Attorney Bernd Hansen
| Hansen law firm Lüllauer Str. 1 D – 21266 Jesteburg |
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As already reported in the article of the undersigned from August 10th, 2020, numerous complaint procedures from gambling hall operators have been pending at the Hamburg Higher Administrative Court for some time. These fight against the fact that they have not received permission to continue operating their amusement arcades from July 1st, 2017. In Hamburg there is a minimum distance rule of 500 meters to the next arcade. In addition, compound arcades are prohibited.
In the event of a distance collision, the rule applies that the longest existing arcade has priority.
Bernd Hansen’s law firm from Jesteburg represents numerous arcade operators who were unsuccessful in the selection process because they do not operate the longest existing arcade within a radius of 500 meters.
It is also about the (continued) operation of network arcades, either in a secluded location or at a distance of less than 500 meters from other arcades.
In the 4th Senate of the ovg Hamburg pending proceedings are about the temporary toleration of the continued operation by the competent authorities, despite the denied permission.
Most recently, the authorities in Hamburg had rushed ahead and announced that they would now first implement the ban on amusement arcades. It was announced that one of the network arcades that are still open will now be forcibly closed.
After the undersigned had applied to the Higher Administrative Court for the issuance of interim rulings, these have now been carried out in two proceedings with resolutions dated November 4th and 5th, 2020 from ovg Hamburg decree.
The authorities were obliged to tolerate the operation of the applicants’ gambling halls for the time being until a decision on their complaint and to take no commercial and gambling hall legal measures related to the selection decision during this period.
The operator’s interest in continuing his business outweighs it ovg; the general interest in reducing the number of gaming opportunities by closing the arcade. The outcome of the proceedings is open in view of the constitutional and Union law problems to be clarified.
With the two interim orders that have now been issued against the Hamburg authorities, a first partial success against the restrictions on amusement arcades can be booked.
The two resolutions of the ovg Hamburg are all the more remarkable because the same 4th Senate of the ovg Hamburg had rejected the complaint from another arcade operator, which was also toleration, by decision of October 20, 2020, Az. 4 Bs 226/18. The procedure decided on October 20, 2020 Not the signatory led. It is available on the Justice Portal of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.
Back then it had ovg also stressed that there was no doubt about the minimum distance requirement applicable to amusement arcades in Hamburg and the ban on amusement arcades.
However, it should be noted in this respect that the Higher Administrative Court only examines the reasons presented by the complainant in the context of the complaint under Section 146 (4) sentence 6 VwGO. What reasons the complainant in the decision of the ovg The undersigned is not aware of the procedure decided on October 20, 2020. In this respect, the reason for the diverging decisions of the ovg Hamburg also lie in different presentations of the respective complainants.
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