德国赌徒或许终于能够战胜赌场，这要归功于欧盟和联邦法院的最新裁决。这些判决可能有助于赌博成瘾者，但法律之路或许充满挑战。
German gamblers may finally be able to beat the house, thanks to new court rulings in the EU and a federal court. The decisions could help gambling addicts — but the legal road might be difficult.
在线赌博被认为更容易让人上瘾。一家德国法院追随欧洲法院的判决认定，如果德国在禁止在线赌场和水果机期间，赌徒因这些平台而损失金钱，他们可以向赌博公司寻求赔偿。
Online gambling is considered much more addictive A German court has followed the European Court of Justice in finding that gamblers can seek compensation from gambling companies if they lost money when online casinos and fruit machines were illegal in Germany.
这些判决可能对赌博成瘾者产生重大影响，因为成千上万的人或许能够针对赌博公司提起民事诉讼。
The verdicts could have major consequences for gambling addicts, as thousands of people could potentially bring civil lawsuits against gambling companies.
在过去一年中，地区、联邦和欧洲层面的多起法院判决都站在了赌徒一边。最早的是2025年9月斯图加特高等地区法院的裁决，该法院支持了巴登-符腾堡州一名起诉马耳他在线博彩公司Tipico Games的原告。
A series of court decisions at regional, federal, and European level have found in favor of gamblers in the last year, beginning with the Higher Regional Court Stuttgart in September 2025, which agreed with a plaintiff in the state of Baden-Württemberg who sued the Malta-based online betting company Tipico Games.
该原告在2020年至2022年间损失了约1万欧元（1.12万美元），但由于在线赌博在德国直到2021年才被允许，法院裁定运营商在缺乏法律依据的情况下获得了这些盈利，因此必须予以退还。
The plaintiff lost around €10,000 ($11,200) between 2020 and 2022, but because online gambling was prohibited in Germany until 2021, the court found that operators had therefore received the winnings without legal basis and must return them.
败诉者的胜利：Tipico Games随后向德国最高民事和刑事法院——联邦最高法院（BGH）提出上诉。在今年9月中旬的一次初步口头听证会上，法院在关键问题上采纳了原告方的主张：如果赌博公司在损失发生时尚未获得德国许可，赌徒有权要求追回损失。不过，该案件的最终裁决预计要到明年1月才会作出。
Wins for the losers Tipico Games then appealed to the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), the highest civil and criminal court in Germany. In an initial verbal hearing in mid-September this year, the court followed the principle of the plaintiffs' case on one key point: That gamblers have the right to claim back losses if the companies did not have a license in Germany at the time the losses were incurred. But a final decision on the case is only expected to be made in January next year.
在线赌场和水果机曾在2008年至2021年间于德国被禁，但多家赌博运营商仍在该国开展业务，因为它们在其他欧盟国家持有博彩许可证。
Online casinos and fruit machines were banned in Germany from 2008 to 2021, but several gambling operators were active in the country because they had gaming licenses in other EU countries.
在线赌博公司不想让你知道的事情 要观看此视频，以及今年四月，欧洲法院裁定，欧盟法律并不排除成员国“禁止某些服务”，或“对该禁令附加民法后果”。换句话说，即使一家赌博公司在某个成员国拥有合法许可证，也不意味着它可以凌驾于其他成员国的赌博法律之上。
What online gambling companies don't want you to know To view this video , and In April this year, the European Court of Justice ruled that EU law does not preclude a member state from "prohibiting certain services," or from "attaching civil-law consequences to that prohibition." In other words, even if a gambling company has a legitimate license in one member state, that doesn't override national gambling laws elsewhere.
全球律所格林伯格·特劳里格（Greenberg Traurig）专注于赌博法的商业律师托马斯·邓奇海姆（Thomas Dünchheim）表示，律所目前正在收集客户 — — 有时借助人工智能工具在互联网上进行筛选 — — 以准备提起大规模集体诉讼。邓奇海姆本人也有因损失数万欧元而前来寻求代理的人。
Thomas Dünchheim, a business lawyer at global law firm Greenberg Traurig who specializes in gambling law, said law firms were now gathering clients — sometimes trawling the internet with the help of AI tools — to prepare massive collective lawsuits. Dünchheim himself has people who have lost tens of thousands of euros come to him seeking representation.
“钟摆正越来越多地向消费者倾斜。这有点像在美国 — — 我们正在看到类似于针对大众汽柴油门（Dieselgate）诉讼的大规模现象，”他对德国之声（DW）表示。“而且会有律师收集所有这些小案件，将它们打包，甚至可能借助法律融资公司的帮助推动诉讼进程。这对所有参与者来说都是一门好生意，而最终需要买单的将是那些在德国非法运营赌博的赌博公司。”
"The pendulum is swinging more and more towards the consumer. It's a bit like in America — we're seeing a mass phenomenon like the Dieselgate lawsuits against VW " he told DW. "And there are lawyers who will collect all these little cases, bundle them, and then maybe even drive it forward with the help of a legal financing firm. It's a good business for all involved, and the ones that will have to pay are the gambling firms who operated unlawful gambling in Germany."
在线赌博的危险 这些裁决可能为成瘾者带来一定程度的帮助，因为在线赌博对有成瘾问题的人尤其危险。根据不来梅大学公共卫生与护理研究所的心理学家托比亚斯·哈耶（Tobias Hayer）的说法，这归结为在线赌博的四个主要特点：匿名性及其导致的社会控制缺失，24/7随时可访问，无现金交易的无摩擦性，以及游戏频率极高。
The dangers of online gambling The decisions could bring a measure of help for addicts, as online gambling can be particularly dangerous for people with addiction issues. According to Tobias Hayer, a psychologist at the Institute for Public Health and Nursing Research at Bremen University, that comes down to four main features of online gambling: Anonymity and the consequent lack of social control, 24/7 accessibility, the frictionless nature of cashless transactions, and the high frequency of games played.
“这些法院裁决一点也不令人惊讶，”海耶尔对德国之声说，但他补充说，他对这些裁决持有矛盾的态度。“一方面，我可以想象这将对许多有赌博成瘾问题的赌徒来说是一个巨大的解脱。另一方面，如果这些人突然手里有很多钱，但他们还没有解决自己的问题，那么当然存在复发的风险。”沉迷赌博法律障碍但邓奇海姆指出，赌徒在提出索赔时可能不会那么轻松。
"These court verdicts are not surprising at all," Hayer told DW, but he added that he had an ambivalent attitude to them. "On the one hand I can imagine that this will be a huge relief to many gamblers who had an addiction problem. On the other hand, if these people suddenly get a lot of money in their hands, but they haven't worked through their problems, then of course there's a danger of recidivism." Hooked on Gambling The legal obstacles But Dünchheim suggested that the gamblers may not have such an easy ride when making their claims.
德国法律现在已经得出结论：如果玩家与公司签订的赌博合同在他们居住的国家被认定为非法，那么玩家可以要求追回损失。但前提是玩家本人“没有非法行为”，正如邓奇海姆所说。
It's true that German law has now concluded that if the gambling contract that the player makes with the company turns out to be unlawful in the country where they live, the player can claim their losses back. But only if the player themselves "did not act illegally," as Dünchheim put it.
“你也必须说：许多这些玩家故意去这个灰色地带的游戏场所，因为潜在的奖金可能更高，”他说。“因为这些公司不缴税。”然后，赌博公司的辩护团队当然会说：'你自己参与了非法游戏，所以你的行为是非法的。'而这个解释问题并不简单，”他补充道。“这是一个非常有趣的智力问题，但对赌博公司来说，这也是生死攸关的问题。”
"You also have to say: Many of these players deliberately went to games in this gray zone because the winnings are potentially bigger," he said. "Because the companies don't pay taxes." "Then the defense team of the gambling company will of course say: 'You took part in an illegal game yourself, so you were acting illegally.' And this question of interpretation is not simple," he added. "It's a very interesting intellectual question, but it's also existential for the gambling companies."
Tipico的赌博灰色地带Tipico案在德国背景下或许特别有趣，因为尽管该公司总部位于马耳他，但它是由一群德国律师于2004年创立的。该公司是一家大型雇主，在全球拥有数千名员工，并且曾赞助过多家德国顶级足球俱乐部。Tipico还表示，它已经制定了严格的消费者保护措施，以识别和防止危险的投注行为。”
Tipico's gambling gray zone The Tipico case is perhaps particularly interesting in the German context because, although the company is based in Malta, it was founded in 2004 by a group of German lawyers. The company is a big employer, with several thousand employees worldwide, and has been a sponsor of more than one top German football club. Tipico has also said that it has rigorous consumer protection measures in place to identify and prevent dangerous betting behavior.
但直到2021年之前，该公司在德国开展在线业务仍存在某些法律上的模糊地带。“他们一直有律师证明其业务符合欧洲法律，因为这种行为在某个欧盟成员国是被允许的，”Dünchheim说道。“但这是一个错误的假设，因为现在已经明确，在其他欧盟国家获得的博彩许可在德国并不适用，因为在与其他领域不同，博彩法在整个欧盟范围内并未实现统一。”
But there was some legal ambiguity about its online operations in Germany up until 2021. "They always had lawyers who could attest that what they are doing conforms to European law, because it is permitted in a European Union member state," said Dünchheim. "But that is a false assumption, as it has now been established that a gambling permit in another EU state doesn't apply in Germany, because unlike other areas, gambling law isn't harmonized across the bloc."
“Tipico是由两位商人创立的，并在灰色地带迅速壮大，”Dünchheim这样形容道。“他们聘请了专业的游说公司，也雇用了经验丰富的律师，还有私募股权投资公司的支持。但当然，他们也承担着巨大的财务风险。”编辑：Rina Goldenberg
"Tipico was started by two businessmen and grew big in a gray zone," as Dünchheim put it. "They had professional lobbying firms on board and they hired experienced lawyers, they had private equity firms on board. But of course they are carrying a huge financial risk." Edited by Rina Goldenberg