The German online poker market is regulated since today – Here is what it means for the players

Online poker is now regulated in Germany

From today October 15th, 2020 on the German online poker market is officially regulated. Here is what it means for German poker players and the online poker sites operating in Germany.

The German government already agreed to a tolerance policy on September 10^th. However, it was not made public until September 30th.

“Toleration” in the term toleration policy stands for the fact that a subset of online gambling will be allowed in all 16 German states for the next nine months, as long as poker sites follow the new rules.

Since the new online gaming laws and the consequent changes already came into effect today, German online poker sites were given very little time to implement them, but most of them managed.

Find out below what it means for German online poker players as well as for those, who are residing in Germany.

What it means for the players?

In the infographic below you can see the most important changes for poker player at once glance:

Summary of the changes by German online poker sites 

partypoker has announced on its Discord channel and to German players via email that it is moving to a new partypoker.de website and poker client on October 15.

German partypoker players or residents have to confirm their identity and there are deposit limits in place. Balances and tickets will be migrated.

888poker has published an FAQ on their website regarding the changes. The online poker site plans to move all German players to the 888poker.de client. Their accounts will be transferred automatically. The new German 888poker client will implement all restrictions.

The migration is scheduled for November 2nd, which is two and a half weeks after the tolerance policy launch. 888 has already informed German players and residents that the player pool will be segregated.

Unibet Poker has announced that it is ready for the regulated market with all necessary requirements: table cap, panic button, deposit limit etc. It stated explicitly that it does not intent to withdraw from the market, nor launch a segregated player pool.

Run it Once  has published an FAQ announcing its temporary withdrawal from Germany as they didn’t have enough time to implement the new rules.

From today on all German players and residents won’t be able to play on Run It Once any longer. However, this is only temporary and you can withdraw your money at any time.

Your VIP status will be saved as RIO plans on returning to the German market in two months as soon as the next leg of licensing becomes available.