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So-called fun game machine (symbol image)
Photo: Bernd Thissen / dpa
According to a field study by the working group against gambling addiction, illegal slot machines are on the rise.
In 44.5 percent of the 1,408 gaming venues he visited nationwide, he found illegal devices, so-called fun games, said the managing director of the working group, Jürgen Trümper.
According to this, every third gaming device found was not approved in Germany - 32.8 percent of a total of 3337.
No player protection, no game break
For the field study "Insights into the illegal gambling market 2021", Trümper said he secretly visited restaurants, betting shops and cultural associations in 150 municipalities in 13 federal states from June to October last year.
Since the machines are illegal, there is no official registration data.
The study was financed by the Association of the German Vending Machine Industry, which according to Trümper had no influence.
The fun games are very risky, warned Trümper, who has been investigating illegal gambling in Germany from Unna in North Rhine-Westphalia for many years.
“There is no player protection at all, no game break.
You can play with much higher stakes." He tested a device, "with which you could spend 300 euros for two and a half seconds of so-called gaming fun at the top, of course with the corresponding expectation of profit." Users are mostly problematic or pathological players, "the are then also willing to lose house and yard to the devices«.
According to Trümper, illegal machines have experienced a renaissance since the rules for legal slot machines were tightened.
He called for the fight against illegal vending machines to be stepped up.
The police and employees of the regulatory authorities would also have to be better trained to recognize the devices.
Not only focal points in big cities are affected by the boom in illegal vending machines, according to the study they can also be found in the area.
In Hamburg, according to the study a hotspot for illegal gaming, there are such devices in more than 150 companies and cultural associations, according to the gambling department of the interior authority.
“It can be assumed that the devices are in the four-digit range.” Such devices were secured in various raids and searches.
Hardness controls demanded
As a social worker, Trümper has looked after players and their relatives for more than 15 years. Since 1992 he has been managing director of the working group against gambling addiction.
»These are addicted, sick people whose illness is being exploited here by means of the devices to an unbearable degree«, he says.
In recent years, the appeal of legal devices to protect players has diminished.
Among other things, betting and loss opportunities were limited, as was the playing time.
Since 2019, only two gaming machines have been allowed to be set up in catering establishments, the third one that was previously allowed had to go.
"Losses from dismantling the third device were often compensated for by installing illegal devices, which can also be used to generate much higher income - and without paying taxes," says Trümper.
To solve the problem, the vending machine industry is calling for the requirements for their legal devices to be relaxed in order to make them more attractive. »From my point of view, this is the wrong way«, says Trümper. Like Trümper, the Bremen gambling researcher Tobias Hayer is also calling for tougher action by the authorities. »We have to increase the number of staff in the regulatory offices. So that they can make illegal gambling visible on site.« The content-related skills of the employees also need to be improved.
The fun game machines mostly came from abroad, from China or Eastern Europe, says Trümper.
You can buy them on the Internet for prices between 1700 and 3000 euros – quite legally.
"Only setting it up is an administrative offense according to Section 6a of the Gaming Ordinance." However, the case law has now reached the point that setting up a game always involves the suspicion of illegal gambling.
apr/dpa
