Gambling as a Business – Loss of Control and Billions of Profit

The gambling industry is a billion-dollar business for providers. Much of the turnover is made in the unregulated area. The players bear the risk.

After 23 years as a player, Volker Brümmer stood on the tracks, the farewell letters were written. “I didn’t just gamble away money, but all social contacts – almost my life in the end.” At the low point of his player biography, with 300,000 euros in debt, the tiler changed his mind. Today the 50-year-old is dry, as he calls it. And talks openly about his past.

Brümmer is still a child when he first plays. At a rest area, he throws Grandma’s pocket money into a machine. The two marks never came out. “It was the first time I lied to my parents about playing.” Years later he will tell stories to bank employees – and also empty his daughter’s savings book.

Pathological Gamblers

Studies state that denying on the subject of gambling is a characteristic of gambling addicts. In respect to estimations, there are 200,000 pathological gamblers in Germany and roughly, there are around 300,000 problematic players.

77% of gamblers who go to outpatient therapies or treatment centers gamble on machines. This emerges from the 2017 addiction help statistics of the Institute for Therapy Research.

The truthful threshold of unlawful gambling

“Once a month, that’s where it started,” says Brümmer. “In the end, I played on 20 machines at the same time in arcades. The loss of control is limitless.” Brümmer plays the last three years of addiction from home, on the Internet. “Open 24 hours 365 days a year – a paradise for every player.”

Casinos and Poker online (Situs Judi Online) are part of the non-regulated gambling sector. This includes gambling deals that often have no license. A lot of it really is tolerated.

The unregulated market is booming

Out of the billions of income (roughly 14.2 billion euros) made by gambling companies in 2017, 22 percent comes from the non-regulated and this includes sports betting online. The statistics were provided by the twelve-monthly statement of the national gaming bodies. The legal sector grew only by 1 % compared to the previous year (157 million), the non-regulated sector has grown by 24 % (626 million).

The government is presently discussing a change in Gambling laws. The launch of the sports betting sector is on the way. On the other hand, gambling online will remain restricted.

Protection of players through personnel and new measures

Georg Stecker, the spokesman for the board of the German Automata Industry (DAW), is in favor of a countrywide biometric access program. According to the association, around 278,000 cash-operated play equipment is installed nationwide – 82,000 of which are not in arcades, but in catering establishments.

According to gambling researcher Becker, there is no survey of how much revenue is due to gambling addicts. Brümmer sometimes gambled thousands of euros in one night. He needed 18 months of therapy. So far, he has managed eleven years without a relapse. This is not a matter of course, as he knows from many stories. The 50-year-old is now leading a self-help group for players.