German Study Reveals Little Change in Online Gambling Habits

The Association of Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media in Germany commissioned a study to see how online gambling is progressing in that country. The survey results revealed that attempts to ban online gambling in order to protect state monopolies have not significantly curtailed demand from German Internet players. A study of the activity last year showed that 2.2 million Germans used the net to place wagers. The latest report revealed that only 2 million people were using the internet to punt on sports, play poker, or buy lottery tickets. The study noted that by gender, a little more than 1.7 million German males, and only 300,000 females, gambled online during the represented year. Women favoured lotteries, with lady gamblers making up 64 percent of the gamblers in this sector, compared with 57 percent of the men who gambled on the lotteries. Lottery gaming was the most popular, played by 59 percent of all web gamblers with poker second at 22 percent and sports betting third at 18 percent. The figures are relatively unchanged from last year, when 700,000 played the lotteries, 430,000 Germans played online poker and other casino games, and 500,000 put their money into sporting events, with 96 percent of those betting on Bundesliga matches and other major soccer events.

Achim Berg the executive spokesperson for Bitkom, said the report is an indication of the popularity of online gambling in Germany, and called upon the lawmakers of Germany to modernise the country's gambling laws when they meet again next March 2010. Berg commented that, "The current betting scandal in football has clearly demonstrated that the German ban only paves the way for a thriving black market," adding, "We must ensure that the same high standards apply for both public and private providers," as he requested a state licensing regime. A recent market study of the German gambling market predicts that it will grow from the current 2.2 billion euros a year to approximately 5 billion euros by 2010.