German State of Lower Saxony Issues First Federal Payment Blocking Order

As a part of the efforts to drive illegal igaming business from the country’s market, the German state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) has issued an international payment service provider with a blocking order. The companies have been banned from doing business with operators offering online casino, poker and lottery betting in Germany.

“[The] pressure is now on other payment providers to reorganise their businesses processes related to illegal gambling, if they have not already done so. Online casino is no trivial matter. [It is] banned by the State Treaty on Gambling and [offering such products is] a criminal offence. In the meantime, however, it remains a billion-Euro market,” Boris Pistorius, Minister for Home Affairs and Sports said.

The Niedersachsen Ministry of Interior handed the responsibility for implementing payment blocking controls. Its blocking orders are effective across all German states. The Ministry also sent warnings to a number of other payment service providers over links to illegal gambling. Some of these companies have already responded by ceasing to power transactions for offshore sites.

“The successful interactions with some payment service providers shows that our approach is quite effective,” Pistorius added.