Insight GERMANY


RESTRICTIONS • Additional chronologically limited gaming law permit


• No legal right to the granting of approval (§ 4, II)


• Advertising on TV, the Internet or utilising telecommunications systems is banned (§ 5, III)


• Introduction of a social concept (§ 6) • Further informational obligations (§ 7) • Ban on selling sports bets (§ 21, II) • Minimum gambling arcade proximity (§ 25, I) *In effect a ban on new construction/installation


• Retroactive ban on multiple licenses / approvals (§25)


• Ban on multiple arcades is to apply retroactively to new permits / approvals


• No compensation despite expropriation of installers / operators and renters


• Arbitrary limits on the number of arcades in a municipality (§ 25, III)


• Advertising ban at arcade locations (§26)


• Introduction of general minimum disqualification periods (§26, II)


• For extant multiple arcades the brief transition period of 5 years applies (deadline: 28.10.2011)


• For multiple arcades approved after the deadline a transition period of one year applies


• In the event of sale or assignment of an extant arcade the permit / approval expires after one year


• No right to any further permit / approval after the one year transition period expires


• Effective date - 01 July 2012 (13 provinces agree)


• Effective - until 30.06.2021 (extension by 13 provinces at least)


PROVINCIAL AMUSEMENT/GAMING ARCADE LAWS • Responsibility due to federal law reform, “Arcade laws”


• In force in Berlin, Bremen and Schleswig-Holstein. In the other German provinces the legislation is under discussion or parliamentary consideration


• Patchwork of 16 different provincial legal frameworks


• Individual legal frameworks (e.g. Hessen)


INDEPENDENT APPROVAL PROCEDURE • Permit duration limited to 15 years • Multiple permits forbidden • Minimum proximity between arcades 300 m as the crow flies


• Advertising restrictions • Eye-catching design is banned and non-transparent facades prescribed, as is identification as a −“Spielhalle” (= amusement arcade)


• Social concepts and personnel training • Advisory and informational obligations


June 2012 PAGE 40


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.


• No entry for minors • Curfew of 6 hours plus specific days on which they must close


• Specific types of person may not play / gamble


• Some activities are banned (betting, Internet, EC cash, payment services)


• Obligation to cooperate with other arcades in a general banning system


• Video monitoring of entrances, tills and premises on which gaming machines are installed


• Information, warning and consulting material must be displayed


• Transition period of 1 or 15 years for multiple permits / approvals


Baden-württemberg specifics • Initial discussion of the draft as TOP 6 of the provincial parliament sitting on 09 May 2012 followed by discussion in the provincial parliament committee as TOP 1 on 09 May 2012


• Adoption of first GlüÄndStV provisions • Individual provisions • Regulations on amusement arcades included for the first time


• Regulatory authority for amusement arcades: government presidency in Karlsruhe


• Effective date one day after announcement


• Evaluation of effects after 5 years • Clause extending efficacy beyond 30 June 2021


the chanGes


takinG place at the street level in


Germany will alter the country’s


entire GaminG landscape.


FUTURE IMPLEMENTATION LAW • Provisions governing cases of hardship due to the ban on multiple permits / approvals


- Premises / business concept utilisation options


- Continued operation until the usual amortization limits are reached


- Gradual reduction in multiple approvals / permits


- Provisions to deal with hardship cases due to proximity rules


- Chronologically limited transition solutions


- Search for alternative locations - Duty to introduce general entry controls - Implementation of a social concept for the business


- Holding preventive training courses (first GlüÄndStV (E) law LReg draft - Drs. 15/1570, dated 17 April 2012)


JÖRG MEURER of the DAGV with


MATTHIAS STAIB of ASR following a


presentation by the DAGV to operators and distributors in the German state of


Baden-Württemberg. State specific


changes for Baden- Württemberg are listed below.


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