Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder, Germany’s gambling regulator, has held a meeting with federal state coordinators this week to evaluate the best approach to online gambling player protection and addiction prevention.
As the coordinating body for all German gambling market stakeholders, the GGL invited federal state coordinators for prevention, addiction support and addiction research to a joint meeting in Halle on September 5.
The goal of the meeting, the regulator said, was to “establish a common understanding of the tasks to be mastered by each other”, as well as examine the “possibilities of intensifying and bundling joint cooperation with regard to the major goal of player protection and prevention” for the enforcement of legal regulations.
There was also a focus on the “country-specific characteristics of the state offices with regard to addiction-related issues in online gambling”.
Commenting on the meeting, GGL Board member, Ronald Benter, said: “We have achieved this goal. After a first meeting of the board in the previous year, a personal meeting took place between the country coordinators and other representatives of the GGL from the various departments, which provided us with important insights for future cooperation.”
The GGL stated that bundling feedback from prevention institutions will help the regulator discover “additional insights for the enforcement of the statutory player protection measures in the future”.
The regulator added that the meeting was a success as all participants showed “interest in further regular and systematic exchanges”.
“We see ourselves as a central point of contact when it comes to questions about research needs, analysis of new market developments and trends, prevention and player protection as well as special aspects of online gambling,” added GGL Board member Benjamin Schwanke.
“Since the state centres are in close contact with their regional addiction counselling centres, specialist outpatient clinics and the addiction support system, the knowledge we gain from close cooperation with the state centres and the state coordinators is very important for our work.”