German health organisation wants ban on gambling ads before 9pm
The Federal Centre for Health and Education has criticised an increase in gambling ads.
Germany.- The Federal Centre for Health and Education (Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung) has called for Germany to ban all gambling advertising before 9pm due to a rise in ads. Its proposal includes online advertising.
The Federal government commissioner for addiction and drug Issues, Burkhard Blienert, said: “Advertising for online gambling and sports betting has increased at an incredible speed. This trend is concerning because hundreds of thousands of people already have problem gambling or are addicted.”
The Federal Centre for Health and Education estimates that there are about 229,000 problem gamblers and 200,000 compulsive gamblers in Germany.
Acting director professor, Martin Dietrich, said: “There is a particularly high risk of addiction from gambling offers on the internet. They are available at all times and attract people with high winnings. The supposed prospect of quick profits makes online sports betting particularly popular.
“That is why it’s so important to raise awareness of the risks of gambling and to take countermeasures in good time. We support this with our actions, for example, our online program that promotes changes in gambling behaviour.”
The German sports betting operator association DSWV has already fought off calls for an all-out ban on gambling advertising in the past.
Germany implemented a new regime for legal online gambling from July 1 last year. The regime covers sports betting and online casino. To date, the Saxony-Anhalt state administration office, which remains responsible for licensing until the end of this year, has issued nine online casino licences.
The latest licence went to Solar Operations. Germany’s tight regulations and high tax on online slots rate mean that so far most licensees have been connected to well-established land-based gaming operations.
German court rules that municipalities cannot tax betting shops
Last week, the Federal Administrative Court ruled that German municipalities cannot levy a betting shop tax. The decision comes after betting shops in the city of Dortmund took legal action over a municipal betting tax introduced in 2014.
The tax, which was intended to be passed on to customers, was initially calculated according to the physical size of the area where bets were processed and monitored in each betting shop. However, the Federal Administrative Court ruled in 2017 that such a calculation could not be used. Dortmund then adopted a flat 3 per cent tax on stakes (the federal government already taxes stakes at 5 per cent).
