Liberalization Is Not the People's Choice

During televised arguments addressing the country's monopoly on sports betting and lotteries last week, the Deutscher Lotto- und Totoblock presented a study that revealed a mere 10 percent of German residents were in favor of liberalizing the country's gambling market.

The study, conducted by Germany-based research group forsa, polled 1,013 German respondents--age 18 and over--ahead of the January 2008 adoption of the controversial Interstate Lotteries Treaty.

Highlights

10 percent of respondents were in favor of liberalizing the gambling market.

76 percent of respondents were in favor of a system where gambling is controlled by the government.

61 percent of respondents said that gambling and related promotion should be minimized.

1 percent of respondents would like to have other gambling products.

According to the study, a large percentage of German consumers assume that state supervision offers more security and reliability than could that of commercial operators.

In December 2006, 15 of 16 state Prime Ministers added their signatures to the draft-version of the Treaty. In July 2007, the Schleswig-Holstein cabinet authorized PM Peter Harry Cartensen to add his signature, after arguing previously that Germany should wait for further guidance from Brussels before adopting the legislation.

In its current form, the Treaty prohibits all forms of Internet gambling in Germany, with the exception of horserace betting, and extends the monopoly on lotteries and sports betting services to the Lotto- und Totoblock an additional four years, until 2012.