Germany – As pent-up demand finally materializes, German casinos are up 8%.

Germany’s casinos have seen a growth of 8% so far in 2022, according to German casino organization DSbV (Deutscher Spielbankenverband), which also stated that it anticipates “results as before the pandemic in 2019.”

The CEO of the German Casino Association DSbV, Kerstin Kosanke, expressed optimism for the remaining months of 2022.

“Just as the home office became too cramped for many, our guests also take the opportunity to experience gambling as a social coexistence again after the opening of the casinos,” she said. “Although it was still marked by the pandemic at the beginning, there are signs that the figures from 2019 are achievable. In the first quarter, earnings were already almost eight percent higher than in the first three months of 2019. That gives serious hope. For the remaining months, we expect gross player revenue to return to 2019 levels. This shows that the casino brand has come through the crisis well and that quality pays off. It was right to keep our employees in the houses.”

Kosanke anticipates a development akin to that in the travel industry. “Traveling is beginning once more. People desire to leave their homes once more so they can interact with others and use their newly found independence. A transitional tactic for handling emergencies is the home office. It is comparable to gambling. The Corona era saw home gaming as a kind of escape. However, if you value the atmosphere, way of life, and gambling culture, you will return to the land-based casinos.

With the caveat that such assumptions carry some degree of risk, forecasts like those of the Goldmedia institute, which predict an increasing “V-trend,” reinforce this confidence. Kosanke believes that physical casinos have geographic advantages over online casinos, which are also gaining legal acceptance: “In public casinos, there are no such long legal disputes about repayments of losses,” she explained.

Recent demands for reimbursement of losses by an unauthorized internet casino were heard by Frankfurt’s Higher Regional Court. The Giessen Regional Court had previously made a ruling on the case. As Ms. Kosanke clarified: “Repayment procedures are increasingly being judged positively for players in court. This shows growing uncertainty towards gambling providers on the Internet without a permit, which does not offer reliability in gaming processes and financial transactions such as licensed casinos.”

Kosanke has announced an initial assessment of the new State Treaty on Gambling with regard to online offers for the second half of the year: “However, we must always differentiate between unauthorized providers and those who will have a license in the future on the basis of the new State Treaty on Gambling. Here, the states are called upon to act far-sighted and to flank the stationary game with a sensitive state policy of licensing.”

For instance, North Rhine-Westphalia has committed by law to only permit a total of five online casino licenses on its soil. According to the state government, Thuringia will provide its own games since they will be fair and appropriate.