Germany isn't the friendliest country towards gambling. Their online and offline rates of participation in casinos are choppy and change every year.
More than 9,000 electronic gaming machines are currently in circulation in Virginia, but state lawmakers have said the machines will be banned next year. As a whole, online gambling in Germany has had a complicated history until about three years ago. The industry was mainly unregulated until 2008 when a federal ban was imposed on online gambling operations with the German Interstate Treaty. The only exception were wagers on horse racing.
Sometimes, they increase, other times, they drop all of a sudden.
That's partly because the participation in various wagering activities depends on sports events. For example, there's a surge of betting whenever a major football World Cup or a European Cup takes place.
Not many people know much about the German market, though. It isn't strictly regulated either, but many people choose illegal gambling anyway, probably due to the larger selection of entertainment.
Gambling Statistics and Number in Germany
First of all, how big is Germany's gambling industry itself? Here are some numbers:
- Gross Gaming Revenue: €14.2bn (in 2018, according to The Handelsblatt Research Institute)
- €10bn revenue comes from offline casinos, gaming machines and lotteries
- Over €3bn revenue from a growing online gambling market
- Size of the illegal gambling market is between €4bn to €22bn (estimated by Reeckmann)
- CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) was +4.2% between 2015-2017
- Up to 200,000 people worked in the gambling industry in Germany in 2018
About The ‘Illegal' Market
The numbers of the illegal market might be surprising, especially since there's no legal regulator of the market. The only exception is just a single state of Schleswig-Holstein.
Many of these illegal instances include online gambling. However, that's only because the activity is prohibited in the country. Despite that, those who break the rule aren't persecuted, unless they choose casinos outside the EU.
In other words, a good deal of the estimated ‘illegal' gambling is indeed just an unregulated one. Hence, virtually no online casinos are officially licenced in Germany. This leaves the players free to gamble at foreign sites that accept German residents.
The only exception is the few online sportsbook and online lottery sites. Yet again, the number of online bookies is limited by The Interstate Gambling Treaty signed in 2012.
How Do Germans Gamble?
Germans like to put their money on a stake in many different ways. The most popular of those are sports betting sites, casinos and gaming machines. A very similar situation is visible in the online sector:
- Sports betting (38%)
- Casino entertainment (34%)
- Poker (24%)
Football is the most popular sport to place wagers on, unsurprisingly. However, it's far from the only betting market that players are interested in. Other popular sports in the country are:
- Horse Racing
- Tennis
- Ice Hockey
- Handball
- Basketball
Online Gambling Banned In Germany Austria
Since online gambling isn't officially allowed, there's little data on the user behaviour online beyond these numbers.
You can find various information about news and offers for players from Germany at sites like neuecasinoseiten.de. However, when it comes to user statistics, most types of online wagering are a grey area.
How Many Addicts?
The German Center for Addiction (DHS) has made the best research about problem gamblers in Germany to date. They've found out that the level of irresponsible gambling and addictive behaviour among punters is very low.
The total number of problem gamblers in the country in 2018 was 0.56%. That's about 325,000 people. Among those, 0.31% are pathological gamblers, which is the most serious category of addiction in the report.
Low addiction levels make sense considering that online gambling is officially banned. However, offline casinos and bookies are still popular in the country and they generate substantial income.
Business
Germany is set to prohibit online gambling starting on Jan. 1. While legislators see the ban as a pillar of consumer protection, critics say the accord only serves to protect the state monopoly on lotteries.
The new law also prohibits placing bets in Germany to a gaming company abroad
All 16 German state legislatures voted by mid-December to approve the new law which seeks to prevent any form of Web-based gambling or brokering of games over the Internet.
The law also encompasses placing bets from Germany to a gaming company abroad. The new legislation grants states the power to demand Internet service providers to block Web sites that promote betting. Banks may also be ordered to stop money transfers for gambling transactions.
The numbers of the illegal market might be surprising, especially since there's no legal regulator of the market. The only exception is just a single state of Schleswig-Holstein.
Many of these illegal instances include online gambling. However, that's only because the activity is prohibited in the country. Despite that, those who break the rule aren't persecuted, unless they choose casinos outside the EU.
In other words, a good deal of the estimated ‘illegal' gambling is indeed just an unregulated one. Hence, virtually no online casinos are officially licenced in Germany. This leaves the players free to gamble at foreign sites that accept German residents.
The only exception is the few online sportsbook and online lottery sites. Yet again, the number of online bookies is limited by The Interstate Gambling Treaty signed in 2012.
How Do Germans Gamble?
Germans like to put their money on a stake in many different ways. The most popular of those are sports betting sites, casinos and gaming machines. A very similar situation is visible in the online sector:
- Sports betting (38%)
- Casino entertainment (34%)
- Poker (24%)
Football is the most popular sport to place wagers on, unsurprisingly. However, it's far from the only betting market that players are interested in. Other popular sports in the country are:
- Horse Racing
- Tennis
- Ice Hockey
- Handball
- Basketball
Online Gambling Banned In Germany Austria
Since online gambling isn't officially allowed, there's little data on the user behaviour online beyond these numbers.
You can find various information about news and offers for players from Germany at sites like neuecasinoseiten.de. However, when it comes to user statistics, most types of online wagering are a grey area.
How Many Addicts?
The German Center for Addiction (DHS) has made the best research about problem gamblers in Germany to date. They've found out that the level of irresponsible gambling and addictive behaviour among punters is very low.
The total number of problem gamblers in the country in 2018 was 0.56%. That's about 325,000 people. Among those, 0.31% are pathological gamblers, which is the most serious category of addiction in the report.
Low addiction levels make sense considering that online gambling is officially banned. However, offline casinos and bookies are still popular in the country and they generate substantial income.
Business
Germany is set to prohibit online gambling starting on Jan. 1. While legislators see the ban as a pillar of consumer protection, critics say the accord only serves to protect the state monopoly on lotteries.
The new law also prohibits placing bets in Germany to a gaming company abroad
All 16 German state legislatures voted by mid-December to approve the new law which seeks to prevent any form of Web-based gambling or brokering of games over the Internet.
The law also encompasses placing bets from Germany to a gaming company abroad. The new legislation grants states the power to demand Internet service providers to block Web sites that promote betting. Banks may also be ordered to stop money transfers for gambling transactions.
Internet betting companies and lottery brokers like Bwin Interactive Entertainment, Fluxx and Tipp24 have criticized the new regulations and claimed that the ban is contrary to law.
Tipp24 has said it will pursue a lawsuit if necessary, while Bwin already sued four German states in October seeking to continue offering online bets after the rules come into effect. The cases are pending.
Legal loophole?
These men merely enjoy card games with the computer
Bwin operates a betting site under a license issued by the former communist East German government before unification and another portal under a Gibraltar license.
The company has said that both of those licenses prevail over the new online-betting ban and stressed that it would continue to operate its sites.
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, has called on Germany to reconsider the complete ban on online betting. In April, Germany rejected the demand, claiming that citizens must be protected from the dangers of gambling.
The commission has the power to sue any EU member state to force them to comply with EU law.
Until now, 13 of Germany's 16 states have submitted the ratification documents for the ban to take effect, creating the required majority. The other three states are expected to submit their papers by New Year's Eve.
The new law will also prohibit the advertising of gambling over the Internet and on television; specifically, advertising in print and other media may only 'inform' people about betting possibilities, and may no longer 'directly invite, incite or prompt' customers to play.
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