The multi-licence arcade system in Germany is coming under pressure. Last week the jurisdiction of Schleswig-Holstein approved legislation for next year which will force the licence holders to reduce their operation to single locations.
Under current German law, an arcade can have a total of 12 gambling machines. Many operators therefore seek several arcade licences for the same building, effectively making anything between two and 10 separate arcades, in order to install the optimum number of machines.
Schleswig-Holstein, however, wants to tidy this up and will insist that each arcade is a single licence with no more than 12 machines and that there should be a distance of not less than 500m between each location. Operators will have five years in which to effect the change. In the case of Schleswig-Holstein this is not seen as a massive problem because the jurisdiction is small in terms of population and it will merely encourage more small locations. Elsewhere, however, the problem is much more serious.
Berlin has already passed a regulation earlier in the year with the same effect but also reducing each location from 12 machines to eight, again with five years to get rid of the multi-licensing. And Bremen has decided to get rid of multi-licensing too.
There are 16 'Lander' in Germany altogether and it is thought likely that the other 13 jurisdictions will pass similar regulations, forcing fewer and smaller locations. The industry is preparing itself for a major battle which is likely to end up in the European Court of Justice.
