Germany Launches Gambling Addiction Awareness Day

Gambling addiction is a major problem for many governments worldwide. It doesn’t help that online gambling has only made access to gambling services a lot easier for problem gamblers.

Governments worldwide have taken a number of steps in recent times to deal with the challenges of gambling addiction in their respective countries.

Germany’s Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA) is planning to increase awareness about gambling addiction by holding an awareness day that focuses on it. The first gambling addiction awareness day will take place on September 25 in Germany. 

“Aktionstag Glücksspielsucht” which stands for gambling addiction awareness will take place every year on the final Wednesday of September. The goal is to give players information on how to know whether they are addicted and what they can do about it. Though Germany’s efforts are mainly focused on land-based slots, it also covers various forms of gambling.

The campaign has the slogan of “Don’t play until you’re addicted” and is being supported with the launch of a new website that will provide information on gambling addiction: Check-dein-Spiel.de. Besides publishing important information, the website will have a self-test so that site visitors will have an idea about their risk profile when it comes to gambling addiction. If a visitor finds themselves classed as at risk or already addicted, the site will give them advice on what to do. 

In a statement, Dr. Heidrun Thaiss, the chief of the BzgA said

It is important to inform people and make them aware of the addictive native of gambling before they develop problems. This is why the BZgA is offering online and offline information and counseling services, in several languages, for gamblers and their relatives.

Besides the website, there will be a major leaflet distribution campaign all over Germany. The leaflets will have information on gambling addiction awareness available in different languages.  

Germany’s Gambling Problem

Germany is battling its own gambling problem but gambling addiction in Germany has not made the headlines like the UK or Australia . According to data published by the BzgA, 1.5 million people from age 16 to 70 claim to have played slots at least once in the past year. These slots are found to be very popular among the 18 to 25 age bracket.

The BzgA estimates that across the different types of gambling, there are 500,000 people in Germany who can be classified as problem gamblers. Close to 120,000 of them are slot game addicts, which is a sizable number compared to lottery players or sports betting addicts.