Following a 3-year investigation, German authorities revealed on September 11, 2026, that they had broken up an illegal gambling ring worth approximately €6 billion after conducting raids at 11 locations.
As stated by the authorities, the enforcement action was based on a collaborative operation between the Frankfurt Tax Office, the North Rhine-Westphalia Counter-Financial Crime State Office, the Prosecutor’s Office, and more than 100 Frankfurt police officers. As a result of the crackdown, multiple vehicles were seized, bank accounts were frozen, an asset restraint order was issued at an €82 million valuation, and an arrest warrant was imposed.
The President of Germany’s Sports Betting Association (DSWV), Mathias Dahms, supported the investigation:
“This successful investigation clearly demonstrates the scale that the illegal gambling market has now reached. Nearly €6bn in wagers over two-and-a-half years in a single investigation must prompt a critical review of previous assumptions about the size of the black market. If even a single case reveals such proportions, it inevitably raises the question of whether previous black market estimates realistically reflect the actual scope of the illegal market.”
The investigation identified 5 suspects connected to the illegal operation, which ran an unlicensed online casino between 2021 and 2023 and processed around €5.8 billion in bets. This also follows Germany’s concerns over the country’s channelization rate, which reaches only 22-25%.
