How to check Germany's GGL whitelist for a legal operator
A practical guide to matching a gambling brand, legal entity, domain and permitted product in Germany's official GGL whitelist.
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The short answer
- The GGL whitelist is Germany's common official list of permitted gambling organisers and intermediaries under the 2021 Interstate Treaty.
- The safest match connects the operator or intermediary to the exact website and the permitted gambling product.
- The list also includes permissions supervised by German state authorities, not only permissions supervised directly by the GGL.
- The live whitelist displayed a 2 October 2026 edition when Atlas checked it on 9 October; the source edition and the Atlas check date are recorded separately.
- One hostname can appear in more than one holder row: games.tipico.de is published for virtual slots under both Tipico Games Limited and Tipico Karlsruhe Limited, so a domain match must not collapse the legal entities.
- The whitelist is updated when required and at least monthly, so a saved copy should never replace the current page or its latest-changes section.
Fields to verify in a GGL whitelist record
A name match is only the start. These fields determine what the record actually proves.
- Field
- Provider
- Question
- Which legal organiser or intermediary is named?
- Why it matters
- Separates the company from the consumer brand
- Field
- Gambling type
- Question
- Which activity is permitted?
- Why it matters
- Prevents a sportsbook permission becoming a casino claim
- Field
- Website
- Question
- Is the exact consumer domain or product path listed?
- Why it matters
- Connects the permission to the site or product page a user visits
- Field
- Territory
- Question
- Is the distribution nationwide or state-specific?
- Why it matters
- Defines the geographical scope
- Field
- Authority
- Question
- GGL or a state gambling authority?
- Why it matters
- Identifies the responsible supervisor
- Field
- Update date
- Question
- How current is the published list?
- Why it matters
- Makes the conclusion reproducible and time-bounded
| Field | Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Which legal organiser or intermediary is named? | Separates the company from the consumer brand |
| Gambling type | Which activity is permitted? | Prevents a sportsbook permission becoming a casino claim |
| Website | Is the exact consumer domain or product path listed? | Connects the permission to the site or product page a user visits |
| Territory | Is the distribution nationwide or state-specific? | Defines the geographical scope |
| Authority | GGL or a state gambling authority? | Identifies the responsible supervisor |
| Update date | How current is the published list? | Makes the conclusion reproducible and time-bounded |
The fields available can differ by record and gambling type. Open the live whitelist before relying on a result.
What the GGL whitelist is
Germany's Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder publishes the common official whitelist under section 9(8) of the 2021 Interstate Treaty on Gambling. The list names gambling organisers and intermediaries that hold a permission or concession under the treaty.
The whitelist is broader than a list of companies supervised only by the GGL. It can also show offers supervised by German state authorities, including certain lotteries and land-based casino activities.
From question to defensible conclusion
What the GGL whitelist is
What Atlas verified on 9 October 2026
Why a domain match is not enough
Start with the exact product and domain
What Atlas verified on 9 October 2026
The live whitelist displayed a dataset update date of 2 October 2026 when Atlas read it on 9 October. Its latest-changes section records a new Betway permission on 2 October, and the detailed record identifies that addition as virtual slot games at betway.de under Betway Limited.
Atlas checked 16 tracked brands at exact-domain, legal-entity and product level. Fourteen retained listed matches, including betano.de under Betkick Sportsbetting Limited and leovegas.de under LVSports Limited, each for sports betting and virtual slots. This is a bounded check of Atlas examples, not a census of the whole German market.
No ladbrokes.de or netbet.de consumer domain was found in the 2 October edition. Ladbrokes (Deutschland) Limited appears for other named domains, including partypoker.de and bpremium.de. That company match does not establish a Ladbrokes-branded German offer, and these negative findings do not describe the brands in other countries.
Why a domain match is not enough
The current whitelist publishes games.tipico.de in virtual-slot rows for both Tipico Games Limited and Tipico Karlsruhe Limited. The repeated hostname does not merge the holders or turn two product rows into one permission.
Search the hostname, then preserve every matching row with its legal entity, gambling type, territory, responsible authority and permission dates. Deduplicating domains can be useful for counting websites, but it must not erase a separate holder-product relationship.
Start with the exact product and domain
Before searching, define whether the question concerns sports betting, virtual slots, online poker, horse betting or another listed activity. A company can hold permission for one activity without holding permission for another.
Betway now illustrates a genuine product addition. Its existing sports-betting record and its virtual-slot permission dated 2 October 2026 are separate records at betway.de. The new slot permission does not establish permission for nationwide table or live casino games.
Record the exact hostname and any product path published in the record. A similar brand, international domain or translated website is not an automatic match.
PokerStars shows why the path and entity matter together. The whitelist lists pokerstars.de for online poker and pokerstars.de/vegas for virtual slots under Reel Germany Limited. Sports betting at pokerstars.de/sports is separately listed under Cyan Blue International Limited, with an initial permission dated 17 June 2024. That sports record is an existing permission, not a new October grant.
Search the brand and legal entity separately
Use the full-text search for the consumer brand, known trading names, legal company and exact domain. A search result should be opened and read in full rather than treated as proof from the result title alone.
If the brand is absent but a possible group company appears, verify whether the record itself connects that entity to the website. Corporate ownership outside the whitelist is contextual evidence, not a substitute for the official match.
Read the gambling type and territory
The gambling type states what was permitted. The territory or distribution field can distinguish a nationwide permission from activity limited to a particular state. Both fields are necessary to describe the scope accurately.
Online casino games are especially important to distinguish from virtual slots. The GGL explains that state authorities, rather than the GGL, are responsible for certain online casino permissions.
For example, Tipico Karlsruhe Limited has online casino records at sh-games.tipico.de and casino.tipico.de whose territory is Schleswig-Holstein. These state-specific casino records must be kept separate from the virtual-slot records at games.tipico.de and the sports-betting record at tipico.de under Tipico Co. Limited.
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named primary sources
Last editorial review: 2026-10-09. Review target: every 30 days.
The GGL whitelist is Germany's common official list of permitted gambling organisers and intermediaries under the 2021 Interstate Treaty.
The safest match connects the operator or intermediary to the exact website and the permitted gambling product.
The list also includes permissions supervised by German state authorities, not only permissions supervised directly by the GGL.
Check the responsible authority
A whitelist entry can name the GGL or a state gambling authority as the responsible supervisor. This tells the reader where a status question, complaint or current-record enquiry should be directed.
It also prevents the mistaken conclusion that a state-supervised entry is unofficial merely because the permission was not issued directly by the GGL.
What absence from the whitelist means
The GGL's consumer guidance states that permitted online gambling providers are recorded in the official whitelist and that an application does not become permission until it has been approved and added. For a current German online-offer check, absence is therefore material.
A responsible research record should still preserve the search terms, exact domain and list date. This makes the negative finding repeatable and allows it to be corrected quickly if the authority updates the record.
A six-step GGL verification workflow
The workflow below produces a narrow, auditable result and avoids relying on a badge or footer claim published by the operator itself.
- Open the live official whitelist and record its update date.
- Define the intended gambling product and exact domain or listed product path.
- Search brand, legal entity and domain separately.
- Open every matching record and verify legal entity, activity, territory and authority.
- Record unmatched fields and alternative names tested.
- Publish a Germany-specific conclusion with the source and check date.
When to repeat the check
The GGL says the whitelist is updated when required and at least monthly. Atlas therefore schedules this high-risk guide for a 30-day review and will review it earlier after a licence announcement, enforcement notice or material list change.
The current page should always take priority over a screenshot, cached result or older downloadable copy.
Turn the evidence into a focused research brief
Send the regulatory question, entities and markets you need reviewed. We can scope a private source review with dated evidence and explicit limits.
Markets, outputs, evidence cut-off and fee are agreed in the written scope.
Need structured records for a workflow? Explore CSV and JSON data.
Primary sources
These links are maintained by the named authority. Open the current source before relying on a status.
GGL whitelist: 2 October 2026 edition, checked 9 October 2026
Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder · checked 9 October 2026
FAQ: identifying illegal online gambling
Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder · checked 9 October 2026
Online gambling products eligible for permission
Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder · checked 9 October 2026
Safe online gambling guidance
Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder · checked 9 October 2026
