Almost 50,000 slot machines in this country are said to be illegal. On the road with law enforcement officers during investigations and raids. ************************ According to law enforcement officials, business with illegally operated slot machines is on the rise in Germany. Investigators in Hamburg, Cologne and Frankfurt confirm this in this documentary. In the metropolis on the Main, Leyla Özen, public prosecutor for economic crimes, describes how she has confiscated more than 130,000 euros from a single gaming establishment. Almost 50,000 illegal slot machines in Germany. A city police investigator estimates the suspected revenue per individual machine at up to 70,000 euros a month. Özen is currently conducting several major proceedings involving organized crime. Nationwide, investigators in the documentary put the profits from illegally installed machines at three to six billion euros annually, tax-evading, generated from almost 50,000 machines. That would be one in three slot machines. With the camera on raids For the film, NDR author Simon Hoyme accompanied prosecutors for months on investigations and raids in the gambling world. He also spoke to suspects and witnesses. According to the report, criminal organizations, some with links to the mafia, often dominate the gambling scene in entire city districts. As soon as a new establishment opens there, landlords are specifically approached to operate mobile gaming machines in adjoining rooms, for example, and to share the illegal winnings with the people behind it. Protection for gambling addicts is being undermined During their inspections, the investigators also come across machines that are supposedly only played on with no chance of winning. In fact, however, the landlords later paid out the cash they won. The operators thus circumvent legal requirements that serve to protect gambling addicts, for example by limiting the number of playing times, stakes or machines per establishment. Many illegal gaming establishments recently came to the attention of local trade supervisory authorities when they checked the requirements for the catering industry during the Corona pandemic. Are the numbers of more compact table slot machines increasing? The NDR documentary shows how Malte Wehmeyer, head of the Consumer Protection, Trade and Environment Department in the Hamburg-Harburg district office, continues to go on patrol with police officers. They also noticed an increasing number of more compact table machines, which, unlike the floor-standing machines that often weigh hundreds of kilograms, can be hidden more quickly if necessary. Wehmeyer's goal, according to his own statement, is to render as many of these machines harmless as possible so that even more gambling addicts don't gamble away their belongings. Do local money lenders force people to take out loans? A customer who describes himself as a gambling addict and speaks anonymously in the film supports the allegations. According to him, money lenders are often on the move in illegal gambling establishments to pressure customers, who are under the pressure of their addiction, into taking out loans. These loans must be repaid within a week with interest of up to 50 percent. Violence is threatened if they don't pay. Addicts themselves also slip into acquisitive crime in order to pay off their debts. What are the causes of the increase in illegal gambling? According to NDR, the reasons for the growth of the illegal market are disputed. The spokesman for the board of the German slot machine industry, Georg Stecker, primarily blames the regulations by federal and state governments, as a result of which parts of the gaming scene migrated to illegal back rooms and the sales of legal gaming venues shrank. In contrast, Burkhard Blienert, the Federal Government's addiction and drug commissioner, continues to advocate strict regulation of gaming venues in order to curb gambling addiction. He also calls for more prosecution and better training for regulatory authorities, the police and the judiciary. LINKS on the topic: What is gambling addiction and where can you get help? https://www.dhs.de/suechte/gluecksspiel Self-test from the University of Mainz: https://www.unimedizin-mainz.de/psych... BACKGROUND on the possible million-dollar fraud with illegal gaming machines: https://www.tagesschau.de/investigati...