Frankfurt: 100 metres distance between school and arcade permitted

There is an amusement arcade in Frankfurt am Main that is only around 100 metres away from a primary school. Although the city would like to see this arcade disappear, it does not have the legal means to do so. Elsewhere, however, it is sometimes easier for cities to force amusement arcades and betting shops to give up by revoking their operating licences with reference to distance regulations.

In the Heddernheim district of Frankfurt, there has been a betting shop on the corner of Heddernheimer Kirchstraße and Habelstraße for some time. Following a change of operator, it has now become an amusement arcade. Local council 8 (Heddernheim, Niederursel, Nordweststadt) was anything but happy about this and has now attempted to take action against the arcade with a motion. It was only in July last year that we at GambleJoe reported on a legal judgement concerning minimum distances for betting shops and amusement arcades.

Gambling arcade is less than 100 metres away from a primary school

The local council motion submitted by the CDU states that the Robert Schumann School is only 100 metres away from the new arcade. In order to protect the children, the local politicians want the amusement arcade to disappear as quickly as possible.

But there is a problem: according to the Hessian Gaming Hall Act, gaming establishments only have to keep a minimum distance of 300 metres from secondary schools l and ll. However, there is no such legally stipulated minimum distance for primary schools. Consequently, in such cases, the city has no way of taking action against amusement arcades or forcing them to close.

The situation is obviously quite different in Bremen. Betting shops have been dying out here for several years and last year we asked ourselves whether there would soon be no more betting shops in Bremen.

Children do not yet have an interest in gambling

The legislator assumes that children of primary school age do not yet have an interest in gambling. It is therefore simply assumed that the pupils cannot develop a gambling addiction or problematic gambling behaviour as a result of the nearby gambling establishment. They would simply not notice the arcades. For this reason, the legislator did not consider it necessary to stipulate a minimum distance between primary schools and amusement arcades.

In the case of the arcade in Frankfurt's Heddernheim district, this means that there is no legal basis for refusing or subsequently withdrawing the operating licence. The Frankfurt city council made this clear a few days ago. The corresponding operating licence had already been granted to the operator of the new arcade in advance for a period of 15 years.

It is also not possible for politicians to completely ban amusement arcades or betting shops from city districts. According to the city council, it is only possible to impose conditions and restrictions and closely monitor compliance with the applicable laws. In the summer of this year, we reported that criminals are profiting from the falling turnover in legal gambling halls.

Conclusion

Even if a high presence of amusement arcades and betting shops may reduce the attractiveness of streets and sometimes entire districts: In the Frankfurt district of Heddernheim, there is no way to take action against an operator of an amusement arcade, even though the gambling establishment is only 100 metres away from a primary school. For this reason, the amusement arcade is allowed to continue operating.

Image source: https://pixabay.com/de/photos/klassenzimmer-schule-bildung-lernen-2093744/