About this app
What is Henry The Ape?
The decision is not yet legally binding, with a further opportunity to appeal the denial of ‘leave to appeal’ open to the applicants. This will be reviewed by the Federal Administrative Court of Leipzig.
In his original complaint, Braun also cited a study that found that nearly half of respondents were thinking of using illegal gambling services due to legal restrictions.
In recent weeks, German authorities conducted a crackdown on an alleged illegal online gambling operation suspected of facilitating wagers totalling approximately €5.86 billion over a 30-month period.
What is Henry The Ape?
“This is unacceptable. It is encouraging to see Skyhills go offline immediately after our initial action.”
Skyhills is the third illegal operator targeted by Nederlandse Loterij, with prior legal action taken against Lalabet and Qbet.
The Lalabet case, which reached a milestone in June, saw a Dutch court rule largely in favour of the lottery operator.
How to play Henry The Ape
The DSWV said the findings should prompt a thorough reassessment of official black market size estimates in Germany.
The DOCV, another trade body representing licensed online casino operators in Germany, also expressed support for the prosecutorial efforts. However, it emphasised that the raid exposed regulatory gaps which had allowed organised crime to flourish.
Kevin O’Neal, a DOCV board member, argued the scale of the investigation calls the GGL’s broader black market estimates into question. He cited the regulator’s 2025 activity report, which put the 2024 share at 23% (€547 million in gross gaming revenue), against Nielsen data suggesting a share of around 56%.