On the occasion of the four-year anniversary of the Joint Gambling Authority of the Federal States (GGL) on 1 July 2025, Sandro Kirchner, State Secretary in the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior, for Sport and Integration, has taken over the chairmanship of the GGL Administrative Board, succeeding Reiner Moser, Head of Office in the Ministry of the Interior, for Digitalisation and Municipalities for Baden-Württemberg.

During Reiner Moser’s term as Chairman of the Board of Directors, the GGL further established itself as a reliable institution for the supervision and monitoring of the online gambling market.

“The online gambling market has developed rapidly in recent years. The GGL has met the resulting challenges with great commitment and can already demonstrate remarkable results both in combating illegal gambling and in regulating and supervising the legal market. The exchange between the states and the GGL is always trusting and results-oriented. I would like to sincerely thank the Board of Directors and all GGL employees for this constructive cooperation over the past year,” said Head of Department Moser.

Advertisement

State Secretary Kirchner takes over the chairmanship at a time when the GGL is pursuing ambitious goals, including stronger international networking, particularly to further curb the illegal gambling market.

“The consistent prosecution of illegal offerings and player protection are my highest priorities. The work of the GGL must continue to be significantly geared towards ensuring that the business model of illegal gambling is not profitable in Germany,” said Sandro Kirchner.

With regard to his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors, he added: “I look forward to continuing the successful work of everyone involved over the past four years. We will certainly continue to face many challenges. However, I believe the GGL is well positioned to achieve this.”

The Board of Directors is the supervisory and steering body of the GGL. It consists of the heads of departments or state secretaries of the ministries responsible for gaming supervision in the 16 member states. The chair of the Board of Directors rotates annually on July 1st in alphabetical order of the member states.

The Liquor & Gaming NSW (L&GNSW) has launched a compliance campaign focusing on external gambling signage and internal gambling related signage that is visible from the outside of the premises.

Inspectors will be engaging licensees and attending venues to assess compliance.

L&GNSW will be taking escalated enforcement action against any venue found not to be complying with the requirements.

Advertisement

From 1 December 2023, L&GNSW adopted a zero-tolerance enforcement approach regarding external gambling-related signage. This followed a compliance campaign which involved the removal of all external gambling related signage such as “VIP Lounge,” signage that includes dragon imagery or similar, and the removal of adopted imagery including images associated with gaming machines.

External gambling related signage at hotels and registered clubs are subjected to the requirements of sections 43 and 44 of the Gaming Machines Act 2001 NSW (the Act).

These requirements are in place to continue supporting gambling harm minimisation by reducing the visibility and promotion of gambling, particularly to vulnerable individuals and the broader community.

Venues that are not yet compliant should consult the 2023 Compliance Campaign: External gaming signage for hotels & clubs position paper or contact the Hospitality Concierge for additional information on the requirements.

L&GNSW recommends venues conduct self-audits to ensure their obligations and requirements in relation to the Act are met. A Gaming Harm Minimisation Fact sheet is also available.

Advertisement

Breaches of section 43(1) and 44(1) of the Act can result in on the spot fines of $1100 per offence or a maximum fine of $11,000 per offence if prosecuted.

The Dutch Gaming Authority (KSA) has again conducted research into the effectiveness of the various rules that were introduced in the second half of 2024 to better protect players in the online gambling market. The first study showed that the new rules had an effect: the number of high losses per account decreased. The second measurement shows that this positive effect continues. The channeling based on players (the share of players who play with legal providers compared to illegal ones) has also not decreased significantly.

The Ministry of Justice and Security made it mandatory for players to contact the provider before they can set a deposit limit of more than €150 (young adults) or €350 per month, so that providers can inform them of the dangers of such a high limit. The introduction of this mandatory contact moment has caused the number of players who set a high deposit limit to drop to less than 50%.

The limits on net deposits are also effective. When depositing more than €300 (young adults aged 18-24) or €700 (24 and older), the provider checks whether a player can afford that amount and if this is not the case or the check is not carried out, the provider must block deposits for the rest of the month. The percentage of players who deposit more than the deposit limits (€300 for young adults aged 18-24 or €700 for 24 and older) has further decreased from 9.7% to 2.2%. In the previous measurement, this was still 3.8%. For young adults, this percentage decreased from 12% to 1.9%. In the previous measurement, this was still 2.8%.

Advertisement

The lower deposit limits have also reduced the average loss per player account by 31%, from an average of €116 per month in the eight months before the introduction to €80 per month in the eight months after the introduction. The number of accounts that an average player has (2.4) has hardly changed. So there is still no evidence that players have started playing with more different providers in order to be able to spend more money across the board.

The gross gaming result (BSR, stake minus prizes paid out) of legal providers has decreased by 8% compared to a year earlier. Before the introduction of the rules, approximately 4% of players lost more than €1000. Now that is 1%. This shows that the introduction of the policy rules ensures that excessive gambling occurs less with legal providers. However, there is a chance that heavy players now play with illegal providers.

The channelling based on players remains high: 93% of players only play with legal providers. In addition to the channelling of players, the KSA also looks at the channelling in terms of money. This has not yet been included in the follow-up report for technical reasons. The search volume of the top 100 illegal websites does show an increase. This could indicate a growth of the illegal market. In the impact assessment on the increase in the gambling tax, which will be published in July, the KSA expects to publish the figures on the channelling in terms of money.