Reports EMEA - CZECH REPUBLIC
GAMING MACHINES 50,000
GAMING VENUES 7,300
CASINOS 171
VLT GAMING REVENUE CzK12.8bn
INTERNET SPORTS BETTING CzK4.1bn
SLOT MACHINES REVENUE CzK4bn
TOTAL GAMING GGR (ALL) CzK30.4bn
In the past no form of online gaming was permitted in Czech although foreign
online operators, particularly UK companies, had been offering online betting to the Czech market for some time and intentionally target Czech customers by providing sites in the Czech language. Many have sponsored sporting teams.
CzK50 for casino slots. Te highest payout is CzK300-750 for arcade slots and CzK50,000 for casino slots.
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Te slots must have a minimum payout of 75 per cent whilst the highest hourly loss is CzK1,000 – 2,000 for arcade games and CzK10,000 for casinos slots.
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Linked machines in arcades and casinos can pay out a maximum accumulative jackpot of CzK10,000 (arcades) and CzK100,000 (casinos).
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Arcades must be 100m from buildings such as schools, medical centres, governmental buildings and churches.
l Casino licences are issued for ten years. l Casinos pay the following taxes:
1. Live game revenue is taxed at 11 per cent flat rate of which 10 per cent goes to the central government and one per cent to the local Ministry of Finance as a supervisory fee.
2. Plus live games pay a sliding scale of tax on revenue which is CzK0-50m (six per cent); CzK50-100m (eight per cent); CzK100-500m (10 per cent); 500-1000 (15 per cent) and over 1000 (20 per cent).
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3. Slots pay CzK50,000 tax per machine per year
4. Plus they also pay a sliding scale on slot revenue which is the same as the live game tax rates above.
Apart from several amendments over the years, the law in principal has never been changed. Tere were some changes in 1998 which included a tightening of the age limit control, the minimum share capital for joint stock companies, more stringent checks on operators and employees and stricter penalties for violations of the law. Meanwhile municipalities were also given the authorisation to issue regulations for the operation of gaming machines.
As a result more and more gaming outlets began to open and today there are gambling parlours on almost every street corner. Tis increase has always been tolerated due to the income they bring in.
However such access to slots has also caused problems and some municipalities opted to ban them creating tensions among the regulators and municipal officials.
Casinos pay a percentage of their profits to the state whilst arcades fund the local municipalities.
VLTs were introduced into the Czech market in 1998 following an amendment and these saw huge revenue increases and today the VLT sector is the biggest gambling sector in terms of income.
Te huge growth however also sparked other problems. Back in 2004 following a huge bomb explosion outside a casino in Prague the government was forced to sit up and take notice. Te failed attempt at killing the casino owner sent ripples of money laundering rumours and the industry was suddenly in the spotlight.
Meanwhile in terms of online gambling, in 2009 the Ministry of Finance issued permits to introduce online sports betting for Czech operators. In the past no form of online gaming was permitted in Czech although foreign online operators, particularly UK companies, had been offering online betting to the Czech market for some time and intentionally target Czech customers by providing sites in the Czech language. Many of these online companies have even increased their profile by TV commercials or by sponsoring sporting teams.
Currently five of the country’s largest bookmakers provide online sports betting services. Tese are Fortuna, Sazka, Tipsport, Chance and Synot Tip.
Te law stated that players had to register in an
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