German Judge Orders Bet3000 Repayment Over Deposit-Limit Breach
Posted on: January 12, 2026, 11:43h.
Last updated on: January 12, 2026, 11:50h.
Bonn court says deposits above €1,000 cap can be reclaimed
Bet3000 let a bettor exceed limits, court orders refunds
Ruling adds pressure on operators to enforce Germany’s safeguards
German gamblers who are allowed to bet beyond the country’s strict €1,000 monthly deposit cap are entitled to get that excess money back, a court in Bonn has ruled, marking the latest setback for operators facing mounting legal exposure in Europe’s most tightly regulated gambling market.
The Bonn Regional Court ordered sportsbook Bet3000 and its operator, IBA Entertainment, to reimburse most of a customer’s online betting losses after finding the player had been permitted to deposit far more than the law allows.
The unnamed plaintiff wagered on sports with Bet3000 between November 2019 and April 2022, losing about €16K in total, according to court filings.
Toughest Laws in Europe
The deposit cap came into force in July 2021 with the enactment of Germany’s Internet Treaty on Gambling – an overhaul of the country’s laws on gambling designed to tighten regulatory controls and limit harm through a uniform set of national safeguards
The rules are among the toughest in Europe. They include a €1 maximum stake per spin on online slots, a five-second minimum spin speed, and bans on auto-play and turbo features. The deposit limit applies across all licensed operators combined, not per site, which requires centralized monitoring to prevent players from exceeding the threshold.
In its ruling, the court divided the dispute into two distinct periods: bets placed before Bet3000 obtained a German sports betting license and those placed afterward.
Bet3000 received regulatory approval for online and retail sports betting in early November 2020. As a result, the court found that any betting contracts entered into before that date were invalid under German law, entitling the plaintiff to a full refund of losses incurred during that period.
But the player was able to deposit well beyond the legal cap for several months after Bet3000 entered the regulated market. German law requires operators to block further deposits once the monthly limit is reached.
“It is noteworthy that our client can also reclaim losses incurred after Bet3000 was granted its license,” said Thomas Sittner, a lawyer at CLLB Rechtsanwälte, which represented the plaintiff. “The reason is that the operator violated the monthly deposit limit of €1,000.”
Clear Violation
The court found that Bet3000 failed to enforce that safeguard and, in doing so, unlawfully allowed deposit limits as high as €30K – a clear breach of the regulatory framework.
As a result, the court ordered reimbursement of losses incurred above the €1,000 monthly cap, awarding the plaintiff about €12K.
It’s the latest in a string of cases where German courts have sided with players who lost money gambling online, either because operators weren’t properly licensed or they failed to comply with regulations.
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