Legislation
Germany – Petition against planned Rhineland-Palatinate slot hall closures gains 1,500 signatures
By Phil - 11 January 2021
A petition launched by the umbrella organisation Die Deutsche Automatenwirtschaft eV and the Automaten-Verband Rheinland-Pfalz eV in Germany against a planned state law amending the state gaming law on July 1 that threatens to close over half the state-licensed gambling halls has gained over 1,500 signatures in just 48 hours.
The petition launched by the vending machine industry last Friday has met with broad support. Addressed to the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament, the slot machine industry is demanding a modern, quality-oriented state gambling law. At the end of January, the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament will pass the state law amending the state gaming law (LGlüG) – and thus make 2,500 people unemployed. Because the draft law provides for minimum distances between state-licensed gambling halls among themselves and between children’s and youth facilities of 500m, which means the end of far more than every second gambling hall in the country.
Georg Stecker, spokesman for the umbrella organisation Die Deutsche Automatenwirtschaft eV (DAW), said: “Hundreds of the mostly second or third generation family-run vending machine companies are faced with the ruins of their economic existence and with them their employees and their families. Commercial slot machine gaming must no longer be regulated with a folding rule. That is absurd in the digital age. We need modern regulation. Regulation based on qualitative criteria that strengthens youth and player protection and maintains proper operations, also in Rhineland-Palatinate. ”
Wolfgang Götz, 1st chairman of the Automaten-Verband Rheinland-Pfalz eV (AVRP), added: “I can not understand why the state government is threatening to destroy entrepreneurs in the midst of the Corona crisis and is driving people into unemployment. The fact that the petition has found so many signatories within a very short time shows that I am not alone in this.”
Caption: Georg Stecker
