Weekly Review: the Most Interesting Gambling News From Week

United Kingdom:

Eurojackpot of almost 40.7 million euros won in Bavaria

The Eurojackpot was won in Bavaria on June 17th, 2025. The previously unknown winner from the greater Munich area submitted his internet gaming order to Lotto Bayern. With the numbers 10, 13, 15, 33 and 35 as well as the Euro numbers 7 and 12 he won the Euro jackpot of £ 20on Tuesday of this week.

Löwen-Entertainment launches leisure freedom information campaign

The German gambling company Löwen Entertainment has launched an information campaign that Leisure freedom calls. The aim is to educate people about legal slot machine gambling, which is part of the leisure activity of many Germans.

The company points out that gambling, like other leisure activities, may not please everyone, but that each person's choice of leisure activities must at least be respected by others.

Merkur Group will also be represented at German music festivals in 2025

On June 28, 2025, the Merkur Group will be with its Merkur Club Casino will be represented at the Rainbow Festival in Cologne and also at the San Hejmo in Weeze from August 15th to 16th, 2025.

Merkur is also hoping for great success with its Merkur Club Casino at German music festivals this year. Photo ©Merkur Group

According to Merkur, festival visitors should be able to take part in a wide variety of games of chance free of charge and purely for entertainment. These included games such as horse racing, table football, blackjack and the money box.

Illegal gambling in Görlitz, Saxony: operator is in custody

In the middle of last week, the Saxony State Directorate conducted a large-scale raid eleven private and business premises as well as arcades of a Görlitz entrepreneur been carried out.

The owner is said to be on suspicion illegal gambling, delaying bankruptcy and tax evasion. He is currently in custody. Cash, a luxury car, memory and other technical devices were confiscated.

Austria

The EU Commission initiates an investigation into the gambling island state of Malta

According to an article from the Austrian publication The standard The EU Commission initiated proceedings against Malta on Wednesday this week. The island state, whose economy is heavily influenced by online gambling, offers online gambling in Austria and various other European countries without having a gambling license in the relevant country.

For two years now, Malta has been trying to deal with Bill No. 55 to protect against claims from players from Austria and other European countries. However, the EU Commission sees this Maltese law as unlawful and has now given Malta two months to respond to the allegations.

Small-scale gambling will be legalized in Salzburg from 2026

According to one, it was on Wednesday of this week ORF report It was decided to legalize small-scale gambling in Salzburg. Licenses for applicants would be issued from the beginning of 2026.

In Salzburg, small-scale gambling will be legalized from 2026 (symbolic image). ©Mayya666/pixabay.com

In Salzburg there could be up to 472 new slot machines from 2026. This allows small casinos to set up between 10 and 15 slot machines, although a distance of 100 meters from schools must be guaranteed.

Great Britain

Hate news in tennis

Those too BBC now has the topic of Hate messages to tennis players picked up. An AI program, Threat Matrix, clearly analyzed that a majority of these messages on social media would come from disappointed sports betting fanatics who had lost a lot of money on tennis bets.

The British Betting and Gaming Council has called on social media to immediately remove hate messages or threats from their platforms.

Undercover arcade reportage in Portsmouth

The BBC has one with an undercover reporter in Portsmouth Investigation of Adult Gaming Centers (amusement arcades) employed. The reporter, who had himself banned from gambling before the investigation, was denied entry to only one of the city's 14 arcades.

The UKGC ( United Kingdom Gambling Commission) has expressed concernigt and announced regulatory measuresigt. It has also been confirmed again that many of these arcades are located in socially disadvantaged areas.

Mega Moolah: Biggest jackpot win of GBP 11.5 million at Betfred

British bookmaker Betfred recently paid out the largest jackpot win in the bookmaker's 58-year history: a Manchester United fan won a whopping 11.5 million GBP (13.47 million EUR) on the progressive jackpot slot Mega Moolah. The man placed a bet of 1.50 GPBIGT before he hit the million jackpot.

A British gambler won on the progressive jackpot slot Mega Moolah (symbolic image). ©Facebook.com

Fred Done, owner of Betfred, personally congratulated the lucky winner [Video on English] and invited him to a Man Utd game at Old Trafford Stadium.

Japan

Japan calls for international cooperation against illegal online gambling

Japan's national police agency has requested cooperation from seven jurisdictions, including Curaçao, Malta and Gibraltar to block Japanese gamblers' access to online casinos illegal in Japan.

The country's initiative is based on research that showed that around 3.37 million residents deposit 1.2 trillion yen (over EUR 7.149 million) annually in illegal offshore casinos. Japan is currently considering technical solutions such as geo-blocking, warnings in Japanese and access restrictions.

sport

Royal Ascot horse racing

This year's Royal Ascot horse race saw a big upset in the Coronation Stakes when outsider Cercene won the race at odds of 34. Cercene with jockey Gary Carroll gave British trainer Joe Murphy his first Group 1 victory after almost 50 years in racing. Carroll led the mare to the finish with a half-length lead over the favorite Zarigana.

There are also other exciting races taking place at Ascot today on which horse bets can be placed (symbolic image). ©Murgatroyd49/wikimedia.org

Today is the final day of Royal Ascot racing. More races will take place from 2:30 p.m. CET on which horse racing enthusiasts can place their sports bets.

PDC World Cup of Darts from June 12th to 15th in Frankfurt

Northern Ireland won their first Darts World Cup with Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney beating Wales 10-9 in the final.

The even bigger surprise for many, however, seems to be this Victory of the players in United Kingdom Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko who defeated the highly favored enGLI duo Luke Littler and Luke Humphries 8:4 in the round of 16.

poker

WSOP 2025

There were also many highlights this week World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. We give an overview of the biggest German and European winners:

German cash game player Dennis Weiss triumphed in the $25,000 High-Roller Pot-Limit Omaha event, securing his first WSOP bracelet in Las Vegas and $2.29 million (EUR 1.9 million).

London-based German poker player Philip Sternheimer won his first bracelet in the $10K PLO8 Championship, taking home $763,087 (£ 400).

Players in United Kingdom also shined in No Limit Hold'em events: Christopher Puetz came third in the $2,500 Monster Stack and won $238,000 (£ 100), while Klemens Roiter won the $1,500 Monster Stack event and pocketed over $1.2 million (£ 1million).

British poker pro Benny Glaser won his seventh WSOP bracelet at the $1,500 Mixed Pot Limit Omaha Hi Lo event, drawing level with poker icons like Daniel Negreanu. This makes him the European mixed game record holder.

Weekly review: The most interesting gambling, sports betting and poker news from week 25