GGPoker Austria: can Austrians play, and what the law says

GGPoker accepts players from Austria, with a German-language client, a euro cashier and the biggest tournament schedule online. Austria has no locally licensed version of GGPoker — Austrian law grants a single online licence to win2day — so Austrians play on the international site. This page explains what that means for you, including which company you are actually contracting with.

Is GGPoker legal in Austria?

Austria's Glücksspielgesetz reserves online gambling for a single licensee, win2day, and does not license foreign operators. Playing on a foreign site is not an offence for the player, and Austrian courts have taken the view that contracts with unlicensed operators are void — which has allowed players to reclaim losses, and is a reminder that the legal grey area cuts both ways. GGPoker lists Austria among the countries it serves on its international platform. Minimum age 18. This is general information, not legal advice; a reform of the law has been debated for years, and we update this page when it changes.

Who you are actually signing up with

Worth knowing before you deposit, because the brand name on the lobby is not the company on the contract. The international ggpoker.com platform — the one Austrian players use — is operated by GG International Limited, a company incorporated in the Isle of Man with its registered office at The Hubb, Queen Victoria House, Victoria Street, Douglas, IM1 2LF. It is licensed and regulated by the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission under a licence issued under the Online Gambling Regulations Act 2001 on 15 October 2020. Isle of Man law governs the player agreement, and gambling debts are enforceable there — which matters if a dispute ever has to go further than customer support.

This is specific to the international site. Where a country has its own licensed GG-group brand, a different company and a different regulator apply: Germany's ggpoker.de, for example, is operated by NSUS Malta Limited and appears on the German regulator's own whitelist, and there are separately licensed GG brands in the Netherlands, Ontario, the United Kingdom and Romania. Austria has no such local version, so the Isle of Man entity is the one Austrians deal with.

What Austrian players get

The full GG network: the WSOP Online bracelet series every summer, the weekly GGMillion$, Bounty Hunters and GGMasters series, cash games from micro-stakes with Rush & Cash fast-fold and All-In Insurance, and the Fish Buffet rewards programme. The client is available in German and support is available around the clock. HUDs and tracking software are banned across GGPoker.

Signing up from Austria

Register through the link on this page with your real details, verify your identity with a photo ID, and deposit in euros by card, bank transfer or e-wallet. The welcome offer is applied to your first deposit automatically; read the terms, because offers of this kind release in stages as you generate rake, and the released amount is what you can actually withdraw. Poker winnings are generally not taxed for recreational players in Austria; professional play can be assessed as income — ask a Steuerberater if in doubt.

Live poker as the alternative

Austria's live scene runs through Casinos Austria. Casino Baden near Vienna spreads daily pot-limit hold'em and Omaha and hosts the CAPT Million every November with €1 million guaranteed; CAPT stops also run in Linz, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Graz and Bregenz. Our Austria page has the details. If gambling stops being fun, the Spielsuchthilfe in Vienna offers free, confidential help.