WorldGaming paid tribute on 24 August to Paul Gauselmann, the founder of Germany-based Merkur Group, following his death, citing his role in building an international gambling and amusements business and supporting the ICE trade exhibition’s 2025 move from London to Barcelona. The loss is significant for the regulated gaming sector because Gauselmann helped shape both Germany’s machine-gaming industry and the commercial infrastructure linking land-based and online gambling operators, suppliers and regulators.
Gauselmann built a one-person business into Merkur Group, an international company that employs more than 15,000 people and generates annual turnover of more than €2bn, according to the tribute. The group has interests spanning gaming machines, venues, games content and other gambling-related operations, placing it among the companies affected by shifts in licensing rules, consumer-protection requirements and market access conditions across multiple jurisdictions.
WorldGaming described Gauselmann as a longstanding figure at ICE, the gambling industry exhibition that relocated from London to Barcelona in 2025. His support for the event was cited as helping facilitate that transition, which marked a major change for an exhibition that for years had served as a meeting point for gaming suppliers, operators, investors, advisers and regulatory representatives.
The Barcelona move was commercially important for exhibitors and attendees because it required companies to reassess logistics, customer engagement and event investment in a different host market. Large suppliers with international sales operations have historically used ICE to present products, meet prospective customers and discuss regulatory developments with partners across Europe and beyond. Gauselmann’s association with the event reflected the influence that established land-based gaming businesses have retained as the industry has expanded into digital channels.
His professional career also included extensive involvement in German industry representation. For more than 38 years, he helped shape the sector, including 28 years as chairman of the board of the Association of the German Vending Machine Industry, known in German as Verband der Deutschen Automatenindustrie e.V. The association represented businesses connected to Germany’s commercial gaming-machine market, a segment subject to federal and local rules on machine operation, venue conditions and player protection.
That role came during a period in which gambling regulation in Germany became increasingly detailed and politically sensitive. The country’s framework divides oversight between federal and state-level institutions, while rules governing gaming machines, casinos, sports betting and online gambling have evolved through legislation, interstate agreements and administrative enforcement. For machine operators and manufacturers, commercial success has depended not only on product demand but also on compliance with restrictions covering locations, technical standards, stake and loss limits, advertising and youth protection.
Gauselmann’s career therefore developed alongside the formalisation of a market that moved from a primarily local entertainment-machine business into a wider gambling economy with cross-border suppliers and digital distribution. Manufacturers and operators in that environment have had to adapt to differing national licensing regimes while responding to stricter expectations around anti-money laundering controls, safer gambling measures and the monitoring of customer activity.
Merkur Group’s scale makes regulatory developments particularly relevant to its operations. Companies active in gambling equipment and gaming content can face compliance obligations even where they do not directly hold consumer-facing licences. Product approval processes, certification requirements, technical standards and contractual controls with licensed operators can all determine whether games and machines can reach a market. Suppliers are also increasingly expected to support operators’ efforts to meet responsible-gambling and reporting standards.
The German market has presented particular challenges in recent years. The State Treaty on Gambling established a nationwide framework for regulated online gambling, while preserving significant restrictions on permitted products and operating conditions. The regime has been intended to channel gambling into licensed services and improve consumer safeguards, but market participants have argued that limits on product design, advertising and player activity can affect the competitiveness of licensed businesses against unregulated alternatives.
Those pressures extend beyond online gambling. Land-based machine gaming in Germany has faced rules on venue density, distances between premises and restrictions intended to limit access. Such measures can alter the economics for operators, reduce the number of eligible sites and affect demand for equipment supplied by manufacturers. For a group with a long history in machine gaming, the direction of local regulation remains an important commercial issue.
WorldGaming said Gauselmann combined entrepreneurial drive with a focus on people and attributed a broad contribution to the development of the international industry to him. The statement also highlighted his support for social welfare, culture, sport and health projects. In 2004, he was made an honorary citizen of Espelkamp and Lübbecke, two cities in Germany associated with the company’s regional presence. The previous year, he received Germany’s Federal Cross of Merit, First Class, from the country’s president at the time.
The recognition underlined the extent to which Gauselmann’s profile extended beyond the gambling sector. Large gaming businesses can be significant regional employers, particularly in areas where manufacturing, technical development and administrative functions are concentrated. Their local economic role can also bring greater scrutiny, however, as policymakers balance employment and investment considerations against gambling-harm prevention and public-order objectives.
Gauselmann’s legacy will be assessed in that wider context. He was associated with the development of a German industry that became a substantial economic sector, but the same sector remains subject to continuing debate over the appropriate limits for gambling availability. Regulators and public-health bodies have focused on the risks linked to harmful gambling, while licensed businesses have emphasised the need for rules that enable regulated operators to compete with illegal services.
This tension is likely to remain a central issue for companies with Merkur Group’s profile. Stronger compliance requirements can raise operating costs and slow product deployment, especially across multiple jurisdictions with separate licensing and technical regimes. At the same time, a credible regulated market depends on suppliers, operators and venue owners being able to demonstrate adherence to consumer-protection obligations. Failures in those areas can result in financial penalties, licence restrictions, reputational damage or exclusion from markets.
The importance of trade associations has also grown as the regulatory burden has increased. Industry bodies can provide a forum for companies to engage with authorities on proposed legislation and implementation standards, while also promoting common approaches to compliance. Gauselmann’s 28-year chairmanship of the German Vending Machine Industry association covered a period in which such representation became increasingly relevant to the sector’s dealings with government.
His involvement in ICE similarly illustrated the role of industry events in a regulated market. Exhibitions are commercial gatherings, but they also allow businesses to compare approaches to compliance, technology and market entry. The event’s relocation to Barcelona placed it in Spain, a jurisdiction with its own national and regional gambling rules, and highlighted how major gaming conferences increasingly operate within a European market made up of distinct regulatory systems rather than a single unified framework.
For suppliers, attendance at such events has value only if resulting business can be converted into licensed deployment. That makes regulatory due diligence central to discussions between providers and operators. A gaming product that is permitted in one territory may require modification, fresh testing or separate certification in another. In more restrictive markets, commercial opportunities may be narrowed further by limits on the types of gambling that can be offered or the channels through which products may be distributed.
WorldGaming’s tribute did not set out details of succession arrangements at Merkur Group or changes to the company’s governance. It focused instead on Gauselmann’s personal influence, his contribution to the industry and the scale of the organisation he established. As founder-led groups mature, investors, employees, partners and regulators often watch closely for continuity in leadership, compliance culture and strategic priorities, particularly where a business operates across regulated markets.
The company’s future performance will depend on those operational factors as well as demand in its principal markets. The gambling supply chain is being shaped by consolidation, digitalisation and higher regulatory expectations. Operators are seeking content and technology that meet local requirements, while suppliers are managing a more complex set of approval processes. The ability to maintain market access without compromising compliance has become a core consideration across the sector.
Tributes from industry participants are likely to continue in the period following Gauselmann’s death, particularly from businesses connected to German machine gaming and ICE. Attention will then turn to how Merkur Group communicates any governance or management developments, and to its continued response to licensing, compliance and market-access requirements in the jurisdictions where it operates.
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