The governments of the German states have agreed to legalize online gambling from July 2021 on. Corresponding offences will remain unpunished until then.
Some people may be surprised that in Germany online gambling is illegal at all, but it is. Yet the Internet is full of providers of such. In addition, there are well-known streamers who advertise for slot casinos on the Internet around the clock. Their biggest target group are children. So far, carefree gaming and streaming has been made possible by a so-called grey zone, because online gambling is already legal in the state of Schleswig Holstein. Officially only for the inhabitants of Schleswig Holstein, but of course this can hardly be controlled on the Internet, neither was it ever supposed to be. So far, players from all over Germany could easily feed virtual slot machines. What is called "grey zone" takes two to tango. Those who take advantage of it and those who let it happen. Even in the case of known violations of the law, such as against the aforementioned streamers, the judiciary has hardly taken action. According to Über Medien only one case has ever gone to court in Germany and ended with an acquittal in the second instance. So the possibilities to limit gambling rip-offs as much as possible were not used at all.
The fact that there was never any state interest in protecting the masses from absolute impoverishment and gambling addiction can be clearly seen in the current decision. Instead of closing the grey areas, the business is being legalized. The cities are already flooded with Casinos. The grubby image of these stores, which prevents some from setting foot in them, does not stick to websites. The begin of a gambling addiction is only a few clicks away here. A similar approach has already been taken with sports betting, which is now being aggressively advertised on the Internet and television. It is precisely this advertising that tempts people to throw themselves into gambling.
The casinos take advantage of the fact that the income of the working class is low. Thus the deceptive promise of a prize seems particularly attractive for them to finally be on the sunny side. The state has no interest in protecting our people from this. Gambling is also opium for the people and those who are in debt tend to keep their heads down and rebel less against bad working conditions and oppression in general. Once again it is evident that this state is not the state of the masses, but the state of the bourgeoisie, the state of business, no matter how destructive it is. We must protect ourselves by keeping our class brothers and sisters from gambling and by promoting cultural activities that serve us.
