Gambling association calls for regulations against international games

The national gambling association is calling for effective regulations to prevent the operation of international casinos and poker games in Hungary, daily Nepszava reported on Tuesday.

Despite the fact that under current regulations it is not illegal to advertise such services in Hungary, it is not allowed to use them and many thousands try their luck on international gambling sites. The gambling association says that more effective regulations against such services in Hungary would channel some 15 billion forints back into the budget.

International gambling companies, many of which are registered in tax havens, pay their taxes in their “home country”, so Hungarian gamblers’ money contributes to that country’s budget, the association says.

The association insists that gambling must remain a state monopoly, as already declared by the European Union. In Italy all international gambling sites are blocked and only Italian sites can be used, head of the association Istvan Schreiber said. At the same time, an estimated 300-600,000 Hungarians are regular users of international gambling services, he added.

The association proposes that only Hungarian companies with local management, operating for at least ten years in the field, should be allowed to operate gambling services, the paper said.