The future of casinos in Lower Saxony is secure: Starting July 1, 2025, Merkur Spielbanken will take over the management and operation of all ten casinos in Lower Saxony. 

Following the Merkur Group's award of the state casino license tender in November 2023, a long-standing legal dispute arose with the previous Austrian operator, which has now been settled out of court. This allows the Merkur Group to immediately begin the acquisition of the ten casinos. The Lower Saxony Ministry of Finance has now officially approved the acquisition of all the shares of Spielbanken Niedersachsen GmbH.

As a result, the casinos in Lower Saxony will become the newest member of the Merkur Group. The family-owned company is thus expanding its casino portfolio to include locations in Bad Bentheim, Bad Pyrmont, Bad Zwischenhahn, Braunschweig, Göttingen, Hanover, Norderney, Osnabrück, Seevetal, and Wolfsburg. Gaming operations will begin here on July 1, 2025, under the Merkur-Sonne umbrella. Merkur's successful operating concept will be implemented as soon as possible, offering customers an innovative combination of slot machines and state-of-the-art systems, a wide range of classic gaming options, a comprehensive gastronomic offering, events and special promotions, and first-class customer service.

In recent years, Merkur Spielbanken has become Germany's most successful casino operator, proving that with innovative concepts, customized technical solutions, and dedicated teams, casinos can operate successfully even under challenging conditions. This experience will be directly incorporated into the reorganization of the casinos in Lower Saxony.

David Schnabel, CEO of Merkur Casinos within the Merkur Group, expressed his satisfaction with this important milestone following the signing of the contract: "We are pleased to welcome the Lower Saxony casino team to our corporate group. After lengthy negotiations, we can finally offer our employees planning security and long-term career prospects." The integration of the casinos into the corporate group is expected to be completed without delay. This will not only secure all of the approximately 430 jobs, but will also create additional ones. "By jointly reorganizing the locations, we will further boost the success of the Lower Saxony casinos by introducing the proven processes and concepts of the Merkur casinos, thus ensuring that we can continue the casinos' previous success in the future," Schnabel concluded.