enough, whatever the nationality. A driving licence is not accepted.
Three months is the shortest period you can ask for; one year is what you get if you ask for nothing.
Free of charge under § 8c of the Glücksspielstaatsvertrag, at the operator as well as at the authority.
The exclusion does not lapse when the period runs out — it continues until you apply to have it lifted.

Shortest period you can request: 3 months (§ 8a)
Default if you state nothing: 1 year
Cost: 0 € (§ 8c GlüStV)
Applications processed in 2025: 60,000 approx., RP Darmstadt

Decide the length before you touch the form

§ 8a of the Glücksspielstaatsvertrag — the interstate treaty that governs gambling across Germany — says the exclusion runs for at least one year unless the person applying for a self-exclusion applies for a different period. In plain terms: one year is the default, three months is the floor, and the difference between the two depends entirely on whether you fill in the field.

That makes the length field the most consequential line on the whole application. People who intend a short break and leave the period blank discover several months later that they are excluded for twelve. People who write "3 Monate" and meant to stop for good discover that the shortest possible route back opened much sooner than they wanted.

Think about which mistake you would rather make. An exclusion longer than intended can be ended with one written application once the minimum has run; an exclusion that ended too early cannot be undone.

The field you are looking for

On the German form the period appears as Sperrdauer or gewünschte Dauer — the duration. Leave it empty and § 8a supplies one year for you. There is no upper limit: you can ask for five years, and you can ask for an exclusion with no end date at all.

Route one: in person, which needs no portal and no German eID

Every licensed operator can take your application. Walk into a Spielhalle (an amusement arcade with slot machines), a betting shop, or the reception of a Spielbank (a state-licensed casino), say the word Sperrantrag, and staff will hand you the form. They are trained for this; it is a routine request, not an awkward one.

For foreign residents this is often the fastest route, because staff can tell you which field is which and take the copy of your passport on the spot. You are not applying to that venue — the application goes to the authority and the exclusion takes effect at every licensed operator in the country.

The same works at a licensed online operator: the exclusion function in your player account leads to the OASIS application rather than to a purely internal block. If the interface only offers a block covering that one site, it is offering you the operator's own tool, which is a different thing.

Route two: the paper form by post

The Regierungspräsidium Darmstadt publishes the application as a PDF. You print it, fill it in, sign it by hand, add a copy of your identity document and post the lot to Darmstadt. Nothing about this route requires German residence documents or a digital identity.

It is also the route that most often comes back incomplete, and always for one of three reasons: no handwritten signature, a driving licence instead of a passport, or a missing period. The signature has to be yours, in ink, on the form itself; a typed name or a scan pasted into the PDF does not satisfy the requirement.

Route three: the Hessen-Portal, and the wall you may hit

Since 2024 the entry application can be submitted end to end through the Hessen-Portal, the online administration platform of the state of Hesse. The corresponding digital form for lifting an exclusion followed in November 2024.

The catch is the identification step. The fully digital route requires a BundID account together with the online identification function of a German electronic identity document. If you hold a German identity card, or an electronic residence title with that function activated and a PIN you actually remember, this works. If your only document is a foreign passport, it does not, and no amount of persistence will change that — the portal is verifying a German eID chip, not a nationality.

The portal is also German-only, with no English interface. Between the language and the eID requirement, most foreign residents end up on route one or route two, and lose nothing by it: the resulting exclusion is identical.

What the form asks and which documents count

The register only works if it identifies one specific person, so the application asks for the details that make the match unambiguous: family name, given names, date of birth, place of birth and address. Former names matter if you have one, because a query made under your current name has to find the entry.

Two things must accompany it. Your own handwritten signature, and a copy of a valid Personalausweis (the German identity card) or a passport. A driving licence is expressly not accepted, and this applies to foreign licences exactly as it does to German ones. A passport of any nationality is fine.

You do not have to prove anything else. There is no income check, no counselling certificate, no questionnaire about how much you play. § 8c makes both the exclusion application and the later application to lift it free of charge for you; what costs money is the operators' connection to the system, which is their problem.

Personal details: family name, given names, any former name, date of birth, place of birth, address.
Signature: handwritten, on the form. Not typed, not pasted in.
Identity: copy of a passport or German Personalausweis. No driving licences.
Duration: state it, or accept the statutory one year.
Cost: none, on any route.

What happens to your accounts, your balance and your bonus

Once the entry is made it takes effect without delay at every operator obliged to query the register. Your player accounts are shut down and any remaining balance is paid out to you. You cannot open a new account anywhere in the licensed German market while the entry stands, because the check runs before every registration, not only at the first one.

A running bonus goes with the account. There is no mechanism that preserves wagering progress across an exclusion, and no operator can hold a balance back on the ground that bonus conditions were unmet — the exclusion ends participation, and the money is yours.

The law also shuts the door on being coaxed back. § 8 forbids operators from working on an excluded person to have the exclusion lifted, and forbids offering bonuses to people who were formerly excluded. If a marketing email arrives that tests either of those lines, it is worth forwarding to the supervisory authority.

What self-exclusion will not do for you

It binds operators licensed in Germany. A site operating without a German licence is outside the system, is not connected to the register and will keep taking your deposits; treating the entry as a technical barrier rather than as a legal one is the mistake that causes the most damage.

It also reaches nothing outside gambling — not your bank, not your cards, not an unlicensed operator's app already on your phone. If the money side is the acute problem, a deposit limit, a bank-level gambling block and a debt counselling appointment do more than an OASIS entry alone.

And it is not treatment. The Bundesinstitut für Öffentliche Gesundheit (BIÖG), the federal public health institute, runs a free and anonymous line on 0800 1 37 27 00, Monday to Thursday 10:00 to 22:00 and Friday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00, with information at check-dein-spiel.de. The service is in German; ask to be referred to a local counselling centre if you need another language.

Step by step

From the decision to the entry
Step	What happens	Who acts	Time frame
01	Choose a route	In person at a licensed venue, paper form by post, or the Hessen-Portal with a German eID.	You
02	Set the period	Three months is the minimum you can request. Leave the field blank and one year applies.	You
03	Sign and document	Handwritten signature plus a copy of a passport or German identity card. No driving licence.	You
04	Submission	The venue forwards it, or you post it to the Regierungspräsidium Darmstadt.	You or the operator
05	Entry	The exclusion is recorded and takes effect at every licensed operator nationwide.	RP Darmstadt or operator
06	Written notice	You are informed in writing of the exclusion and of how it can be ended.	RP Darmstadt
07	Accounts closed	Player accounts are shut down and any balance is paid out.	Operators
08	Continuation	After the minimum period the exclusion runs on until you apply to lift it.	—

Frequently asked

Can I exclude myself if I do not have a German identity card?

Yes. A copy of your passport is accepted whatever your nationality. The only route that genuinely requires a German electronic identity document is the fully digital application through the Hessen-Portal.

Can I limit the exclusion to one operator?

No. OASIS knows no partial exclusion; the entry is valid across the whole licensed German market. If you only want to pause at one site, use that operator's own exclusion function — which works only there and which the operator can reverse.

Can I ask for less than three months?

No. Three months is the shortest period § 8a permits for a self-exclusion. Shorter breaks are what the 24-hour panic button and a lowered deposit limit are for.

How quickly does it take effect?

The exclusion is effective at licensed operators without delay once it has been entered. The law does not set a processing time for the application itself, so no honest source can promise you a number of hours.

Do I get confirmation?

Yes. The excluded person is informed in writing about the exclusion and about the ways it can be ended.

Can an operator invite me back once the period has run?

No. § 8 prohibits operators from working on an excluded person to have the exclusion lifted and from offering bonuses to people who were formerly excluded.

Does the exclusion end on its own when my period expires?

No. Expiry of the minimum period only makes an application to lift the exclusion admissible. Without that application the entry simply continues.

Sources

Glücksspielstaatsvertrag 2021, § 8a — entry and duration of an exclusion, written notification of the person concerned; § 8 — ban on inducing a lifting and on bonuses for formerly excluded players.
Glücksspielstaatsvertrag 2021, § 8c (no cost to the player), § 6a (player account) and § 6i paragraph 3 (24-hour panic button).
<a href="https://rp-darmstadt.hessen.de/sicherheit-und-kommunales/gluecksspiel/spielersperrsystem-oasis/spielerinnen-und-spieler" rel="nofollow noopener">Regierungspräsidium Darmstadt — OASIS, information for players</a> (application routes, forms, accepted identity documents).
<a href="https://rp-darmstadt.hessen.de/presse/spielersperrsystem-oasis-neues-digitales-antragsformular-freigeschaltet" rel="nofollow noopener">Regierungspräsidium Darmstadt — new digital application form</a> (Hessen-Portal, BundID and the online identification function).
<a href="https://rp-darmstadt.hessen.de/presse/bilanz-2025-mehr-als-fuenf-milliarden-abfragen-ueber-das-spielersperrsystem-oasis" rel="nofollow noopener">Regierungspräsidium Darmstadt, 2025 balance</a> — around 60,000 applications processed, 367,000 active exclusions.
<a href="https://www.check-dein-spiel.de/" rel="nofollow noopener">check-dein-spiel.de</a> — Bundesinstitut für Öffentliche Gesundheit, free and anonymous helpline 0800 1 37 27 00.