The Gauselmann Group of Germany recorded an increased turnover in 2014, 40 per cent of which was from its international investments.

Paul Gauselmann

The turnover for the year, according to figures newly-released, was €1.942bn compared with €1.847bn in 2013. The portion of that sum that was realised in the German domestic market was €725m and €561m came from international interests.

In its business report for the year, company head Paul Gauselmann said that ongoing problems in the German domestic market had “a significantly negative impact on business development,” but he said that this factor was more than compensated for by prospering international business in nearly all segments.

Business volume, he reported, grew by five per cent in time with consolidated sales which increased to €1.29bn, or €90m higher than in 2013.

Gauselmann said that the current legislative parameters in Germany “threaten to drive leisure-timer gamers into illegality.”

He said: “Absurdly exaggerated restrictions such as extended barred periods, entrance control systems or non-smoking laws are spoiling the gaming experience at our arcades for many of our playing guests, who are turning in their droves to unregulated – and therefore illegal in Germany – foreign gaming products that are available on the internet.”

The group’s policy to expand internationally was therefore a considerable compensation, he said, citing both the UK and Spain “where reliable legal parameters create a secure environment for providers and clients.” The group invested €187m in its international business in 2014, which had helped increase the group’s employee numbers by 300 to a total of 8,500.

In the domestic market the company had opened its first state-licensed casino in Saxony-Anhalt and it eagerly awaited the granting of sports betting licences for the German market – a wait which has now lasted three years and with costs already running into the double-digit millions. “This is a totally unsatisfactory and intolerable situation.”