Published March 10, 2026 • Reading time: 6 minutes • Author: Lukas Brandt, Crypto payments and the tax framework
The question “do I have to pay tax on this?” hides two separate questions, and most of the confusion online comes from answering them as one. First: is the win itself taxable? Second: is it taxable when you later turn the coin into euros or into another coin? In Germany the two have different answers, and they live in different places in the law.
An earlier version of this article was built around rakeback and a figure of 70% net. The rakeback itself is real: the operator pays back a share of the house edge, 50% as standard and 70% during the first week. What was wrong was the “net” — that figure describes a share of the house edge, not a tax outcome — and the optimisation advice built on top of it. Re-checked on 14 October 2026.
Question one: the win itself
German income tax works from a closed list. Section 2 of the Income Tax Act (EStG) names the categories of income that are taxed, and a win from a game of chance is not one of them for a private player. That is why a recreational player’s winnings are generally outside income tax — not because of an exemption, but because there is no category they fall into.
The exception is play that stops being recreational. Where someone plays in an organised, business-like way, the tax courts have treated the activity as a trade, and then the income is taxable like any other business income. Where that line runs is decided case by case on the facts, which is exactly the kind of question an article cannot settle for you.
The tax the operator pays is not your filing. Germany taxes the stakes wagered on virtual slot games through the licensed operator, not through the player. This operator is licensed in Anjouan (ALSI-202509004-FI1), not in Germany, so that regime does not apply to it at all — and nothing is deducted from your account on account of it.
Question two: the coin
Cryptocurrency held privately is treated as “another asset” for the purposes of section 23 EStG. A disposal within one year of acquisition is a private sale transaction (§ 23 (1) no. 2 EStG); after more than a year, the gain is out of scope. The threshold is in the same section: under § 23 (3) sentence 5 EStG, gains stay tax-free if the total gain from private disposals in the calendar year is less than €1,000.
Two details decide more cases than the rate does. The €1,000 is a threshold, not an allowance: at €1,000 the whole gain becomes taxable, not just the part above it. And it covers every private disposal in that year, not only the ones connected to a casino.
Where the hard part actually is
Not in the rate — in the acquisition. A coin that arrived as a payout has no purchase price, so the date on which the one-year clock starts and the euro value to start it from are precisely the points to put to an adviser rather than to a forum. The same goes for swapping one coin for another, which is a disposal of the first one even though no euro ever moves.
| Question | Where the answer lives | What to keep |
|---|---|---|
| Is the win itself taxable? | § 2 EStG — the list of taxed categories; case law on commercial play | Evidence that play is recreational: no organisation, no fixed hours |
| Is disposing of the coin taxable? | § 23 (1) no. 2 EStG — within one year of acquisition | Date and euro value at acquisition and at disposal |
| Is the gain under the threshold? | § 23 (3) sentence 5 EStG — under €1,000 in the calendar year | All private disposals of that year, not just casino ones |
| Who pays tax on the game? | The licensed operator, through stake-based gambling tax | Nothing — it is not your filing |
The win and the coin are two events. Treating them as one is what produces answers that are wrong in both directions.
Documentation, because nobody will hand it to you
The operator publishes nothing resembling a tax statement, and as a crypto-only platform it has no bank record to fall back on. What is worth keeping, from the first deposit rather than from the first withdrawal: the date and amount of every transfer, the euro value at that moment, the wallet addresses on both sides, and the transaction hashes. Thirteen cryptocurrencies are supported and no fiat at all, so your record is the only record.
How a crypto payout differs from a card withdrawal in practice — including the part that cannot be reversed — is covered in our article on what actually changed about crypto casinos. And the reason to decide the amounts before you start, rather than at the end of an evening, is in our piece on budget and session limits.
What this article is not
It is not advice, and it is not a substitute for one. For anything with a real sum attached — a larger payout, a move between countries, a question of whether play has become commercial — one assessment from a qualified adviser is worth more than ten confident forum answers, including this one.
If you are not resident in Germany, the structure of the two questions still holds, but both answers change. Note also that the operator’s own terms list countries it does not accept players from, Australia among them — so for many readers the tax question is not the first one to settle. None of this changes what happens at the machine itself: what is adjustable on a slot and what is not.
Primary source for the passages quoted above: § 23 EStG, full text, read on 14 October 2026.
