In the state of Hesse are missing for a quarter of a year, the selection criteria for the closure of gambling halls with low distance to the competition. Municipalities and operators do not know how to do it. At the beginning of October, the administrative court had tilted the applicable requirements of the state of Hesse. The Ministry of economic Affairs wanted to improve. It was in discussions with the local authorities, said spokesman Wolfgang Harms: “We have recommended that the implementing provisions to the extent they are affected by the ruling, for the time being not to apply.”
The provisions contained requirements for the decisions of the municipalities. With a points system you should evaluate halls game to the quality of the management, the distance to youth facilities and the environment of the game room location. The result is decided by which game halls will be closed, if the distance to the competition is below 300 meters. The country wanted to thin out the network of game halls, and gambling addiction fight.
Constitutional requirements
The administrative court saw “no basis in the law in the state of Hesse for the competition between the gambling halls of different operators, due to the so-called minimum bid”. The predetermined criteria fulfilled constitutional requirements.
“There is now no selection criteria – neither in the law nor in the regulation. And the decree of the country is not applicable,“ said Johannes Heger from the Hessian towns and municipalities in Mühlheim (district Offenbach). The procedure in the case of the cities to stand still. “We see the new government move to give the local authorities appropriate selection criteria.” Heger anticipates that the decisions on closures remain a Problem.
The Situation is for the affected game hall operator “very unpleasant,” said Michael Wollenhaupt, Chairman of the coin-operated machines Association in the state of Hesse. “You don’t want to operate your business, but you know how it goes.” Expiring rental contracts and personnel issues pressure. Relevant to the VGH decision for game hall operators who had appealed against a closure, or if local authorities had not yet decided.
the city of Wiesbaden, for example. There is also a game hall operator comes before the administrative court successfully. “In Wiesbaden, there are two cases in which a weighting scheme was applied,” said Christoph Fink, head of the Department at the public order office. Because currently it is not clear whether, as under the law these conditions, a secure selection decision can be made, you’ve presented the matter to the Supervisory authority – i.e. the Land. “The appropriate answer is yet,” said Fink.
