Germany’s gambling regulator, Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder, has emphasised the need for a scientific approach when it comes to gambling research.
The GGL provided information about its current approach to gambling research at the recent 20th Gambling Symposium at the University of Hohenheim.
In attendance was GGL board member Ronald Benter, who highlighted the significance of ongoing, well-founded gambling sector research utilising “independent groups of experts in studies in order to cover the entire range of scientific discourse”.
Benter stated: “Scientific findings are the basis of political and social debates. The need for further regulations must emerge from facts and figures. An essential part of our tasks as a regulatory authority is therefore the promotion and initiation of gambling research.
“Despite the relatively short existence of our authority, we have already achieved a lot here.”
Since being established in July 2021, the GGL has commissioned studies with a combined value of €1.39m. Additional studies are being planned for the future as well.
Last December, the authority awarded a gambling advertising study to the Berlin-based market research company eye square GmbH.
A study will soon be awarded by the GGL to investigate the black market and the channelling of gambling on the internet, as part of the State Treaty on Gambling 2021 evaluation.
The authority added that the study will analyse how the black market is measured and how players are steered towards the legal gambling sector, with fundamental theoretical and empirical considerations incorporated into the study due to the lack of research into channelisation against the background of the new legal regulations.
With all this in mind, Benter also spotlighted the GGL’s fundamental principle to keep an open dialogue for all viewpoints, stating: “We listen to all points of view and interests before we make our decisions.”
