Today, Novomatic operates 67 gaming halls in Albania via its two local subsidiaries. Te first subsidiary is Adriatik Game SHA, which is based in Tirana and operates 40 Admiral branded halls. Te second subsidiary Astra Albania SHA which was founded in 1995 but acquired by Novomatic in 2010 and operates 27 arcades under the Astra brand.
Just two months after the casino opened, Hyatt threatened to close the casino down after the government decided to quadruple taxes on slots. Although this was withdrawn the erratic nature of the Albanian laws seems to put off many potential investors who also see the €10m licensing fee as very high.
With a limited casino industry the main focus in Albanian has been on the gaming halls, or electronic casinos as they are known, which have existed in a semi legal state of limbo. Tere are said to be around 190 licensed slot halls although the number in reality at one time was double this although they were illegally operated.
Tere are currently 10 companies licensed to operate slot halls which are Astra Albania (Novomatic); Adriatic Game (Novomatic); Apex; Alba Games; Top Start Casino Electronics; SH.B Imperial Casino; VLT Albania; M&M Topuzi;
P70 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA Euro Games and Flamingo Albania
Novomatic has been active in the Albania market since 2006 when it founded a local subsidiary company called Eagle Investment SHA. In the same year the operating subsidiary Adriatik Game SHA was also founded.
Today Novomatic operates 67 gaming halls in Albania via its two local subsidiaries. Te first subsidiary is Adriatik Game SHA, which is based in Tirana and operates 40 Admiral branded halls. Te second subsidiary Astra Albania SHA which was founded in 1995 but acquired by Novomatic in 2010 and operates 27 gaming arcades under the Astra brand.
Tese two brands are among the leading gaming arcades in Albania and are known for their sophisticated interior design and Novomatic gaming equipment.
Meanwhile there are three companies operating sports betting – Lottosport, Top Start and ITSGA. Sports betting licences can have up to 1,000 secondary addresses.
Gambling companies, sports betting and betting and racing are permitted under the 2015 law to advertise their activities in places where the sports activities are organised. Audiovisual advertising for sports betting can only be done during transmission of national and international sporting events or during sports programmes.
Meanwhile online gaming is in its infancy and does not ban foreign operators. Te regulations are lax enough to allow citizens to play casino games despite the fact there aren’t many Albanian operated sites. For those offering online gaming they must have a capital of not less than ALL1.2bn.
Xhoilotto, a licensed bookmaker appeared in 2013 with SBTech. SBTech signed an agreement to supply the landbased operator with its software and Xhoilotto has over 500 retail locations in Albania.
Back in 2013 the Albania government ordered the blocking of all online sports betting sites. Rama’s party has sought to block access to online gambling sites in Albania concerned mostly about the flow of capital out of their country.
However no real blocking has materialised and Albanians are still able to access online gambling sites.
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