A few weeks ago, CDU MP Gitta Connemann asked the German government an interesting question regarding gaming machines in Germany. Specifically, the politician, who was born in Leer/Ostfriesland, wanted to know how the number of legally and illegally operated gaming machines has developed since 2012. The federal government's answer to this seemingly simple question was surprising.

State Secretary Sven Giegold replied to the CDU politician on 3 May with little concrete information. According to this, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWK) is only responsible for terrestrial gaming machines in accordance with Section 33c of the German Industrial Code (GewO). Other forms of gambling would not fall under the ministry's remit. Surprisingly, nobody knows how many legal and illegal gaming machines there are currently in Germany. The BMWK response can be viewed online as a PDF document.

No official figures on installed gaming machines available

What is particularly astonishing about the Federal Ministry's response is that no one knows exactly how many gaming machines there are in Germany. The official letter from the BMWK states: "There are no official figures on installed gaming machines". Instead, it merely refers to the annual report published by the gambling supervisory authorities of the federal states since 2014. Here, the number of active gaming machines pursuant to Section 33c GewO is estimated as follows:

  • 2014: 269.000
  • 2016: 264.000
  • 2018: 245.000
  • 2020: 220.000
  • 2021: 210.000
  • 2022: 180.000

Admittedly, these are only estimates and not official figures from the German government. Nevertheless, it is clear at first glance that the number of gaming machines has continuously decreased over the past ten years. Since 2014, almost 100,000 gaming machines have been removed.

In its written response, the BMWK also states that there are no official figures on illegally installed gaming machines. Just a few days ago, an article reported that an illegal gaming machine was found at a hairdresser's in Hamburg.

The BMWK is also unable to provide a canalisation rate, as there is no clear definition.

According to Deutscher Automatenwirtschaft e.V., there were recently around 161,000 cash-operated gaming machines nationwide. Of these, around 51,000 were located in catering establishments and a further 110,000 or so in the almost 8,500 amusement arcades and other gaming facilities.

Just a few weeks ago, we at GambleJoe reported on the latest police statistics and the increase in cases of unauthorised gambling found here. These statistics clearly show that the number of offences in the area of illegal gambling has exploded in the last year.

Conclusion

Overall, it is incomprehensible that the federal government is obviously unable to make a valid statement about how many illegal and legal gaming machines there currently are in Germany. It should be easy to add up the legal gaming machines in the individual federal states, as they are all officially registered. Why this is not done remains questionable.

Image source: https://pixabay.com/de/photos/kasino-spielautomaten-aufregung-2336610/

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