Latest updates: Notable developments in gambling, sports wagering, and poker from the past week
Headline: Fresh Gambling News Roundup for August 2025
In the world of gambling, Germany is leading the charge with a flurry of updates and developments. Here's a roundup of the latest news:
Germany
- The upcoming 2025 Gaming in Germany Conference will take place on November 11, 2025. The conference will focus on key issues such as black market growth, regulatory developments, IP blocking, player protection, and compliance. Notable speakers from legal, regulatory, and industry backgrounds will attend [1][5].
- Online poker is now legal and tightly regulated in Germany. New rules include a €1,000 monthly deposit cap, a table cap of four players, mandatory identity verification, self-exclusion options, and restrictions on game offerings. Licensed platforms are dominant, but offshore sites are still accessible. Major global poker operators like GGPoker and PokerStars have adjusted their services in response to these regulations [2].
- The German gambling regulator GGL reported a 13.5% decline in sports betting stakes in Q2 2025, while virtual slot games saw a slight increase of 1.5%. GGL announced it will start publishing quarterly cross-border gambling stakes data from August 2025 onwards [3][4].
Austria
- No specific recent gambling news was found for Austria in the search results. Generally, Austria’s gambling market is regulated with a focus on problem gambling prevention and online casino licensing, but no major updates from 2025 are noted here.
United Kingdom
- No current detailed gambling updates were found in the search results. The UK remains one of the most mature regulated markets globally, with recent trends generally focusing on enhanced consumer protections and regulation updates by the UK Gambling Commission.
Japan
- No recent gambling news specific to Japan appeared in the search results. Japan has a growing regulated market mostly for pachinko and emerging integrated resorts with casinos, but no new 2025 developments were identified here.
World Series of Poker (Las Vegas)
- No new news or schedule changes were found for the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas.
Other Noteworthy Developments
- The EU Commission initiated an investigation against Malta for offering online gambling without holding a gambling license in various European countries [6].
- The UK Gambling Commission expressed concern and announced regulatory measures in response to an undercover investigation revealing that a reporter was denied entry to only one out of 14 gaming centers in Portsmouth [7].
- Betfred paid out the largest jackpot win in its 58-year history: a Manchester United fan won 11.5 million GBP on the progressive jackpot slot Mega Moolah with a 1.50 GBP stake [8].
- The BBC has addressed the issue of hate messages sent to tennis players, with a significant portion of these messages coming from disappointed sports betting enthusiasts [9].
- The British Betting and Gaming Council has demanded that social media platforms remove hate messages or threats [10].
- A large-scale raid was conducted in Görlitz, Germany, on a gambling operator suspected of illegal gambling, insolvency, and tax evasion [11].
- Around 3.37 million residents of Japan annually deposit 1.2 trillion yen at illegal offshore casinos [12].
- Austria's Salzburg may allow up to 472 new slot machines starting from 2026 [13].
- Merkur Group will be present at the Rainbow Festival in Cologne and San Hejmo in Weeze with gambling games in 2025 [14].
- Northern Ireland won its first World Cup in darts with Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney, defeating Wales 10-9 in the final [15].
- Fred Done, Betfred's owner, personally congratulated the lucky winner and invited him to a ManU game at Old Trafford Stadium [16].
- In the realm of online casinos, Germany stands out for its legalized and tightly regulated online poker, featuring a deposit cap, table limit, and mandatory identification verification [2].
- Concurrently, there has been a reported 13.5% decline in sports betting stakes in Germany in Q2 2025, while virtual slot games saw a modest increase [3].
- Amidst the global casino-and-gambling landscape, major platforms like GGPoker and PokerStars have made adjustments to cater to the newly implemented German regulations [2].
