Abstract
1. Online poker requires a considerable degree of skill. In Germany, as in many other parts of the EU, it is classified as a game of chance and as such has hitherto been unregulated. Despite this ban, the German online poker market is the world’s second largest. Around 10% of online poker players worldwide are from Germany, and nearly 1% of Internet users in Germany play online poker. Due to inconsistent frameworks in Germany and the EU, there is a high degree of legal uncertainty for players and providers. 2. The existing market is largely unregulated and unchecked. If the German federal states leave this market unregulated, people will continue to be forced into a ‘‘grey area.’’ This may also result in pathological gamblers not being identified, making it impossible to check and prevent them from becoming addicted. It is currently not possible to offer effective player protection because of the prevailing legal situation. The unchecked grey area also facilitates and encourages illegal money laundering in Germany and the EU. 3. The Assessment Tool to Measure and Evaluate the Risk Potential of Gambling Products (AsTERiG), developed by the Gambling Scientific Forum (Wissenschaftliches Forum Glucksspiel) on the initiative of the German welfare lotteries Aktion Mensch (Action for People) and the ARD Television Lottery, provides a fundamental quantitative evaluation and assessment of the addiction potentials of the online poker game Texas Hold’em No Limit. This tool is currently the global leader and is established in scientific and medical practice. 4. Based on scores, AsTERiG measures how great the risk potential of a chance or skillbased game can be. In doing so, it also enables a direct comparison to be drawn between the addiction potentials of different gambling products. Furthermore, the tool highlights the specific risk potentials of individual games of chance or games of skill. As a result, it has established itself as an indispensable tool at a legislative, case law, and administrative level. Reiner Clement is a professor of economics at the University of Bonn-Rhein-Sieg. Anneke E. Goudriaan is a researcher at the Amsterdam Institute for Addiction Research at the Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam. Ruth J. van Holst is a researcher at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands. Sabrina Molinaro is head of the Epidemiology and Health Services Research Department Institute for Clinical Physiology at CNR-IFC, National Research Council Institute of Clinical Physiology in Pisa, Italy. Chantal Moersen is with Charite in Berlin, Germany. Thomas Nilsson is the founder of Spelinstitutet in Sweden. Adrian Parke is a senior lecturer at the School of Psychology, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, at the University of Lincoln in the United Kingdom. Franz W. Peren is a professor of business administration at the University of BonnRhein-Sieg in Sankt Augustin, Germany, and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council of the International Research Institute for Gambling and Gaming in Bonn. Luca Rebeggiani is with the Institute of Social Policy at Leibniz University in Hannover, Germany. Heino Stoever is a professor of social scientific addiction research at the University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Health and Social Work, in Frankfurt, Germany. Wiltrud Terlau is a professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Bonn-Rhein-Sieg in Sankt Augustin, Germany. Michele Wilhelm is a psychologist in Frankfurt, Germany. GAMING LAW REVIEW AND ECONOMICS Volume 16, Number 12, 2012 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. DOI: 10.1089/glre.2012.16125
Published Version
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