Online gambling during Covid-19 criticized

There’s nothing cynical about continuing to operate our core business when people are sick or legally required to stay at home.

On March 13, we had to send 550 out of 600 employees home and close our casinos’ doors. It was a complete shock for our employees and for the company – but it was also a loss for our customers, who paid us an incredible 950,000 visits in 2019.

On March 13, we lost all our income overnight. We are responsible for 600 jobs, for people with families who are currently relying on us and support our business with incredible motivation.
Since March 13, 550 employees have been stuck doing nothing at home. To make sure they didn’t have to worry about losing their jobs as well, we decided to continue paying their full salary – guaranteed until June 30 – meaning we paid the balance of the short-time work compensation. 

Since March 13, our business has been almost at a complete standstill. This has been eerie and, in all honesty, also very worrying. 
It has been reassuring and very fortunate for us all that at least one area is still active: our online casino. And it is also very important, because the income from this allows us to pay all our employees on short-time work 100% of their salary and assure them that they don’t have to worry about their jobs.

Alongside this issue, we continue to remain true to our firmly rooted values. We don’t want our guests to play beyond their means with us. We act early when we identify issues and discuss them with our guests, or implement a gambling suspension for them where necessary. 

We put the focus on people, both on our guests and our employees. And we do so every day in our casinos.

Marc Baumann