Insight GERMANY
a new path on the German streets
The German gaming and amusement sector is facing radical change as federal and state legislation tear up the rulebook and start afresh with major consequences
The German AWP market is set for major changes. The Interstate Gambling Treaty (Glücksspielstaatsvertrag) should be ratified to come into force on July 1, 2012. The 16 German states are set to define their own State Arcades Laws (Länderspielhallengesetze). Three states – namely Berlin, Bremen and Schleswig- Holstein – have already passed corresponding laws. In Berlin, for example, multi-concession arcades have been banned and the maximum number of AWPs has been reduced from 12 to
June 2012 PAGE 38 JÖRG MEURER,
Managing Director, DAGV.
eight. This state regulation goes against the federal ruling as set out by the Gaming Ordinance (Spielverordnung), which defines each concession as having 12 AWPs. The Gaming Ordinance is set to be altered as well – by January 1, 2013 – though most likely it will be earlier. The German Industrial Code (Gewerbeverordnung) will also be changed. The amusement tax (Vergnügngssteuer) has been and is being altered to the detriment of German AWP operators. This tax is set at local,
municipal level and is different up and down the country. Only one state in Germany (Bavaria) does not implement this tax.
major changes lie ahead There are still well over 5,000 individual operators in the German AWP market. Even the large operators such as Merkur Spielothek, the SchmidtGruppe, Extra Games and Löwen Play only make up between 20 and 25 per cent of the market. Up to 80 per cent of operators are smaller companies, usually family-owned. The task is to reach these operators. Industry associations are very active and there are ones that represent the operators (e.g. the BA - Bundesverband Automatenunternehmer). However, a number of operators are not active in any association, so there’s been a concerted effort to spread the message to all operators via a series of forums.
The DAGV (Deutsche-Automaten- Großhandels-Verband) is the German
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