MERKUR Spielbanken Niedersachsen and MERKUR Spielbanken NRW — published game offers · 7 Oct 2026

Six of Lower Saxony's ten MERKUR casinos have no card tables at all

A check of all ten MERKUR Spielbanken in Lower Saxony against the operator's own published game offers finds live poker at only three of them — Hannover, Braunschweig and Bad Zwischenahn. Six houses list slot machines, jackpot systems and Multi-Roulette and nothing else. The state also runs Germany's strictest casino door at 21.

Lower Saxony is the one German state where MERKUR's marketing and its game offers diverge sharply, and the gap matters if you are planning a drive.

The group's own site advertises "Roulette, Black Jack und Poker" as the MERKUR table line-up in general terms. Reading each of the ten Lower Saxony houses' published game offers individually gives a different picture. Bad Bentheim, Bad Pyrmont, Göttingen, Norderney, Seevetal and Wolfsburg list slot machines, jackpot systems and Multi-Roulette, with no Poker and no Black Jack section of any kind. Osnabrück lists table games but no poker section. Only Hannover, Braunschweig and Bad Zwischenahn carry a poker section at all.

Multi-Roulette is the entry most likely to mislead. It is a bank of touchscreen terminals displaying a reproduction of the roulette layout, not a croupier-dealt table, and it has nothing to do with playing other guests for a pot.

Where the real games are

Hannover is the state's serious card room. No Limit Hold'em at €5/€5 with a €300 minimum runs daily, Pot Limit Omaha €5/€5 on Tuesday and Friday, and a €2/€2 Hold'em game with a €50 minimum on Wednesday. Seating is from 18:45 on the poker floor and there is normally no waiting list. It is also the only house in the state with a weekly tournament: the Monday Turbo Challenge at €200 plus €20 Taxe, which withholds 3% of prize money for a ranking jackpot paid out twice a year. Sundays bring a progressive knockout at €165 on the first of the month and the €99 Ninety Nine on the rest.

Braunschweig is the cheaper option, with No Limit Hold'em €2/€4 daily from 18:00 at one or two tables, Pot Limit Omaha €5/€5 on Saturdays, and three monthly tournaments: Midweek Poker 55 on the third Wednesday, Extra Friday 77 on the second Friday and the €165 Knock-out Friday on the last. Both houses take tournament registrations by email rather than online, and at both the cash tables open late on tournament days.

The door is stricter here

Lower Saxony sets the minimum age for a Spielbank at 21. Everywhere else in Germany it is 18, so a 19-year-old admitted to Casino Esplanade in Hamburg cannot enter Seevetal, half an hour down the road. A passport or national identity card is required; driving licences are not accepted.

Meanwhile in North Rhine-Westphalia

MERKUR is building a sixth NRW casino at Siegburg, on more than 1,600 square metres in the town's commercial district, with an opening planned for autumn 2026. The operator has published no game list for it — only "Klassisches Spiel", machine play and live shows — so whether Siegburg will deal player-versus-player poker is unknown.

That caveat is worth holding on to in NRW, where "Poker" in casino marketing usually means Heads-Up Hold'em played against the bank. Duisburg, the busiest casino in the state, deals Heads-Up Hold'em daily from 18:30 and nothing else. Hohensyburg in Dortmund deals the same house-banked game from 18:00 but backs it with a genuine ring game: €5/€10 with a €500 minimum buy-in, Monday to Thursday from 18:00 to midnight, reservations at reception from 15:00.

Read the original at MERKUR Spielbanken Niedersachsen and MERKUR Spielbanken NRW — published game offers →

Frequently asked questions

Which Lower Saxony casinos actually have poker?

Hannover and Braunschweig deal live poker cash games and run tournaments; Bad Zwischenahn also publishes a poker section. Bad Bentheim, Bad Pyrmont, Göttingen, Norderney, Seevetal and Wolfsburg have no card tables, and Osnabrück lists table games but no poker section.

Why is the minimum age 21?

Lower Saxony sets a higher minimum age for Spielbank entry than the rest of Germany, where it is 18. A passport or national ID card is required; a driving licence is not accepted.

Is Multi-Roulette a live table?

No. It is a touchscreen terminal showing a reproduction of the roulette layout, not a croupier-dealt game, and it is not poker in any form.

Will the new Siegburg casino have poker?

Unknown. The operator plans to open in autumn 2026 but has published no game list, describing the future offer only as classic table games, machine play and live shows.

Sources: MERKUR Spielbanken Niedersachsen — Hannover game offer (Hannover cash-game schedule and blinds, seating time, no-waiting-list rule, the three tournaments with buy-ins and start times, the 3% ranking-jackpot deduction, and the age-21 door policy), retrieved 2026-10-07; MERKUR Spielbanken Niedersachsen — Braunschweig game offer (Braunschweig cash-game schedule, table count, 01:00 finish, the three monthly tournaments with their buy-in breakdowns and re-entry rules, and email registration), retrieved 2026-10-07; MERKUR Spielbanken Niedersachsen — game offers for Bad Bentheim, Bad Pyrmont, Gö (which houses publish a Poker section and which publish only Automaten, Multi-Roulette and Jackpot Anlagen; the description of Multi-Roulette as a touchscreen product), retrieved 2026-10-07; MERKUR Spielbank Siegburg — project site and FAQ (planned autumn 2026 opening, floor area above 1,600 square metres, the commercial-district location, and the absence of any published game list), retrieved 2026-10-07; MERKUR Spielbank Duisburg — unser Haus (Heads-Up Hold'em against the bank daily from 18:30 at up to three tables, and the absence of any cash game or tournament), retrieved 2026-10-07; MERKUR Spielbank Hohensyburg — unser Haus (Heads-Up Hold'em daily from 18:00, the €5/€10 cash game Monday to Thursday 18:00–24:00 with a €500 minimum buy-in, and reservations at reception from 15:00), retrieved 2026-10-07. Last checked 2026-10-07. Figures are as published by the sources and may be incomplete.