One of the largest companies in the German gaming industry has welcomed the news that its most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, has passed the Online Casino Act.
The state is second only to Schleswig-Holstein to approve online gambling and it is also home to the Gauselmann Group, Germany’s largest operator and developer of gaming machines.
The company said in a statement this week: “As a matter of principle, the Gauselmann Group welcomes the passing of the Online Casino Act in North Rhine-Westphalia.
"In our view, however, this was long overdue, as the new State Treaty on Gaming, which came into force back in July 2021, had given the green light for online casino games. The federal states should actually have taken action at the time to create a legal gaming option for online casino games.
“We also welcome the decision to dispense with a state monopoly in North Rhine-Westphalia. The only way to channel the undoubtedly existing demand and dry up the illegal market is through operators who have sufficiently proven competence, quality standards and experience.
“However, the forthcoming licensing of online casino games is not sufficient on its own to counter illegal offerings. The most important thing is to create a sufficiently attractive legal offering.
"This is the only way to fulfill the legally defined channeling mandate and protect players from potentially problematic gaming behaviour, fraud or manipulation.
“In the opinion of the Gauselmann Group, the passing of this law is only the first necessary step. A (Europe-wide) tendering process for the licences must now follow as soon as possible in order to select the licence holders who will then provide the corresponding gaming offering.
"One point of criticism from the perspective of the Gauselmann Group is the lack of a uniform regulation for online casino games across all federal states, although the internet permits borderless access.
"However, the blame for this falls squarely at the door of the authors of the State Treaty rather than of the NRW state government, because the binding State Treaty only allows regulation specific to individual federal states.”
