German courts order PokerStars operator to repay players' losses

Three German courts – the Oberlandesgericht Köln, the Landgericht Köln and the Landgericht Bonn – ruled that TSG Interactive Gaming Europe Ltd., the operator of the pokerstars.eu website, violated the German Glücksspielstaatsvertrag by offering online gambling without a German licence. The courts ordered the company to refund the losses suffered by players, each amounting to about €63,000 for losses incurred between March 2014 and March 2023.

CLLB Rechtsanwälte, led by Thomas Sittner, secured the judgments, arguing that the operator’s payments were unlawful because the gambling offer was prohibited in Germany until 30 June 2021 and required a valid licence thereafter. The courts rejected the defence that the operator acted only as a payment processor, confirming that the losses must be repaid.