Baden-Württembergische Spielbanken is a state-owned casino group in Germany that operates three casinos. The operators first six moths of gross gaming revenues are in and a drop of 34.5% was recorded. The Baden-Baden casino, Stuttgart and Konstanz only earned €24.1 million during the six-month time frame.
Drop in Business
The main reason behind the decrease is due to the closure of casinos plus trying to get traffic back after reopening. Edith Sitzmann, a spokeswoman for the Finance Minister, commented that the annual deficits are likely covered by the equity of the company. Sitzmann did not want to predict how business will develop in the future.
Otto Wulferding is the managing director for Baden-Württembergische Spielbanken who commented on the loss as well, stating that it cannot be made up for as the year finishes up. Last year, the three casinos saw record earnings of €107.2 million. This provided the state budget with €56 million.
COVID-19 Closure
This year, due to COVID-19, the German casinos in the area closed on March 13. About 80% of the workforce were moved to short-time work. By the end of last year, around 600 people were employed by the casinos.
By May 25, the casinos were allowed to reopen. The slot machine games opened up a bit earlier than that and guests have been visiting the casinos. Business is going again, but there are not as many visitors as before. Wulferding pointed out that players from neighboring countries, business travelers, and trade fair visitors are missing.
The Stuttgart venue has been affected by the closure of nearby facilities like theaters. As visitors are not traveling to these areas, the casino is missing out on some foot traffic.