1.4 million people in Germany are addicted to gambling – and millions more are at risk. The federal government’s drug commissioner on underestimated sports betting, who is hit hardest by addiction and what he intends to do about it.
There is a lot of talk about drugs right now – also because the federal government wants to legalize cannabis, fentanyl addiction is rampant and it finally bothers some that 14-year-olds are allowed to drink alcohol with their parents in bars. However, the focus is hardly on gambling addiction, which has increased massively – mainly due to the release of sports betting in autumn 2020, the permission of online poker and the spread of illegal slot machines. In an interview, Burkhard Blienert, the Federal Government Commissioner for Addiction and Drug Issues, explains how he intends to slow down this development and what the Bundesliga clubs, which are sponsored by betting providers, have to say about it.