Discussion about the gambling authority

Discussion about the gambling authority: seat in Saxony-Anhalt planned

For years one speaks about the new regulation of the Gambling State Treaty.

With the rising popularity of online casino, the question of a German authority went back and again. For a long time, nothing happened, in the coming year, a new game supervision should finally be put on the legs. The seat should be in Saxony-Anhalt. We summarize what we know so far.

Prime ministers decided on the seat of the gambling authority

At a conference in Berlin, the minister-presidents finally made new decisions that further advance the plan for the new gaming authority: The headquarters are now to be in Saxony-Anhalt. The task of the new authority will be to deal primarily with gambling. It was precisely this area that people wanted to take care of for a long time, as Schleswig-Holstein never had its own gaming licenses from the Federal Republic of Germany.

Although the basic structure is in place, much is still completely unclear. What is certain is that the authority will take care of poker and sports betting in addition to the classic casino games. The new State Treaty on Gambling now has to be approved by the individual federal state parliaments in order to become valid.

It is now also known that there are plans to employ 110 workers. On the other hand, it is unclear where exactly the new workers will come from and what the exact tasks will be.

It has not yet been finally clarified where exactly the headquarters will be in Saxony-Anhalt.

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How should the gambling authority be financed?

There are still many unanswered questions, not just with regard to the premises and the employees. Since the new contract is due to come into force from July 2021, those responsible do not have much time to put a concrete concept together. The question of financing is also important at this point. After all, the new game supervisor has to be set up first, which means that there is of course currently no income.

The Interior Ministry announced that the heads of the individual states agreed on a financing model that takes into account the number of residents and the tax revenue of the federal states. A good approach, but nobody seems to really know who finances the construction in the end. It would be conceivable that Saxony-Anhalt would pay in advance for the establishment of the authority. This in turn harbors risks, which is why a direct redistribution to the various countries is possible.

Player protection needs to be improved

In the whole discussion, there is one point that everyone agrees: The prevention of gambling addiction must become more important in Germany. For some ministers it is therefore clear that the new treaty can only be approved if real improvements become apparent. So it will be exciting to see what measures Saxony-Anhalt and all those involved will take to ensure that the new State Treaty on Gambling meets these requirements. In the online casino industry, too, we are watching with excitement what innovations await us in the next year.

Joel Moore

I have over 12 years of journalism experience - including reviews of the best casinos. For the past few years. I've been interested in human psychology and behavioral factors. This knowledge now helps to better understand casino players.

Discussion about the gambling authority