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4 articles on this topic.
PokerStars is the best-known online poker brand in the world and one of the most-searched gambling brands in Austria. Many of those affected consider poker pure skill and therefore not recoverable. That is a mistake: online poker for money is gambling under Austrian law, the contract with a non-concessioned operator is void, and the losses are recoverable under unjust enrichment.
Stake is the world's largest crypto online casino and also the most-searched brand in this category in Austria. The operating company, based in Curacao, never held a concession under the Austrian Gambling Act. Losses in Bitcoin or other tokens are nonetheless recoverable under the settled case law of the Austrian Supreme Court on unjust enrichment. A practitioner's perspective, with an honest look at enforcement.
Gambling contracts with online casinos that lack an Austrian licence are void; the amounts paid in are reclaimable on the rules of unjust enrichment. The Austrian Supreme Court has settled this line over years, most recently in 6 Ob 31/24p. This article sets out the leading arguments and the most important decisions.
In August 2022 an Austrian player obtained a judgment of around 1.6 million euros against the Maltese operator of the online casino Pokerstars. Several Austrian media outlets reported the case in parallel. This article explains why the reasoning of the Vienna court carries far beyond the individual case and which checkpoints other proceedings need to clear.