Fifteen of the 16 semi-autonomous German states have signed an accord on gambling.
Admitting sports betting back into German locations is a benefit, but the great threat of a wholesale campaign against the German arcades may be receding.
With the January issue of InterGame is a German Special Issue which analyses the threat to the German arcades, but in brief the 8,000 arcades would have faced a cut-back in the multiple licensing of arcades. As German arcades are only permitted 12 machines, some locations use more than one licence and open up separate rooms within a location, each one rated as a licence, in order to multiply the number of machines on offer.
This traditional format is under threat from the states, who initially proposed that only one licence per location would be permitted and each licenced premises should be 500m apart from its neighbour. This would have decimated the German industry and the trade associations were preparing a strong response.
On December 15, all of the states except Schleswig-Holstein (which is determined to go its own way on arcade laws), signed an accord on gambling. It appears from an initial translation that the controversial proposal on arcades has been removed, but further analysis of the 'accord' is still needed.
The First Amended German Interstate Treaty on Gambling, as it is called, has yet to go to the EU Commission for final approval, which is expected by January 15, 2012. If the Commission does not 'notify' the treaty, then the 15 states have to reconvene to work out a new draft.
It is also not clear what is to become of the new regulations set in Berlin and Bremen, two of the states, which already enacted a five-year moratorium leading up to the radical changes in arcade law.
