Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL), the Federal Authority of German gambling, has welcomed Sandro Kirchner as its new Chair of the Board of Directors.
Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL), the Federal Authority of German gambling, has welcomed Sandro Kirchner as its new Chair of the Board of Directors.
The State Secretary in the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior, for Sport and Integration, is taking over from Reiner Moser, Head of the Ministry of the Interior, Digitalisation and Municipalities for Baden-Württemberg.
The GGL board consists of department heads or state secretaries representing Germany’s 16 federal states (Bundesländer), focusing on regulatory developments related to Germany’s Fourth Interstate Gambling Treaty (GlüNeuRStv).
The board’s statute requires a new Chair to be elected each year by 1 July, and the leadership rotates alphabetically through the 16 regions.
Curbing the black market
During his year-long reign, Moser was focused on establishing the GGL’s authority as the supervisor of Germany’s online gaming market.
Kirchner will now be focused on developing stronger international networking and curbing the impact of the illegal gambling market in Germany.
He commented: “The consistent prosecution of illegal offers and player protection have the highest priority for me. The work of the GGL must continue to be significantly aligned with the goal that the business model of illegal gambling must not be profitable in Germany.”
The GGL was established in 2023 and launched the Interstate market, transforming the illegal gambling market into a legal and state-controlled one.
According to the regulators’ Third Annual Activity Report for 2024, unlicensed operators account for “25% of the total market for online gambling” across sports betting, virtual slot machines and poker.
However, organisations such as the gambling trade body Deutscher Sportwettenverband (DSWV) claim that the Interstate market has a 50% exposure to the black market.
The trade body says that the official data obscures the scale and speed of illegal growth, citing data from its own study, which found that the number of illegal German-language sports betting websites increased from 281 to 382 in a single year – a jump of 36%.
The industry’s concerns surrounding the prominence of the black market stem from the tightly regulated model used in Germany.
The DSWV claims that overbearing iGaming regulations, including strict caps on advertising, heavy limitations on live betting and bet types, and low deposit limits, have made the legal market uncompetitive and structurally less appealing.
In response to the threat of the black market, the GGL has, since its inception, rolled out geo-blocking measures under the EU’s Digital Services Act, stepped up payment-blocking enforcement and launched prohibition proceedings against illegal operators.
The authority also successfully lobbied Google to restrict gambling ads in Germany.
Reflecting on his chairmanship, Moser said: “The gambling market on the Internet has developed rapidly in recent years. The GGL met the resulting requirements with great commitment and can already show considerable results both in the fight against the illegal market and in the regulation and supervision of the permitted market.”
https://igamingexpert.com/regions/europe/ggl-new-chair-black-market-fight/