Bet thousands of euros on poker, black jack or roulette on the Internet – the fact that this is now being offered by the state in Bavaria for the first time is causing criticism and concern among gambling addiction experts. “We view this very critically,” said the managing director of the State Office for Gambling Addiction in Bavaria, Konrad Landgraf, to the German Press Agency. “The supply increases demand. Until now, the big advantage of the state casinos was that they only exist in nine locations. The possibility of taking part in casino games online means that the casinos’ offers are available everywhere in Bavaria.” The state office had already expressed these concerns in a statement on the latest amendment to the implementing law for the State Treaty on Gambling.
The Gambling Addiction Advisory Board, which is actually supposed to advise the states on this according to the state treaty, was not asked about the specific offer from the Bavarian lottery and casino administration, said Landgraf. “We are of the opinion that this is a new offer and would have liked to be heard. But the supply side sees it differently.” A spokeswoman for Lotto Bayern said on Thursday that the state treaty “provides for the involvement of the advisory board in new offers only in the area of the state lottery monopoly.” Online casino offers are “not included here, so the question of involving the advisory board does not arise.”
The Bavarian casino administration announced on Tuesday that it would be the first state-run provider in Germany to offer an online casino – as a supplement to the nine casinos in the Free State. It’s about a “modern, serious and safe range of games”. Participation in the game is only possible for players aged 18 and over who reside in Bavaria. Individual stake and loss limits, player bans, a ban on parallel games and identification and authentication procedures as well as an automated system for the early detection of players at risk of addiction should therefore ensure safe, responsible gaming.
State office manager Landgraf still sees weaknesses in protecting players at risk of addiction. The blocking file works quite well, but players could still quickly lose a lot of money with the new offer: “This online casino offers if you can increase the deposit limit from 1,000 euros to 10,000 euros per month, in exceptional cases even to 30,000 euros hardly any protection anymore.” Lotto Bayern contradicted this on Thursday. “Even if the nationwide Lugas system allows deposit limits to be increased under strict conditions, game participants can still only top up up to 1,000 euros per month with our online casino games,” said a spokeswoman. “There are no options for us to increase this.” With the online casino, Lotto Bayern offers “a legal and state-run alternative to illegal offers on the Internet,” said the spokeswoman. This also takes into account “the changed reality of life in the forms of play”.
The State Office for Gambling Addiction in Bavaria estimates that more than 200,000 people in the Free State are addicted to gambling. A majority of those affected who sought help in Bavarian advice centers preferred to play online in 2021 and 2022. According to the information, slot games and sports betting were particularly popular with those affected in this area. This was followed by online casino games – which were not yet offered by the government at the time.