Slovakia Opens Up its Online Gambling Market

We don’t often get to read about any gambling-related developments in Slovakia, but this central European country might be making much more headlines than usual starting next year.

Times They Are a Changing

Last week, the Slovakian government has announced the forthcoming loosening of gambling regulations in this country that apply to online activities…

…As the new draft law is going to be introduced that will replace the existing regulations active since 2005. More than 200 gaming sites (including Bet365 ) have been so far blacklisted by the authorities, but as this new regulation will open the market of Slovakia to private companies, some of those might come back.

Current online gambling tax stands at 23% which is rather heavy, and this too is expected to loosen a bit.

EU has the Final Word

The new regulation could be introduced next year, with March 1st 2019 being mentioned as the tentative date. The European Commission will conduct an investigation to see if the regulations are in line with EU directives…

…and Slovakian officials are hoping to emulate the countries that have had success with online gambling in of income and revenue, such as Romania, Denmark and Czech Republic. The country’s Ministry of Finance says that companies with a base in Slovakia or any other EU country will be able to apply for the license.

The official statement reads…

“[The draft act] would take technological progress and the findings of regulatory authorities in other European countries into more fully, while simultaneously improving the protection of players from possible harmful effects directly related to services provided in this sector. The Ministry explained that operators would need to provide the newly created regulatory authority with access to a server so that it can have oversight of data.”

Centralization or Not?

Along with the new regulations, a brand-new Regulatory Office for Gambling could be instated in order to centralize gambling sector activities such as licensing, supervision, sanctionings and istration of fees.

Peter Papanek of Association of Betting Companies of the Slovak Republic comments…

“Experience from abroad shows that, if the state wants to intervene against tax evasion and illegal gambling, it must go through the liberalisation of the market and the setting of fair conditions, inter alia, to motivate operators to operate legally. Illegal companies thus lose the incentive to circumvent the rules, and the state, in addition to income, also gains the certainty of consumer protection. The countries that have been chosen liberalisation have rapidly reduced the share of the black market.”

Source:

“New Slovakian law to ‘relax’ online gambling restrictions”, igamingbusiness.com, July 27, 2018.