Bremen casinos set to fall under public control

The Senate of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen confirmed the move on Tuesday, according to local reports, with local politicians having previously expressed concerns that the casinos could fall into private ownership.

Citizens in the state will be given the opportunity to vote on a change in law that will enable the transactions.

The casinos are operated by Westdeutsche Spielbanken (WestSpiel), which is based in North Rhine-Westphalia.

A year ago, the local government in North Rhine-Westphalia passed a bill to privatise WestSpiel, with six of the operator’s casinos in the state affected.

The regional government first announced plans to privatise the operator, by selling the shares held by state-owned banking group NRW.Bank, two years earlier. As state regulations at the time restricted the operation of casinos to publicly owned entities, the law had to be changed to allow for private ownership.

Around 100 people are employed at the two casinos across the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen.

The move by the Senate has been welcomed by politicians leaning on the left of the political divide, with Parliament Member Klaus-Rainer Rupp stating that the development would help to counter the threat of problem gambling.