Knowledge test – Do you know what you’re doing?

Gambling is only permitted for individuals aged 18 years and over in Germany. This applies to slot machines, scratch cards and betting on sports as well as the lottery and poker. This excludes games of chance at fairgrounds, where winnings consist of low-value prizes.

One of the significant characteristics of gambling is that participating always costs money and the outcome of the game relies predominantly on chance. Gambling involves the risk that some people may become addicted to it.

Addiction to gambling is recognised as an illness which requires treatment. This means that treatment can be paid for by health insurers or pension insurance organisations.

Research has shown that addiction to gambling has much in common with other addictions. Addicts want to satisfy their need for positive experiences as quickly as possible and as frequently as possible. The associated processes in the brain (e.g. addiction memory) and signs of addictive gambling behaviour (e.g. loss of control) are very similar to other addictions such as alcohol and drug addiction.

The result of a game of chance is completely unrelated to the amount of money wagered. The outcome of the game – and this is also the case for several consecutive games – always depends completely or predominantly on chance.

Initially, it appears to be plausible that if an individual gambles regularly, they will win now and again. Providers of games of chance retain a significant amount for every euro wagered per game. The longer you play, the greater the profits of the provider.

Studies show that a particularly large number of people have become addicted to gambling by playing on slot machines. Although slot machines located in pubs and cafés appear particularly harmless, they have a quick gaming sequence. Players are therefore able to wager a large amount of money within a short space of time and lose it too.
Nonetheless, betting on sports and casino games is associated with problems specific to gambling.

When playing poker, chance plays a decisive role, as players cannot influence which cards they receive. Nonetheless, there are slight possibilities to influence the game using various techniques (counting cards in play, bluffing). Nevertheless, this possibility of having an influence is often over-estimated, meaning that the risk of simply continuing to play and losing a lot of money increases.

Currently, both participating in and offering online poker for real money is forbidden in Germany. Providers of online poker games are often based abroad and advertise legal versions of the game in which only play money is used.
This then lures players into playing poker for real money.

The roulette ball does not have a memory. For this reason, it is not the previous results of the game which are decisive for the outcome of the game, rather it is chance. The probability of red and black is therefore always equally great.

The payout quota describes the average proportion of money wagered which is then paid out to the players in the form of winnings. In this specific case in each game, an average of 50% of the money wagered is paid out to players. For each euro wagered, 50 cents remain with the provider of the game of chance and are not paid out.