Germany’s Gambling Authority Glücksspiel has responded to studies into the nation’s gambling black market gambling, citing recent research as ‘currently contentious’.
Clarifying its stance on ‘data collection approaches’ that aim to determine the state and size of black market gambling in Germany, the GGL highlighted that “studies aiming to determine the market size of illegal online gambling are currently contentious, yielding different conclusions than the states’ data”.
The response comes shortly after the DOCV, Germany’s online casino trade body, collaborated with sports betting trade body DSWV to support a study suggesting there are “alarming developments in Germany’s online gambling market”.
Conducted by Günther Schnabl of the University of Leipzig, the market evaluation gathered data from Nielsen Media, a German online market research panel, to find that only 50.7 per cent of German gamblers were engaging with licensed providers.
Studying around 25,000 German consumers’ data to record visits and engagements with over 700 gambling domains, the evaluation suggests that 28.9 per cent of gamblers were using unlicensed EU operators while 19.9 per cent were using offshore brands.
While this caused the two trade bodies to encourage better regulation from the GGL, Germany’s Gambling Authority responded by saying that it is “open to new or further developed approaches to gaining knowledge and is continually developing its data collection methods”.
Despite this notion, the regulator reinforced its assessment that the market value of illegal value stands between €300m-500m, around 2 per cent to 4 per cent of the current legal market’s size.
The GGL estimates that the number of websites offering illegal online gambling, including slots, poker, lottery and sports betting products, currently stands somewhere between 800 and 900 sites.
Reaffirming confidence in its ability to regulate the nation, the group stated: “The GGL firmly rejects criticisms from the industry that the GGL’s approach to collecting data from the illegal online gambling market is based on a static model that does not take market changes into account.”
“Collecting data on illegal online gambling is complex due to the ever-changing nature of the black market. All collected data is estimative, capturing a snapshot of the market at a specific time.”
Despite several issues surrounding the GGL since it took over as Germany’s gambling regulator in July 2021, such as a recent criticism from the DOCV over cross-provider deposit limits, the regulator remains committed to protecting players the dangers of illicit gambling.
