Social Causes Suffer from German Online Gambling Ban - 04-28-08

April 28 - When German online gambling proponents warned that the country's Interstate Treaty on Gambling would bring a sharp decline in the revenues enjoyed by state lotteries, nobody paid enough attention to this fact. While it was predicted that the online channel of lottery sales would lose around 30-40 million Euros a year before the law was implemented in January, but it was shown this week that the numbers are much greater than previously thought.

It was recently reported that the state online lottery sector lost an incredible 8 million Euros in revenue in January 2008 alone. German online gambling Keno sales dropped 30%, while Oddset Sports book dropped a massive 50%. The popular Wednesday and Saturday lottery sales, dipped 11%, causing industry experts to rethink just how badly affected the market will be by the German online gambling ban.

Two months ago, Jens Schumann, the founder of Tipp24, an online lottery company said about the situation in Germany: "Nobody benefits from the Interstate Treaty on Gambling. Of the 325.5 million Euros in stake which we received in Germany on behalf of the state lottery companies in 2007, some 40% is used to promote sports, the arts and welfare institutions. This money would be lost if online brokerage were forbidden. However, certain politicians are trying to force us out of the market in an alleged attempt to prevent gambling addiction."

Meanwhile, the country's Minister of Interior has warned that that the online gambling ban would affect many social causes that had previously benefited from revenue. Lack of funding could mean a sharp decline in money that had previously been earmarked for youth, sports and culture and the recent numbers only prove just how badly these sectors would be affected.

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