The German gambling regulations that had been in place since 2008 were replaced by the new German Interstate Treaty on Gambling (ISTG) in 2012, which the state of Schleswig-Holstein initially didn’t join. To this day, the state continues to maintain a firm grip on all gambling activities in the country, but foreign interest and presence in the German online gambling market remains stronger than ever. It wasn’t until 2000 when things quickly began to improve at which time the gambling industry witnessed a rapid period of growth that had never been seen before. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries gambling was broadly regulated by numerous individual state authorities and after two devastating world wars, the German gaming industry was left to struggle.
