Eleven gaming arcades file lawsuit against Duisburg.
Following the introduction of the Gaming State Treaty (GlüStV) in 2017, 22 gaming halls have been closed in Duisburg. Surprisingly, 11 of these gaming halls are attempting to challenge this decision through lawsuits. This trend appears to be spreading across North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), but how successful will these legal battles be?
The Gaming State Treaty, in force since December 2017, has left the Administrative Court of Duisburg dealing with a surge of lawsuits. In this city alone, 11 of the 22 closed gaming halls are taking legal action to reverse the revocation of their licenses. The closures are primarily triggered by a new minimum distance rule - 350 meters in NRW, which is proving to be detrimental to the gaming industry in the densely populated 'Coal Pot', where over 10 million people are distributed across 14 cities. Additionally, this rule also applies to schools and kindergartens.
In Duisburg, 128 gaming halls once operated in an area of around 233 square kilometers. On Weseler Street in the Marxloh district, there are eight of the affected gaming halls within a 350-meter radius. Five more are located close together in the Hochfeld district. There are also gaming hall settlements in the districts of Rheinhausen and the city center. There were reportedly numerous options for players.
The Duisburg city administration is still determining how many gaming halls will be allowed to operate in the city. Spokeswoman Gabi Priem candidly states that it will take some time to complete this process and determine how many lawsuits will follow. She requests understanding, as the city must assess the current situation.
The closure of gaming halls poses a significant challenge for Duisburg's already struggling budget. Even though it has the world's largest inland port and is part of the Rhine-Ruhr junction, the economic situation of the city of 500,000 inhabitants has been in decline for years. The city also has an enormous debt: Radio Duisburg reports that arrears currently total an astonishing 3 billion euros. On the positive side, gaming hall revenues have been steadily increasing since 2013, from around 6.9 to 7.5 million euros, with at least part of the profits going to the city treasury.
Priem also offered insight into the new license applications, which have been denied since the end of 2017. She mentions the additional regulations in NRW: In August 2017, the Higher Administrative Court of Münster (OVG) decided that a fundamental, municipal license is necessary for the opening of gaming halls in the future. To secure such a permit, various requirements must be met.
The 'personal reliability' of all prospective operators will be evaluated by the local authority, according to Priem. The criteria for assessment are the police leadership certificate, financial checks to ensure no debts, and documentation of any complaints or misdemeanors about existing businesses. Casino-mega complexes have been banned, effectively disallowing combinations of gaming halls and betting offices. Furthermore, the number of gaming machines per establishment has been limited to 12.
While some estimate a 70% decline in casinos throughout NRW due to the GlüStV, critics, gambling addiction associations, and addiction experts view the measures as progress. Approximately 40,000 people in NRW are believed to be pathologically addicted to gambling. The significant reduction is claimed to enhance the attractiveness of urban living space.
Casino owners in NRW are not only taking legal action in the city of Duisburg. Lawsuits have been filed across the country, including in Essen, Dortmund, Bochum, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Mönchengladbach, or Münster. According to reports, there were already over 3,000 lawsuits in March and additional applications continue to pour in.
The plaintiffs are relying on the principles of hardship regulations and property rights, which seem to significantly impede the implementation of the new regulations. Particularly evident is the legal uncertainty in Mülheim an der Ruhr, where only 17 gaming halls, each with a maximum of 12 machines, are permitted, but there are still a total of 620 slot machines in 60 different establishments.
With gambling regulation the responsibility of individual federal states in Germany, the implementation of the GluStV has proceeded at a slow pace. In the context of a federal system, the Federal Association for Gambling Addiction had predicted in the fall of 2017 that there would be no uniform implementation for the Federal Republic. It remains to be seen how long cities and communities will be left to navigate this fundamental legal uncertainty by their respective state governments.
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Source: www.onlinecasinosdeutschland.com
