The decision of whether to privatise the Westspiel group, as planned by the state government, will be discussed in the state parliament next week.

The SPD Group has requested a quarter of an hour for the Budget and Finance Committee to discuss the matter. The state-owned casino group runs four casinos in Aachen, Dortmund, Duisburg and Bad Oeynhausen and wants to open a fifth casino in Cologne. The decision of whether to sell or not will be made on May 8 in the state cabinet. In 2015, Westspiel made a loss €8.5m followed by a loss of €2.9m in 2016.

The Gauselmann Group headquartered in Espelkamp in the far northeast of North Rhine-Westphalia has been linked by some observers to a potential purchase. Its subsidiary, Merkur Spielbanken, won a tender for the operation of two casinos in Saxony-Anhalt in 2013.

The conversations in parliament will focus on securing tax levels and the future Cologne licence.

Westspiel has been looking for a new location for the planned casino following unforeseen problems with the subsoil. Westspiel is believed to have uncovered a subway shaft and an old Prussian fortification wall under the site.

Way back in 2013, Cologne was selected by the state government as the new home for the fifth Westspiel-Casino in North Rhine-Westphalia when it beat off competition from Münster, Dusseldorf, Neuss and Koenigswinter.

The aim was to build the biggest casino in Germany capable of attracting 400,000 visitors annually.

http://g3newswire.com/germany-decision-to-be-made-this-month-on-westspiel-privatisation/