Šćepanović: Big black market of games of chance

The solution to the problem of illegal organization of games of chance and underage betting is for all inspection services and the police to be empowered, but also obliged to actively enforce existing laws - the Law on Games of Chance, the Law on Illegal Business and the Criminal Code, she said in an interview with "Vijesta". general secretary of the Association of Organizers of Games of Chance Montenegro Bet Tatjana Šćepanović.

• Drafting of a new law on games of chance, which was supposed to be completed in September, has again been postponed until "next year". Why do you think the Government has been announcing and postponing the drafting of a new law and the regulation of this important market for years? Is the law or its application the problem?

As we have mentioned so far, the basis of the current law in Montenegro is good and our law is one of the better laws in this area. Of course, it can and should be supplemented and improved, because it was written in 2004, and in this regard, Montenegro Bet submitted its proposals, which we hope will be adopted and will help in further improving the conditions for organizers and participants. on the Montenegrin market.

The law is by no means a problem, but only its application. Illegal organizing is prohibited in the existing law and will be in every subsequent law, but the implementation of the law in this part is extremely controversial and we have been talking about it for years.

Constant manipulations, i.e. by-laws concerning the locations for setting up betting and gambling terminals, a false appearance of legality was created in that part, which was used for the inflation of illegal and juvenile betting, which was created by the uncontrolled setting up of betting terminals without concessions, and which at one point came and to the children's playrooms themselves.

• What do you think should be changed in the law, and what should be changed in the competences of the Directorate for Games of Chance and Inspections?

At the moment, one of the key problems in games of chance in Montenegro is the (in)competence of the inspection authorities for the activity of games of chance, primarily the tax inspection. We have already appealed to all competent state bodies (Government of Montenegro, Ministry of Finance, Tax Administration) to transfer the authority of control of approval for work for organizing games of chance to all inspection bodies. In addition to the inspection authorities, the police should also be involved, because the illegal organization of games of chance is also a criminal offense, for which the Criminal Code of Montenegro provides for a prison sentence of up to three years.

• Betting via the Internet and applications on mobile phones is becoming more common. Illegal competition consists of foreign websites that do not pay any obligations to Montenegro and through which significant money goes. In what way can or should the state protect its taxpayers?

That is correct, but it is also regulated by the existing law, and with the new regulations, the penalties just have to be increased. This has nothing to do with the law - but with its implementation, because everything is already regulated. The Administration for Games of Chance is obliged to send warning letters to foreign organizers of which it has reasonable suspicion or evidence that they enable participants from Montenegro to learn in the game that they are obliged to either obtain a license from our country or prevent participation in their games by participants from the territory of Montenegro. Although, if the inspection is not able to solve much easier tasks in the process of control of land-based illegal organizing, which takes place in several hundreds of locations within Montenegro, the question is how the inspection and the administration will deal with online organizers.

The solution to the problem is for all inspection services and the police to be given the authority, but also the obligation, to actively enforce existing laws (Law on Games of Chance, Law on Illegal Business, Criminal Code, etc.)

• Your association implements the project "Let the game remain a game" on the prevention of juvenile and pathological gambling. Part of the public gets the impression that the organizers take a lot of money from minors and drug addicts. Is that so?

The appearance of underage betting is a problem that our association has been pointing out for a long time. Minors are the most vulnerable category, which should be protected by the Constitution. A serious generator of this problem is the wide availability of illegal terminals and the general black market of games of chance. The competent authorities have been provided with concrete individual evidence about this problem, so we hope that the results of their work and the protection of children will soon be visible.

Threats will not prevent us from reporting irregularities

• Your association filed criminal charges against the chief inspector for games of chance and against the unknown perpetrator who threatened you with a bomb. Do you know what happens to those applications? Has the attitude of the gaming inspectorate changed since those reports?

The complete process is the responsibility of the state authorities and we hope that the police will quickly catch the perpetrators of the terrible threats that were addressed to the secretary and president of the association. As for the inspections themselves, it is interesting that they received several completely frivolous reports against members of the association, whose goal we assume is to scare us in our activity team.

Every citizen of Montenegro is a witness to the flood of illegal games of chance organized through terminals that take place in every street, and any further convincing of the same is pointless. We hope that the inspections will not be selective when dealing with applications and that they will be diligent in dealing with illegal organizers, at least to the extent that they are diligent with legal organizers, ie with us.

The conclusion is the following, the resources of the inspection for games of chance are insufficient in relation to the existing number of illegal organizers, which are increasing every day. We also appeal to the Government of Montenegro to expand the scope of jurisdiction in controlling the legality of the work of all organizers of games of chance. We believe that the only extension of jurisdiction to other inspection bodies and the police can have a quick effect on the protection of minors and the reduction of illegal gambling, and consequently on a significant increase in state budget revenue as well as a reduction in crime, which is a direct consequence of the illegal market.