Since the 1980s, debates about gambling and ‘gambling addiction’ have become increasingly prominent in German state and federal parliaments. A discourse analysis of relevant parliamentary documents shows that the concept of gambling addiction has been instrumentalized for various interests. Under the pretext of addiction prevention and consumer protection, measures have been propagated that justify attempts to solve urban planning problems, to guarantee gambling as a source of state revenue and to legitimise the existence of legal gaming halls. Furthermore, the parliamentary discourse on gambling addiction supported new forms of social control over gamblers, which can be interpreted as measures to defend society’s value system. Thus, it is argued in this chapter that it is not so much the protection of the player from the risks of gambling, but rather the protection of society from so-called ‘problem’ or ‘addictive gamblers’ that has shaped parliamentary discourse and driven policy action.