Frankfurt's Prosecutor's Office raided eleven premises linked to an illegal gambling network following a three-year investigation coordinated by prosecutors, tax inspectors, police and North Rhine-Westphalia's financial crime unit. More than one hundred officers took part.
Five suspects ran an unlicensed online casino from 2021 to 2023, processing €5.8bn in stakes. Authorities seized a luxury vehicle, froze bank accounts and placed liens on property worth around €82m. One person has been detained and charged with tax evasion of at least €77.6m.
The raids came days after the Financial Action Task Force flagged online gambling as high-risk for money laundering. FATF urged regulators to watch for deposits from multiple third-party accounts, heavy VPN use, bets covering all outcomes, fake accounts and attempts to bypass verification.
Mathias Dahms, president of the German Sports Betting Association, welcomed the enforcement but questioned prior black-market estimates. "Nearly €6bn over two and a half years in one case alone — reason to revisit earlier calculations. If a single investigation uncovered this scale, the real size of the illegal market could be far larger."
Germany remains one of Europe's weakest performers on channelisation. H2 Gambling Capital puts the licensed slot share at 22–25%, with a potential drop to 20% by 2030 without reform. The cause is strict regulation and a large black market.
