Unusual German Court Ruling Orders PokerStars to Repay Losses That Went to Other Players

^{Regional Court of Mönchengladbach, Germany}

A German court has ordered PokerStars to reimburse a player for around €39,500 in online poker losses, even though most of the money was won by other players rather than retained by the operator. The ruling was reported by CLLB Rechtsanwälte, the law firm that represented the player.

The Regional Court of Mönchengladbach issued the ruling on 17 September. The player had used PokerStars.eu between October 2015 and March 2023.

He sought reimbursement on the grounds that PokerStars operator TSG Interactive Gaming Europe Ltd. did not hold the German licence required to offer online poker during the relevant period.

The court accepted that argument and ruled that the contracts between the player and the operator were invalid.

PokerStars argued that it should not be required to reimburse the full amount. The company pointed out that poker is played between users, while the operator only collects rake, a fee charged for running the games. In other words, most of the player’s losses had gone to other players rather than to PokerStars itself.

The court rejected that argument. According to CLLB, it found that PokerStars organised the games and managed the players’ accounts. On that basis, the operator was ordered to reimburse the player’s entire net loss of around €39,500.

PokerStars also sought to have the claim dismissed on limitation grounds. The player said he had only learned in 2023 that offering online poker without the required German licence was prohibited.

The court accepted his position and declined to dismiss the claim as time-barred.

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