European Court intervenes as Germany-Malta dispute intensifies

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) hosted a cross-country hearing concerning the losses of a German Lottoland player.

Jurors will now withdraw to further evaluate case C-440, which task will most likely prove challenging as the circumstances around it include Germany’s gambling landscape prior to the adoption of its fourth gambling law iteration (GlüStV 2021).

MGA-licensed Lottoland was sued by the player back in 2021 for offering unregulated services on the German market, after which lawyer Volker Ramge purchased the claim so that he could refile it again, this time within the Maltese judiciary system.

The re-filing was expanded in its scope to represent more German consumers who were at one point customers not only of Lottoland, but also of other Maltese operators lacking a national licence in Germany. 

Defendants in the case then turned to European justice for more clarity. István Cocron, a lawyer in Germany, explained: “Subsequently, the parties there unanimously sought an ECJ submission so that the ECJ would have to comment on the conformity of the German Interstate Treaty on Gambling 2012 with European law.”

The ECJ’s final verdict on the compatibility of GlüStV 2012 with EU law will be based on the Advocate General’s official opinion, which will be announced on 10 July.   

International scrutiny keeps pressure on Malta

Malta’s government has previously been accused of undermining other countries’ legal systems. In 2023, the Maltese Parliament approved Bill 55 – legislation that aims to protect legal entities registered on the island against foreign legal judgements.

The texts, which allow Maltese courts to “refuse the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgements related to the online gambling sector”, were then officially added to Malta’s Gambling Act. 

Germany is well aware of this development, with the German regulator Gluecksspiel (GGL) openly criticising the bill as “incompatible with EU laws”.

The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), however, has remained firm in its defense of the legislation, stating that it protects MGA-licensed businesses from being targeted by actions that ‘do not correlate to the values of the European free market’.

Bill 55 has led Malta into another recent legal entanglement, this time with Austria, in a case involving two Austrian players that strongly resembles the German one.

https://lotterydaily.com/2025/04/11/regulation/ecj-germany-malta/