Study Shows How Receptive the Germany Market Can Be to Uniform Regulation
Published July 19, 2019 by Lee R
The people support widespread regulation and advertising, but it remains to be seen whether the authority will follow suit.
Germany is still finding it's way on the regulation and adaptation front.
Lottery Focus
The lottery situation reflects waning interest in revenue-generating gaming activity for that vertical, as evinced by a 3% year-on-year decline in lottery sales for the first six months of 2019.
Individual Lottery Winnings Up
Winnings still appeared attractive at the individual level, with 60 new lottery millionaires crowned in Germany during H1 2019, topped by a Rheinland-Pfalz player's €63.2m Eurojackpot draw triumph, which stands as the largest lottery prize ever awarded in Germany.
The rest of the leading regions for millionaire payouts included populous Nordrhein-Westphalen (12 new millionaires); including the second and third largest bonus payouts of a €45m Eurojackpot prize and €31.4m jackpot; with ten more winners based in Niedersachsen; and another nine in Bavaria.
Masking the Problem
However, these figures massage the need for expanded full service gaming regulation in Germany.
Demand for Regulation
The demand is clearly there, with research by Novomatic Group Subsidiary Löwen Entertainment revealing that over 70% of the German public supports a uniform regulatory framework for all forms of gambling—which is not yet in place in Germany.
The study of 1000 respondents revealed that 71% of respondents supported a uniform, federal system for regulation as opposed to the existing varying regulations for different verticals and channels in the current framework.
Advertising Supported
As for the voice of the people, the study further revealed that popular sentiment viewed the restrictions placed on legal operators under the Treaty as a threat to regulated offerings, with the complex procedures opening the door for players to turn to unlicensed operators to fulfill their gaming needs.
Flaws in the System
The German gaming machine manufacturer and distributor Lowen ultimately found fault with the current state-by-state regulation system, resulting in consumers shifting more and more to unregulated gaming products for non lottery play such as lottery betting and online casinos, with Lowen lamenting that at this point 20% of gross gaming revenue in the German market was generated via unregulated operators:
“Even today, the unregulated market is growing relatively and in absolute terms more strongly than the regulated gaming market.”
Strange Ad Bans
Another factor is advertising restrictions on legal operators, in a contradictory environment where illegal providers can advertise on TV while licensed operators are subject to “strict, prohibitive advertising policies.”
The Latest Window
With the public in favor of allowing legal operators to advertise their products uninhibited, the question of why the German government has been lagging in developing a comprehensive framework looms larger, At this point, an Amended State Treaty on Gambling which just came into force July 1 offers a two-year window for German parliamentarians to develop an all-encompassing regulatory model for all products and channels.
Outlook
With lottery drawing individual interest with the generous bonus system, and the people calling for advertising and regulation, the German legislation appears the last to come around to the prevailing way of thinking in the local market.
