Auf Nimmerwiedersehen: ACRPoker Boots German Customers

ACRPoker has made the sudden and surprising decision to stop doing business in Germany. Players from this country will have to request their final cashouts before Monday, Jan. 29. On that date, German users will no longer be able to log in to their accounts.

Email Sent to Affected Players

On Tuesday, Jan. 23, ACR sent an email to its customers residing in Germany explaining the situation. The text of this email is reproduced below:

Hi [name]

In compliance with a notice sent by the Gaming Regulatory Authority to some online poker brand operators, ACR Poker has decided to cease all gameplay and gambling operations for customers from Germany.

As you are a player registered as a resident in Germany, we will remove access to our poker products on January 29th, 2024.

Through January 28th, 2024, you will have access to your customer account solely for the purpose of cashing out your funds. Kindly review and update your account information, if necessary, to ensure a smooth withdrawal process. Please submit your withdrawal request as soon as possible.

Please note that on January 29th, 2024, you will no longer have access to your poker account to initiate a withdrawal. If you have a remaining balance to withdraw after this date, you will need to submit your withdrawal request via an email addressed to support@acrpoker.eu so we may manually process the withdrawal.

Please contact customer support at support@acrpoker.eu in case you have any questions or need any assistance.

We apologize for the short notice and will work with you to handle your cashout quickly.

ACR Poker Customer Support

For a couple of days, there was some confusion about whether or not this decision applied to ACRPoker's sister sites on the Winning Poker Network with support personnel giving conflicting answers in response to inquiries. However, it now seems that the departure from Germany is network-wide and includes BlackChip Poker, True Poker, YaPoker, and Poker King.

A Hasty Departure

As conceded in the email, a timeframe of less than a week before the closure of accounts is very short notice indeed. However, the fact that manually processed cashouts will be available beyond the Jan. 29 deadline is good news for clients who may have to set up crypto wallets or get their banking details straightened out before making their payout requests.

Evidence of the swiftness with which ACR opted to exit Germany comes from examining the terms and conditions on the ACRpoker.eu website. Here we can see that the company didn't even take the time to update its list of prohibited jurisdictions to include Germany!

ACRPoker Hasn't Yet Updated Its Terms to Account for the Recent Change

Reasons for This Move

As always, determining the exact reasons for the geo-restrictions implemented by an online gaming operator is a murky science at best. In this instance, all we have to go on is ACR's assertion that there was “a notice sent by the Gaming Regulatory Authority to some online poker brand operators.”

The “Gaming Regulatory Authority” (Gemeinsamen Glücksspielbehörde der Länder or GGL) is a division of the German government that has authority over many aspects of terrestrial and online gambling. The GGL was set up under the terms of the State Treaty on Gambling 2021 (Glücksspielstaatsvertrag 2021), which saw the 16 states of Germany agree to delegate their responsibilities for gambling oversight to this one agency.

Despite being created as part of a 2021 agreement, it took some time for the Gaming Regulatory Authority to launch. It first started discharging some of its duties on July 1, 2022 when it accepted responsibility for combating illegal gambling through IP blocking and payment processor restrictions. It wasn't until Jan. 1, 2023 that it began executing all of its functions in earnest, including the licensure of online poker providers.

It's not uncommon for a new regulatory body to take its time getting off the ground before embarking on the task of attempting to drive unlicensed operators out of the country. Part of the rationale for such crackdowns is the protection of licensed gaming firms, which clearly is impossible until there actually are entities that possess valid licenses.

Assuming ACRPoker is giving us the real scoop as to why it's abandoning Germany at this juncture, we might expect to see other internet poker sites take similar steps because the notice was allegedly sent to “some online poker brand operators.” However, the Winning Poker Network is thus far the only online poker group that we have heard of that has received such a directive from the GGL.

About German Licensed Online Poker

For a long time, Germany basically treated online poker as a gray area that was not explicitly legal yet was not a priority for enforcement. This all changed toward the end of 2020 when new licensing requirements became public knowledge.

Among the restrictions that licensed online poker rooms must comply with are:

• Multi-tabling limit of four tables simultaneously
• Monthly deposit limit of €1,000
• 5.3% tax on every buyin
• No seat or table selection
• Panic button allowing customers to instantly self-exclude for 24 hours
• Restrictions on gambling advertising

Only a Handful of Licensed Companies

Following the announcement of the onerous restrictions to be placed on online poker sites, many operators elected to abandon the country. Winamax, Unibet, and William Hill were some of the big names that opted to leave. There are now only five licensees for online poker in Germany:

• 888
• bwin
• Ladbrokes (operating the brands partypoker and bpremium)
• GGPoker
• PokerStars

Challenging Operating Environment

Those firms that chose to remain in Germany and obtain proper licensure have had to make some tough compromises to stay compliant with German gaming law while still being able to generate sufficient revenue. For instance, PokerStars increased the rake for Germans in order to help offset the 5.3% tax and removed higher-stakes games from the lobby. GGPoker meanwhile taxes tournament prizes at a rate of 3%.

By making the regulated online gaming environment so strict and punitive, the Gaming Regulatory Authority risks pushing consumers away from licensed sites and into the arms of unlicensed businesses. Indeed, according to a November 2023 study by economist Gunther Schnabl of the University of Leipzig, almost half of German online gambling takes place at unlicensed “black market” sites. Moreover, around three-quarters of online gaming revenue was generated at such sites, meaning that those who frequent non-German licensed offshore websites tend to spend more than those who restrict themselves to the fully legal market.

The German Online Casino Association (Deutscher Online Casinoverband) and German Sports Betting Association (Deutscher Sportwettenverband) have pointed to the results of this study to argue for more streamlined and liberal online gambling regulations. However, until a comprehensive reworking of the current laws can be undertaken, sites that have no interest in obtaining German licensure will continue to appeal to ordinary customers. In doesn't help that the GGL appears to have its head stuck in the sand, contending that the market value of unlicensed internet gambling in Germany amounts to just 2% to 4% of the total market: a figure that's absurdly low and very unlikely to be accurate.

Other Offshore Poker Rooms not Afraid

ACRPoker might be acting a bit skittishly by abandoning Germany so quickly. There are other cardrooms that continue to serve the country and are not worried about the machinations of the GGL. One of the best of them is TigerGaming, which not only hosts online poker games but also casino titles and a fully featured sportsbook. When you make your initial deposit, TigerGaming will give you a 100% up to $1,000 bonus for the poker room. Click below to get started at TigerGaming today:

To find out more about TigerGaming before signing up, check out this honest TigerGaming review.