The ban on gambling in Bratislava continues to apply. The Regional Court of Bratislava has rejected the Prosecutor’s Office’s proposal to temporarily suspend the effectiveness of a generally binding regulation (GIC) on banning gambling in the capital.
However, Bratislava is still awaiting hearing about the alleged illegality of the VZN. In this matter, the Regional Court has not yet decided, nor was there a hearing. The Mayor of Bratislava, Ivo Nesrovnal, announced on Tuesday’s press conference. “On 19 January, the main city was served with a resolution of a regional court that dismissed the Prosecutor’s Office’s proposal to temporarily suspend our regulation, meaning that the regulation is pending and the city does not issue any licenses to operate gambling,” the mayor said. He noted, however, that this was only a temporary success, as the city still awaits the main hearing and the possibility of appealing.
Since 2017, the capital has not issued licenses to operate gambling through gaming machines. Licenses for gambling machines issued by the city ended on 31 December 2017 and should therefore not be in any operation from 1 January 2018. “More than 40 licenses have been lost by the end of 2017. The capital city does not issue any further licenses,” he said. He disagreed with some licenses being issued by the Treasury. There are currently around 150 games in the capital, which are forced to reorganize.
A spokeswoman for the Association of Entertainment and Games (AZAH), Dominica Lukáčová said at the margo of the regional court’s decision that gambling operators want to wait for a final verdict. “This is not a decision about the thing itself, so we can not make it any closer to it. The fact is, it does not change anything.” The licenses that have expired are not so much the impact of the FGM as the Gaming Amendment, which prohibits in vending machines, “she said. The association believes that the court will eventually decide on the illegality of this RPG as the District Prosecutor’s Office has. At the same time, he points out that black gambling has already found his way to Bratislava.
“We already know exactly where black traffic is, and it is where the amendment has begun and the vending machines can not be automated, and the regular operators have left and the operators with quizzomatos have come to their place,” said Lukáčová. The mayor argues that quizzots want some to bypass the law, but the Ministry of Finance has the power to control and regulate these things.
Early May 2017, the VZN entered into force on the ban on the placement of games throughout the territory of Bratislava. In the autumn of last year, however, the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Bratislava filed a lawsuit against the capital against a lawsuit against the capital.
Source: Novy Cas
