Germany to re-evaluate Google link as black market outsmarts enforcement efforts

Germany’s Joint Gambling Authority of the Federal States (GGL) has called for more impactful measures to combat the black market following a review of its Google partnership.

Despite noting early success, including the removal of sponsored ads for unlicensed sites from Google’s search results, GGL CEO Ronald Benter acknowledged that more needs to be done as the black market implements increasingly sophisticated measures to bypass restrictions.

Following a ruling in 2024, the GGL legally requires Google to only show German consumers advertisements from licensed gambling providers.

Speaking at a recent industry conference hosted by Die Deutsche Automatenwirtschaft eV (DAW), Benter called for the introduction of advanced IP-blocking techniques to prevent access to unregulated sites.

Cloak and dagger

As with any new measure, the black market has sought out new ways to avoid detection and a growing threat to regulators in Germany is the use of a technique called cloaking.

The metho..