Legislation

Germany – Heads of State sign Germany’s State Treaty on Gaming 2021

By Phil - 3 November 2020

As part of their annual conference, the heads of government of the federal states have signed the State Treaty on Gambling 2021.

This ends a long and at times very emotional debate about follow-up regulations under gaming law. This is expected to come into effect on July 1, 2021 with new competitive framework conditions for the German gaming market, which must now be taken into account in the country-specific arcade regulations.

“It is a good thing that, after intensive and tough negotiations, the political decision-makers have finally signed an interstate gaming treaty that is based on real life and will bring more legal certainty to all stakeholders, especially consumers,” said Thomas Breitkopf, President of the Bundesverband Automatenunternehmer eV and 1st chairman of the Association of Machine Shoppeople Berlin and East Germany eV. “It is now up to the federal states to bring the German gaming market back into balance with the state-specific arcade regulations. Only with quality, legal certainty and consistent enforcement can the legal and safe commercial gambling and thus youth, player and consumer protection be strengthened.”

Even if the term “quality” has acquired greater significance in the State Treaty on Gambling in 2021, commercial gaming is still confronted with a large number of quantitative regulatory approaches. Outdated regulatory instruments such as minimum distances or the prohibition of multiple concessions continue to exist in the new agreement. The aim here is to exhaust all the possibilities set out in the State Treaty on Gambling 2021 at the state level in order to do justice to the goal manifested in Section 1 of channelling people’s natural instinct to play and directing them into orderly channels.

Georg Stecker, spokesman for the board of directors of the German Automatenwirtschaft (DAW), said: “We welcome the fact that quality criteria are being applied for the first time in the regulation of commercial slot machine games. Now it is important that the states rely on the quality of amusement arcades when implementing the contract, both in terms of multiple concessions and the minimum distances.”

According to the State Treaty on Gambling, the states can receive multiple concessions if they meet certain special quality criteria. With regard to the minimum distances, the design competence also rests with the federal states.

Mr. Steck continued: “Politicians and administration deserve credit for the compromise that was found after years of intensive political negotiations and which regulates the entire German gaming market for the first time.”

The 16 companies of the German Lotto and Totoblock (DLTB) welcomed the signing of the new State Treaty on gaming by the heads of government of the federal states.

“We see in the new regulation a further confirmation of the public interest-oriented lottery monopoly in Germany and expect that the regulation, especially in the online area, will push back the illegal market,” said Jürgen Häfner, the managing director of the block company Lotto Rheinland-, which is currently in charge of the DLTB. Palatinate.

In this context, the DLTB also welcomes the decision by the Prime Ministers to pool enforcement in the future by a joint gaming authority of the federal states based in Saxony-Anhalt. “This enables an even stronger and better coordinated control of market participants in terms of player and youth protection. In addition, the strict procedure against providers who do not adhere to the state requirements will also be easier, ”says the Lotto managing director.

The DLTB continues to rate positively that all 16 countries have agreed on the joint State Treaty on Gaming in 2021. “With this future-oriented agreement, the federal states have underlined that the federal system in Germany works very well,” notes Jürgen Häfner and finally announces: “The companies of the German Lotto and Totoblocks will continue to be based on the legal requirements of the State Treaty on Gambling and continue to make a moderate offer for those interested in games.”

Georg Wacker, Managing Director of Lotto Baden-Württemberg, added: “The gaming authority must be able to work as soon as possible. After the signature, action must follow. Now the ball rests with the state governments to convert the contract into valid state law so that the new regulations can come into force as planned on July 1, 2021.

The opening of the market for previously illegal games of chance on the Internet represents a paradigm shift.

“Lotto Baden-Württemberg will rise to this challenge,” said Mr. Wacker. “In terms of effective youth and player protection, the supervisory authority in Saxony-Anhalt must be able to work as quickly as possible.” If this does not succeed, the proliferation of online games of chance that has been observed for years will accelerate. The legal guard rails must be checked and violations sanctioned, otherwise the new State Treaty on Gambling is nothing more than paper written on many pages.”

Caption: Georg Wacker, Managing Director of Lotto Baden-Württemberg.