Third-party exclusion by relatives: conditions and application

Minimum duration

12 months, no reduction

Lifting takes effect after

1 month from receipt

Cost

0 € (§ 8c GlüStV)

Counselling line, BIÖG

0800 1 37 27 00 free and anonymous

Bringing a case is not the same as applying for one

English-language advice often says a family member can "request" an exclusion, which makes the procedure sound like filling in a form on someone's behalf. It is not that. Under § 8a of the Glücksspielstaatsvertrag — the interstate treaty that governs gambling across Germany — an exclusion is entered where the statutory grounds are met, and it is the Regierungspräsidium Darmstadt, the authority that runs the OASIS register for all sixteen federal states, that establishes whether they are. Operators, venue staff, counselling services, relatives and other third parties can all put a case in front of it.

What follows from that is a different posture towards the paperwork. You are not making a declaration about your own affairs, as in a self-exclusion; you are supplying the authority with the material on which it will make a decision about somebody else. The quality of the material is what decides the outcome.

The four grounds, and which of them your case fits

§ 8a does not leave the grounds to judgement. An exclusion is to be entered for persons who are at risk of gambling addiction, who are over-indebted, who are failing to meet their financial obligations, or who are staking amounts that bear no relation to their income and assets.

Two of these are essentially financial and can be documented on paper, which in practice makes them the easier route. The risk-of-addiction ground is the one people reach for first and the hardest to evidence from outside a treatment relationship — which is a reason to think about which of the four your situation actually fits before writing anything.

• Risk of gambling addiction — the hardest of the four to substantiate from the outside.
• Over-indebtedness — documented by demands, enforcement notices or debt counselling papers.
• Unmet financial obligations — unpaid rent, unpaid maintenance, defaults on instalments.
• Stakes out of proportion to income and assets — visible in bank statements showing transfers to gambling operators.

The evidence that carries weight

The Regierungspräsidium Darmstadt asks for evidence of the ground being relied on. What that means in practice is documents: reminders and demands for payment, bank statements showing deposits to gambling operators, papers on obligations that have not been met. A medical certificate is not required.

An account of what you have observed is not worthless, but on its own it rarely carries a case. Dates, amounts and named operators make a submission usable; general statements about somebody drinking through their salary at a slot machine do not give the authority anything to work with.

The authority publishes a model application for a third-party exclusion as a PDF, and it is worth working from that document rather than writing a free-form letter, because it asks for the things the file needs. Like everything else in this procedure, it is in German.

The hearing, and why this cannot be done quietly

Before an exclusion is entered, § 8a requires that the person concerned be given the opportunity to comment. The exception is where there is a legal representative. This hearing is procedural law, not a courtesy, and it has a consequence that people who bring cases often have not thought through.

The person finds out that a procedure is under way before they are entered in the register. Anyone hoping that a relative will learn about the exclusion only when they are turned away at the door of a Spielbank — a state-licensed casino — has misread the procedure entirely.

If the entry is made, the person is informed in writing, without delay, of the exclusion and of the ways it can be brought to an end. From that point the effect is identical to a self-exclusion: every operator licensed in Germany, online and on the premises, turns them away.

Anonymity: what you can and cannot expect

There is no general entitlement for the person bringing the case to remain anonymous. The authority decides on disclosure case by case, and the person concerned has a legitimate interest in being able to place the allegations during the hearing.

The link becomes visible later in any event. If the excluded person applies to have the exclusion lifted, § 8b requires the authority to inform the body that made the entry and the third parties who brought the case — both about the application and about their own right to apply for a fresh exclusion.

Bringing a third-party exclusion is therefore an open act, not a covert one. That is worth knowing before you start, because it reaches into a relationship and it does so for at least a year. It is the heaviest instrument available to a relative, and the one hardest to take back.

One year, and one month to undo

The duration is where a third-party exclusion differs most sharply from a self-exclusion. § 8a fixes the minimum at one year with no possibility of reduction, where a person excluding themselves can ask for as little as three months.

Nor does it end when the year does. As with every OASIS entry, expiry of the minimum period merely makes an application to lift the exclusion admissible; without such an application the entry continues indefinitely. When the application does come, § 8b gives it effect one month after receipt — four times the pause that applies to a self-exclusion, and the interval during which the third parties are notified. The full timetable is on duration and deadlines.

You cannot prevent the lifting. What § 8b gives you is notice of the application and the right to bring a fresh case, which starts the procedure over with a new hearing and new evidence.

Before you send it: what this will and will not fix

A third-party exclusion works against operators licensed in Germany. It does nothing about a site licensed in Malta or Curaçao, which is not connected to the register at all, and nothing about a card or a bank account. Where somebody is already playing on unlicensed sites, an OASIS entry moves the problem rather than solving it.

It also is not treatment, and it is not a conversation. Counselling services advise relatives as well as players, and that is usually the more useful first step — not least because they will tell you whether your case is strong enough before you put it in front of an authority.

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 Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL), the national gambling authority, also lists bundesweit-gegen-gluecksspielsucht.de, gluecksspielhilfe.de and suchtberatung.digital. These services operate in German; ask to be referred onward if you need another language.

Step by step

Frequently asked

Sources

1. Glücksspielstaatsvertrag 2021, § 8a — entry of an exclusion, the four grounds, hearing of the person concerned, written notification, minimum duration.
2. Glücksspielstaatsvertrag 2021, § 8b — lifting an exclusion, notification of the entering body and of the third parties who brought the case; § 8c — no cost for the persons involved.
3. <a href="https://rp-darmstadt.hessen.de/sites/rp-darmstadt.hessen.de/files/2022-03/musterantrag_auf_fremdsperre.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener">Regierungspräsidium Darmstadt — model application for a third-party exclusion (PDF)</a>.
4. <a href="https://rp-darmstadt.hessen.de/sicherheit-und-kommunales/gluecksspiel/spielersperrsystem-oasis/spielerinnen-und-spieler" rel="nofollow noopener">Regierungspräsidium Darmstadt — OASIS, entry of an exclusion</a> (evidence required, procedure).
5. <a href="https://www.gluecksspiel-behoerde.de/de/fuer-spielende/gluecksspielsucht-beratungs-und-hilfsangebote" rel="nofollow noopener">Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder — counselling and support services</a>, including the BIÖG helpline 0800 1 37 27 00.