In the ZDF program “ZDF Magazin Royal”, satirist Jan Böhmermann addressed the controversial topic of “online gambling” in Germany. He highlighted the dangers of gambling through the German Twitch star Jens “Knossi” Knossalla, who has become one of the largest streamers in Germany through “gambling” and reaches a young audience.
What does Böhmermann have to do with Knossi? Böhmermann discussed the topic of online gambling in Germany and specifically in Schleswig-Holstein in a 15-minute segment in the episode of “ZDF Magazin Royale” on Friday, November 20.
Jens Knossalla achieved 8.56 million viewing hours with his channel “TheRealKnossi” on Twitch in the last 30 days. Knossi is currently the most successful streamer in Germany by far. He serves as an example for Böhmermann of how online gambling is portrayed on the streaming service Twitch:
- Knossi warns his fans about gambling
- but there are still scenes where he cheers, whether he actually wins, yells at the screen, and nearly overflows with joy when he wins a big prize
- Moreover, Böhmermann illustrates that Knossalla has built a brand around the word “Alge”. The Alge is a symbol from a specific online slot game that can bring high winnings: Knossi has created a drink to “Alge” and written a song. A YouTube clip from 2019, in which he screamed “Alge, Alge” and won, has now garnered over 3.2 million views.
Here we see the “Alge” clip, which Böhmermann also shows in excerpts in ZDF Magazin Royale. The crucial passage starts around 2:55 minutes:
Knossi as a Gambling Advertising Figure Criticized
Knossi is seen as a “practical example” of how online gambling mainly reaches a young gamer audience, as it is portrayed as an entertaining pastime on the Twitch platform, in an environment that reaches many people who would otherwise play Minecraft or Fortnite and enjoy TikTok.
The irony is that Knossi once described himself as “media-hungry” and did everything in his youth to get on television as often as possible. But he probably had envisioned his appearance on ZDF’s main program differently.
“Only for persons with residence or habitual residence …”
This is what the show was actually about: The segment critically addressed the legal situation and practices regarding “online gambling” in Germany. As a hook, a television advertisement is used, which ends with a bureaucratic-sounding sentence.
The offer is only valid for persons with residence or habitual residence in Schleswig-Holstein.
Clause in advertising for online casinos in Germany
The segment explains where this rapidly spoken formulation comes from.
The segment implies that the former state government of Schleswig-Holstein was led by lobbying to issue an exception rule for its state. The state law is now being exploited by the online gambling industry as a huge loophole.
Actually, online gambling is prohibited in Germany, but providers exploit the loophole to advertise nationwide in Germany by using the residence clause.
Meanwhile, more people in Germany are using the service and gambling online than Schleswig-Holstein has inhabitants.
ZDF Magazin Royale suggests that the problems with online gambling in Germany will increase in 2021, as gambling will be newly regulated by a state treaty: The rules are to be relaxed based on the model of Schleswig-Holstein.
Knossi and online gambling had already attracted ZDF’s attention earlier. A ZDF report had only pointed out the problems of “online gambling” at the end of October and highlighted the difficult situation. Even there, Knossi was in focus, but it also showed a victim of online gambling: A man had become addicted and gambled away a fortune.
Here you can find professional help for gambling addiction & prevention:
– BZgA – Federal Centre for Health Education
– Play responsibly (BZgA)
– Check your game (BZgA)
Böhmermann now tackles the topic in his format to make it appear more entertaining and reach a younger and larger audience:
- the video from ZDF Magazin Royale was released on November 20 and already has 500,648 views
- the video from ZDFheute news was released on October 29 and only has 124,658 views
In May 2020, Jan Böhmermann already dealt with the German Twitch scene in a podcast format. There, the streamer Marcel “MontanaBlack” Eris came into focus.
Böhmermann pushes German Twitch star into the right corner – He defends himself
This statement from Böhmermann caused a lot of commotion in the German Twitch community.
