In 2023, the public coffers received around 2.48 billion euros in taxes from lottery, sports betting, online poker, and other forms of gambling, a decline of 3.6 percent compared to the previous year, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Tuesday. This marks the first decline in a series of steadily increasing revenues since 2013, when the state’s earnings from gambling stood at 1.64 billion euros, a 51.5 percent increase over the 10-year period.
The most lucrative state revenue source from gambling in 2023 was the lottery tax, with around 1.77 billion euros and a share of 71 percent of the total revenue from gambling, Destatis reported. This represents a 5.8 percent increase in state earnings from the lottery tax compared to the previous year, and a 22.3 percent increase over the 10-year period.
The revenues from sports betting, on the other hand, decreased by 5.2 percent in 2023, reaching 409 million euros, a significant increase of 116.8 percent compared to 2013, when the state earned 189 million euros from the sports betting tax, which was introduced on July 1, 2012.
The most significant decline in state revenue compared to the previous year was seen in the virtual slot machine tax, which decreased by 38.5 percent, according to Destatis. The public coffers received around 264 million euros in 2023 from the virtual slot machine tax, compared to 430 million euros in the previous year.
The revenue from online poker also decreased by 7.5 percent, from 33 million euros in 2022 to 30 million euros in 2023. The taxation of virtual slot machines and online poker began on July 1, 2021, when the state treaty on the re-regulation of the gambling industry in Germany came into force.
The lottery law in Germany, and thus the racing and lottery tax, is a state matter, meaning the revenues are allocated to the states. In 2023, the most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, accounted for the largest share of the revenues, with 22 percent, followed by Bavaria with 14 percent, and Baden-Württemberg with 12 percent, according to Destatis.