About Sunmaker – History, Licensing and Background

Sunmaker launched in 2004, which in online gambling years is practically prehistoric. Most operators that started around that time have either been acquired, rebranded or quietly disappeared. Sunmaker did get acquired, but the brand survived and the platform kept running. That kind of continuity is rare in an industry where turnover isn't just a financial metric but a description of how fast companies come and go.

The story starts with Merkur. For the first several years, Sunmaker was essentially a digital extension of the German Spielhalle experience. When the platform became the first online casino to offer original Merkur titles in 2011, it carved out a niche that no competitor could replicate at the time. Eye of Horus, Blazing Star, Double Triple Chance, Fruitinator. Games that millions of Germans knew from brick-and-mortar arcades, suddenly available from home. That head start shaped the brand's identity and still resonates with its core audience today.

The Company Behind Sunmaker

Sunmaker is operated by PlayCherry Ltd., a subsidiary of the Swedish Cherry AB group. Corporate headquarters are in Malta, standard for the iGaming industry. Cherry AB has been active in gambling since 1963 and trades publicly on the stock exchange. The parent company also runs other recognisable brands including ComeOn, Mobilebet and EuroLotto.

Cherry AB acquired Sunmaker in 2015. What followed was a systematic expansion. Sports betting arrived in 2016. The slot library grew from a Merkur-focused collection to over 1,000 titles spanning NetEnt, Pragmatic Play, Play'n GO, Gamomat, Yggdrasil, Greentube, Hölle Games and Amatic. The transformation from a single-provider niche operation to a full-catalogue platform was deliberate and backed by the Swedish group's infrastructure and market expertise.

An estimated 50-100 employees work on Sunmaker according to industry data. Not a massive team, but adequate for an operator focused exclusively on one market. And that focus is perhaps the most defining characteristic: Sunmaker targets Germany and only Germany. No international expansion plans, no attempt to serve twenty countries simultaneously with a one-size-fits-all product. Everything from payment methods to customer support to game selection is tailored to German players.

Being part of a publicly listed company brings an additional dimension. Cherry AB is subject to transparency obligations towards investors and financial regulators. Annual reports, external audits, compliance frameworks. These accountability mechanisms don't exist by default at privately held gambling companies. For the end user it's largely invisible, but it means there's a layer of corporate governance operating in the background that goes beyond what the gambling licence alone requires.

Licensing and Regulation

Sunmaker holds two licences that together form a robust regulatory foundation:

• German licence (GGL) – issued by the Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder, covering virtual slot machine operations and sports betting intermediation in Germany. The sports betting licence was granted in December 2022 and renewed in April 2024
• MGA licence (Malta Gaming Authority) – the EU-level licence from Malta serves as an internationally recognised standard for online gambling operations and ensures compliance with European regulatory norms

What does dual licensing mean in practice? Regular audits by independent testing bodies. Controlled and published payout rates. Mandatory player protection tools. The GGL enforces compliance with the Interstate Treaty on Gambling (GlüStV 2021), which governs deposit limits, stake caps and the connection to the central OASIS self-exclusion database. The MGA adds EU-wide standards for data protection and financial transaction security.

Not every German-licensed operator also holds an MGA licence. Some run on just the domestic permit, others rely solely on a Maltese or Curaçaoan licence without German authorisation. Having both signals a willingness to submit to multiple layers of oversight. You can view that as bureaucratic redundancy or as additional assurance. For players, the practical effect is that there's always someone watching.

Key Milestones

Sponsorships and Brand Presence

Sunmaker has invested in visibility through German football sponsorships over the years. The brand served as a main sponsor for clubs including VfL Osnabrück, FC Hansa Rostock, SC Preußen Münster, FC Carl Zeiss Jena and SV Waldhof Mannheim. It also appeared as a sponsor at the German Darts Masters.

These weren't Bundesliga-level deals. Second and third division football sponsorships carry less glamour but achieve precisely what Sunmaker needed: brand recognition among a sports-engaged audience that overlaps significantly with the target demographic for sports betting. Whether any of these partnerships remain active varies, but the residual brand awareness in Germany persists.

What Does Sunmaker Stand For?

If two decades of market history could be distilled into a single phrase, it would probably be reliability over spectacle. Sunmaker has never been the loudest casino in the room. No outrageous bonuses, no celebrity endorsements, no aggressive marketing blitzes. Instead, the platform has consistently prioritised a broad game selection, secure payment processing and regulatory compliance.

The GlüStV 2021 reshaped the German market fundamentally. Stake limits, deposit caps, the prohibition of table games online. Many operators retreated from Germany or chose to operate in a legal grey area. Sunmaker went the opposite direction: full compliance, dual licensing, complete adaptation to the new rules. That constrains what they can offer, undeniably. But it also creates a foundation where players can operate without wondering whether the platform will still exist next month or whether their withdrawal will actually process.

In an industry known for volatility, both at the slot machines and in the boardrooms, that kind of steadiness carries more weight than it might seem at first glance.