No bookmaker tax for foreign operator (BFH 2020): Allegations, Court Orders and Status

What this case is about

The Bundesfinanzhof (IX. Senat), Germany's supreme tax court, decided case IX R 6/19 on 26 May 2020 (ECLI:DE:BFH:2020:U.260520.IXR6.19.0). It is part of Gambling Tax Litigation and concerns whether a foreign organiser of sports bets owed the bookmaker tax under § 11 RennwLottG.

The case began in 2015 when the organiser disputed the tax assessed by the Finanzamt. The tax authority relied on § 11 and § 17 RennwLottG. The organiser was an EU-seated company that offered online horse and dog bets in July 2012.

Who is covered

The plaintiff is a foreign organiser of sports bets and the defendant is a German Finanzamt. No class and no player is involved.

The holding matters to operators seated abroad that took bets from German customers in the period before the 2012 sports-betting tax. Tax disputes against the authority are also listed under Finanzamt Lawsuits.

Is there a payout?

No payout exists in this case. It is a tax dispute between a company and a tax office, and the record shows no fund, no settlement and no claim process for players.

The only money at stake was the bookmaker tax itself, and the court found that it was not owed.

What the court decided

The Bundesfinanzhof held that a foreign organiser of sports bets is not subject to the bookmaker tax of § 11 RennwLottG for pre-2012 periods, as the case record summarizes the holding.

It rejected the revision. The lower court was the Hessisches Finanzgericht, which had ruled in case 5 K 1627/15 on 29 and 30 January 2019.

The decision marks the boundary between the old horse-racing bookmaker tax and the 2012 sports-betting tax. As of 14 November 2026 the record shows no later step in this case.

Why it matters

The case separates two German tax regimes that apply to bets. The old bookmaker tax did not reach a foreign organiser in the way the tax office argued, so the dispute is a precedent on the limits of that older law.

For how tax authorities and courts treat gambling payments more broadly, see Are Gambling Settlement Payments Taxable.

Questions people ask

Which tax was in dispute?

The bookmaker tax under § 11 RennwLottG, with § 17 RennwLottG also cited in the claims. It is the older tax that applied to bookmaking before the 2012 sports-betting tax.

Who won?

The foreign organiser. The Bundesfinanzhof held that it was not subject to the bookmaker tax and rejected the revision.

Related cases

• BFH, Urteile vom 17.05.2021, IX R 20/18 und IX R 21/18 (Sportwettensteuer); BVerfG, Beschluss vom 27.02.2025, 1 BvR 2253/23: the later decisions on the sports-betting tax.