Senator says there are 200,000 "pathological gamblers" in Germany

[The Buzz]

After his bid to ban on advertising for games of chance failed earlier this month, Bremen's German Senator for the Interior, Ulrich Mäurer, was quoted as saying that there are 200,000 people who are "pathological gamblers" in his country.

From German newspaper Buten un Binnen:

Mäurer has long been campaigning for a ban on gambling advertising. In particular, the advertising of sports betting is a thorn in the side of the Senator. "With now 35 legal providers nationwide, people are bombarded with advertising spots for games of chance on television, the Internet or in the stadiums. You can no longer avoid it," said Mäurer. The background to Mäurer's advance is the high risk of addiction in games of chance. According to the Federal Center for Health Education, 200,000 people are "pathological gamblers" in Germany alone. In addition, almost 230,000 people have "problematic gambling behavior".

The German Sports Betting Association denounced Mäurer's bid to ban gambling adverts, with President Mathias Dahm saying in a press release:

“Since there are still many illegal providers active on the German market, the possibility of advertising for permitted providers is of central importance. How else should citizens differentiate between safe and unsafe offers? In years of negotiations, the federal states have found a good balance between the public visibility of legal gambling offers and the concerns of youth and player protection. We assume that the Conference of Interior Ministers feels bound by the resolutions of all 16 state parliaments on the State Treaty on Gambling. "

Read more here: https://www.butenunbinnen.de/nachric...remen-100.html

[ocreditor]

Ok it sounds like a high number but what is the % from all gamblers in Germany is interesting to know..

[Kaedama]

According to a study by the Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung (BZgA, 2019), roughly 75% of all 16-70 year-olds in Germany have participated in a form of gambling.

Due to a lack of more granular data, let's leave out those 16 year-olds and look at everyone in Germany from 18 years old until 70 years old. According to Statista.de, that makes up for roughly 65% of the population, not differentiating by gender.

As of 2020, the total population of Germany is 83.24 Million.
This makes for 54.10 Million 18-70 year-olds.

If roughly 75% of this segment have gambled already, that makes for 40.57 Million people.

So 200,000 people out of 40.57 Million people, have a pathological gambling problem.

Note: None of these numbers account for the type of gambling, the frequency of gambling, the amount of money gambled, etc... It is also a mix of statistics which would not hold up in a comparative study of any kind. I just pulled it out of Statista.de and Google.

[TheGooner]

Let me rephrase the news item :

After not having any support to pass a bill to fit his personal preferences ... German senator makes up statistic to grab headline and divert attention.

[Pokerface]

Agree with TheGooner and above .... he is just playing with numbers to support his own argument. Numbers, stats, can be used very creatively.

[potentialeight]

Let me rephrase the news item :

After not having any support to pass a bill to fit his personal preferences ... German senator makes up statistic to grab headline and divert attention.

Yeah pretty much. I also find pulling a super round number out of his rear end pretty blatant as well.