One Week Away: Industry Voices Set Tone Ahead of iGaming Germany 2026

With just one week remaining, the 6th Annual iGaming Germany 2026 will take place on 21 – 22 May 2026 at the NOVOTEL München Messe in Munich, bringing together operators, legal specialists, compliance professionals, and technology providers for two days of focused discussion on the future of Germany’s gaming market.

As the industry continues to evolve ahead of the next review of the Interstate Treaty, multiple sectors are seeing increased focus on channelisation, regulatory refinement, player protection, and long-term market sustainability.

Operators across both online and retail verticals are exploring new approaches to compliance, technology, and customer engagement, making iGaming Germany 2026 and the inaugural Gaming Retail Summit a timely platform for industry discussion, insight, and collaboration.

Industry Perspectives Ahead of iGaming Germany 2026

Distinguished industry experts Claus Hambach, Founding and Managing Partner at Hambach & Hambach Rechtsanwälte, and Prof. Dr. Christian Piska, Faculty of Law at the University of Vienna, shared their insights on some of the key developments currently influencing the gaming landscape.

Claus Hambach, Founding and Managing Partner, Hambach & Hambach Rechtsanwälte

Claus remarked on a meaningful shift in how German regulators have been engaging with the market, noting that authorities have moved from limited dialogue to active participation in international conferences and open exchange with operators across the EU.

For Claus, this was not just encouraging but necessary:

“That development is highly positive. Effective player protection can only be achieved if players
choose regulated products rather than the black market. To make the legal market attractive and
competitive, ongoing dialogue between regulators, operators, and other stakeholders is essential
– and this has obviously been understood.”

On the prospect of a unified European standard for player protection and licensing, Claus offered a measured assessment. Regulation across Member States remains a patchwork, with licensing models, product rules, and taxation diverging from one jurisdiction to the next.

Furthermore, he traced the last 25 years across three broad phases:

• 2000 – 2011: Online gambling's rapid expansion and the drive toward market integration.
   
• 2011 – 2014: EU harmonisation at its most active, producing the Commission's Green Paper, Action Plan, and Recommendation.
   
• 2015 – 2026: Re-nationalisation, with targeted cooperation emerging around AML, consumer protection, and enforcement.

Claus went on to explain how Germany's 2021 turnover-based tax model illustrated the problem neatly: without alignment on both regulation and taxation, a common standard is practically out of reach. 

Pointing to a recent analysis suggesting that practical harmonisation may emerge through common technical standards, shared reporting frameworks, and coordinated enforcement rather than through a single EU gambling law, he expressed:

“In my view, this step-by-step functional alignment is the most realistic path forward.”

When asked why Munich will be the right place for the industry to set its agenda for 2026, Claus was clear:

“It is essential, because all stakeholders ultimately share the same objective: the highest possible
level of player protection within a well-functioning legal market.

Regulators, operators, policymakers, advisors, and researchers may differ on the path to achieve
that goal, but dialogue is the only way to find the right balance. Regulation and taxation that are
too restrictive risk driving consumers to the black market, where protections are absent.
Conferences such as this provide an important platform for honest, fact-based discussion, the
exchange of best practices, and evidence-led policymaking for the future.”

Prof. Dr. Christian Piska, Faculty of Law, University of Vienna

In the context of the DACH region, Christian was asked how regulators can move away from regulatory rigidity and instead foster an innovation mandate that allows operators to compete on a global scale.

He argued that a fundamental reset in regulatory thinking is required, beginning with a clearer recognition of online gambling as a legal consumer market rather than an inherently high-risk activity:

“Austria and Germany first need to recognise a basic point: online gambling is a legal market, and
not every player is automatically a high-risk addiction case.”

Regulatory design across both jurisdictions is described as not having fully achieved its intended outcomes, pointing to the continued strength of the black market as evidence that overly restrictive frameworks are limiting the competitiveness of the regulated sector.

Christian explained:

“A sensible way forward would be for Austria and Germany to learn from their respective failures,
and to stop trying to outdo each other in ever stricter and more disproportionate forms of
intervention. In practice, overregulation has become one of the main drivers of channelisation
failure and innovation killing.”

Building on this, he called for a more structured and proportionate regulatory pathway:

“A healthier approach would distinguish far more clearly between ordinary consumer behaviour
and genuinely problematic play, focusing strict intervention where real risk exists. That is how you
create a regulated market – attractive, competitive and actually capable of channelling players
away from illegal operators. If Europe wants globally competitive operators, it cannot force some
of its most innovative companies to spend more time navigating bureaucracy than building safer
and better products.”

When asked what the single biggest risk for an operator who fails to integrate agent-based AI into their core strategy today, Christian stated:

“It is not simply lower efficiency, but strategic backlash in a market that is becoming more complex, more competitive and more overregulated at the same time. Agent-based AI is not some artificial break with the industry’s development, but a logical and natural next step in innovation. Operators that respond to that development with fear, or refuse to engage with it at all, will inevitably put themselves at a competitive disadvantage. They will struggle to manage compliance, detect risky behaviour, respond to fraud, personalise customer interaction and optimise operations at the speed the market now requires.

This is especially true in the area of player protection, where AI already offers strong technical possibilities to identify patterns that may indicate elevated addiction risk at an early stage. That in turn creates the basis for a more risk-based, sensible, proportionate and suitable regulatory approach: one that focuses stricter intervention where specific risks actually arise, rather than treating the entire player base as inherently problematic.

In other words, operators that reject this development will be trying to meet rising regulatory and commercial demands with yesterday’s tools. In a European market already burdened by inadequate regulation, that creates a double disadvantage: higher operational costs and weaker competitive capacity.”
 

On the final question, Christian was asked why iGaming Germany and the Gaming Retail Summit are key platforms for bridging legal strategy, AI innovation, and operational realities:
 

“This is not just another industry event, but a format that brings together key players who too often speak past one another: regulators, lawyers, compliance specialists, AI and technology experts, and operators from both the online and retail side.

That is what makes it valuable. In a market like gaming, legal strategy cannot be developed in isolation from product design, AI cannot be discussed without reference to compliance and player protection, and operational questions cannot be separated from the regulatory reality on the ground.

iGaming Germany and the Gaming Retail Summit will provide the environment needed to reach new levels of innovation by bringing together selected key players willing to discuss problems openly with regulators rather than retreat into senseless confrontation. 

A forum like this gives that constructive mindset a concrete setting and helps turn it into better legal strategies, smarter innovation and a safer, more commercially viable market.”

These perspectives offer an early look at the wider conversations set to take place next week, with this year’s expanded format offering specialised content across both online and retail gaming environments.

Join Industry Leaders in Munich

iGaming Germany 2026 draws a cross-section of the industry that is difficult to replicate anywhere else, bringing together legal, operational, compliance, technology, media, and retail professionals all under one roof.

Get ready to meet senior professionals from:

• Amusnet Gaming Ltd
• ARENDTS ANWÄLTE
• Chevron Data & IT Compliance GmbH
• Chevron Group
• Diamond28 Consulting
• DIGICODE OPE
• EI Networking
• EI News
• Elite Executive
• EnBet Consulting
• Gambling Consulting Authority
• games & business
• Gaming Laboratories International (GLI)
• Gamomat Development GmbH
• Georgian Gambling Association
• German Gambling Market
• GG Poker
• Glücksfall – Centre for Player Protection
• Greentube GmbH
• Hambach & Hambach law firm PartG mbB
• Hambach & Hambach Rechtsanwälte
• HLB Schumacher Hallermann GmbH
• IGAMING MEDIA
• iGamingConsult.com
• impulsQ GmbH
• iRevs.co
• MELCHERS Law Firm
• NascentEdge
• NovaMotus
• ODDSET Sportwetten GmbH
• OpenSlots
• OVWG, Austrian Betting and Gaming Association
• Pferdewetten.de AG
• Sächsische Spielbanken GmbH-Co KG
• Sky Deutschland
• Sonnet Group
• Sport1 GmbH
• Sportwetten.de
• Starlet Group
• Taylor Wessing
• The Finnish Trade Association for Online Gambling
• Tipico
• Tipwin Ltd.
• University of Vienna
• Volt.io
• Witzel Erb Backu & Partner Rechtsanwälte
• Worldpay Germany GmbH

… AND MANY MORE!

Final Call to Register

With only one week to go, now is the final opportunity to secure your place at one of Germany’s leading gatherings for senior executives.

From regulatory reform and responsible gaming to operational strategy and retail innovation, iGaming Germany 2026 offers a focused platform for meaningful discussion, practical insight, and high-level networking.

Join us on 21 – 22 May 2026 at the NOVOTEL München Messe in Munich.

Secure your pass: https://www.eventus-international.com/igg

Sponsorship enquiries:

Lou-Mari Burnett, Chief Operating Officer
loumari@eventus-international.com