The focus: Doku shows the dark side and opportunities!

The focus: Doku shows the dark side and opportunities!

The topic of gambling in today's society remains complex and risky. In the upcoming documentary "Land of Players", which will be broadcast on ORF 1 and ORF ON on May 21, 2025 at 8:15 p.m., Hanno Settele illuminates the various facets of gambling. The topics include ruby, lottery, sports and horse betting as well as online gambling. Two gamblers report on their personal experiences and the fight against dependency. This topic is particularly relevant because the number of gambling addicts is constantly increasing in Austria and Germany.

The documentation also shows that sports betting and illegal online gambling in Austria are considered significant problems. Statistician Marcus Hudec will give an insight into the chances of winning the various games, while Settele hits various gamblers, including the Lotto millionaire Kürsat Yildirim and the poker world champion Jessica Teusl. The documentary intends to light the opportunities and risks of gambling and to analyze the motivation of the players.

The online gambling in the upswing

In view of the boom in online gambling, there are worrying developments. The regulation within the EU is inconsistent, and Malta acts as an important hotspot in the gaming industry. While countries benefit from the taxation of the game missions, organized criminals use the gambling for money laundering. These findings are not new, they are part of a broader discussion about the protection of players and the control of crime in the gambling sector.

A detailed look at the problem is also thrown by tagesschau.de. The article illustrates that around 1.3 million people are considered addicted to play in Germany, while 3.2 million are classified as endangered. The sales of online gambling providers have also doubled across Europe since 2018. The responsibility for the regulation of these offers lies with the individual federal states, which leads to different player protection rules.

Problems with player protection

Another point is the secret agreement between the federal states and providers of online gambling, which undermine legal requirements for player protection. In particular, the deposit limit of 1,000 euros per month with online casinos and betting providers is at risk. Current research shows how a student with 1,000 euros of monthly income could increase his deposit limit to 10,000 euros. This problem represents a serious risk that playful people could drive into economic ruin faster. The Federal Government's addiction and drug representative has already been outraged by the bypass of these rules.

In addition, the [gaming authority] (https://www.glueckspiel-behoerde.de/de/forschung-und-publikations/publikationen-studien-statistiken-aus-forschung- und- administration) emphasizes that annual reports on the economic analysis of the German gambling market have been published since 2014. These reports include both permitted and unauthorized gaming market segments, and the authority has commissioned studies to evaluate the effects of these regulations. In a recent research project, the topic of player protection is examined on the Internet and the canalization of illegal gambling.

The documentary "Land of the players" makes it clear that during gambling as entertainment, they can also cause serious problems. Players and those affected find support from advice centers that are accessible to addiction questions via the addiction aid directory of the German Center. Additional help offer free telephone consultations for gambling addiction on 0800 1 37 27 00. These initiatives are essential to meet the challenges of gambling addiction today.