General Director of the Gambling Regulation Office Martin Bohoš has warned that banning gambling will simply drive it underground.
Internet casinos held a dominant grip on the market in terms of betting, winnings and revenue, as indicators of the overall development of gambling in the gambling market. This growing trend is related to the dynamic growth of online gambling in Slovakia. They are followed by brick-and-mortar gambling houses and a popular segment among Slovaks – odds betting.
In terms of the amount of the levy to the state budget, the online casino segment led the way with a levy of more than €93m, followed by odds betting, thanks to which €80.48m flowed into the state budget, and the trio is closed by brick-and-mortar gambling houses, which paid levies in the form of a flat-rate levy of €61.9m.
In terms of online, around 90 per cent of the revenue was generated by online betting. When it comes to number lotteries, Slovaks prefer to visit brick-and-mortar collection points in this form of betting.
According to the current legislation, municipalities have very strong tools with which they can regulate gambling in their territory, especially the so-called prohibition general binding regulations, through which they can prohibit the placement of gambling houses and casinos in their municipality, and restrictive general binding regulations, through which they can regulate, for example, the location of gambling rooms near schools or school facilities.
Due to prohibitory generally binding regulations of cities and municipalities, the Office expects a decrease of 22 per cent in the levy on brick-and-mortar gambling houses and casinos to the state budget in 2025.
Mr. Bohoš highlighted the fact that municipalities and towns do not pay enough attention to the gambling agenda, therefore there are various errors in the process of issuing generally binding regulations. Failure to comply with the 5-day statutory deadline for fulfilling the notification obligation by cities and municipalities towards the Gambling Regulation Authority results in the Office for the Administration of Gambling Regulations not taking into account the generally binding regulation issued in this way within the licensing procedure.
