For two months, the Inspection for Games of Chance has been "recognizing" whether the company "Cattaro company group" is illegally organizing casino games of chance in its slot machine club "Casino Cattaro" in Kotor. In the meantime, the site that advertised this casino was deleted, and all photos showing tables for classic roulette and card games, which should not be in an automatic club, were deleted from its social networks.
The difference is, among other things, that a monthly concession of 50 euros per machine for games of chance (600 euros per year) is paid at the slot machine club, while at the casino there is an additional annual concession of 50.000 euros as well as a one-time concession of two million euros that is paid at the beginning of its operation.
No casino license
The Revenue and Customs Administration, which includes the gaming sector, told "Vijesta" that "Casino Cattaro" has a license only for games of chance on machines, not for casino games, and that the jurisdiction of the Inspection for Games of Chance is to control the legality of the operator's work. They also said that the license refers to the company "Cattaro company group".
The owner and director of this company is a well-known businessman from Tivat Rado Arsic, who deals with construction, hotel management, catering, games of chance... He was a partner in several businesses Aca Đukanović, the brother of the president of the state Milo Đukanović, and has joint business with Miloš Medenica, the son of the former supreme state prosecutor and until recently president of the Supreme Court Vesne Medenica.
The country deprived of over two million?
According to the Law on Games of Chance, there must be no tables for so-called live games, such as classic roulette and poker tables, in slot clubs. Photos showing these tables have been published in advertisements on social networks since at least 2017, so the potential damage to the state is two million euros of initial concessions and at least six annual concessions totaling 300 thousand euros. Also, it is possible that the state lost other revenues because the question is whether and how the organizer reported the traffic received from the games that he was not allowed to have, as well as what were the routes of that money later.
On November 25 of last year, ”Vijesti” forwarded the information they had about the disputed casino to the Directorate for Inspection Affairs - Inspection for Games of Chance, as well as links to the site and photos of tables for live games from social networks. The following day, the response came from the Inspection "that they will check the allegations and carry out an inspection and we will inform you about the results of the inspection later".
Photos deleted after the letter "Vijesti"
"Vijesti" sent the same question two more times, and on December 3, a reply was received that "an inspection control has been scheduled at the mentioned entity and after the inspection, the chief inspector for games of chance will provide you with the requested answers", but after that there was no reply.
In the meantime, the site casinocattaro.com, which contained several advertisements and photos showing tables for casino games as well as employees, stopped working, and all photos showing disputed tables, whose links were forwarded to the inspection by "Vijesti", were deleted from social networks.
Tables cannot be unseen
The inspection did not answer the question of "Vijesti" whether they have controlled this organizer since 2017 and if so, what was determined in those controls. The interlocutor of "Vijesti" said that if the inspectors ever entered this facility, it is impossible that they would not have seen tables for which the organizer does not have a license.
"Vijesti" sent questions to the e-mails on the casinocattaro.com website, but did not receive any answers. The seat of this company is in the Škaljari settlement in Kotor.
The Revenue and Customs Administration told "Vijesta" that the company "Cattaro company group" has a license to organize games of chance on machines in three machine clubs, one of which is located in Kotor and two in Tivat.
They stated that the two forms of arranging games of chance - in slot clubs and in casinos, are clearly defined and separated by the Law on Games of Chance, as well as that this organizer has not changed the form of arranging games of chance since the beginning of its work, i.e. it has always been licensed only as an automatic club and that it may not organize casino games.
The law defines that games in casinos are "games that players play against the casino or against each other in accordance with international rules on game tables with: balls (roulette, boule, twenty-three, etc.); dice (craps, etc.); and cards (baccarat, trente-guarante, black-jack, punto banco, mini punto banco, shemin de fer, carribien poker, etc.). These are exactly the tables that were seen in the removed photos.
Games of chance on automatic machines are games "which are organized on automatic machines, electronic roulettes and other devices with multiple stakes and winnings (multiplayer) and on the automatic machine system, which implies the connection of a large number of automatic machines in order to form a unique jack-pot with the same and simultaneous chances of all participants in the game (progressive)". So manual roulette tables, which are operated by the croupier, as well as poker tables do not fall under the category of games of chance on machines.
Who counted the devices in 2020.
In 2020, this organizer received a concession reduction for the period when, due to epidemiological measures, work in this activity was prohibited and limited.
According to the information from the session of the Government at the time, "Cattaro company" had three active concession contracts for organizing special games of chance on machines, on a total of 46 machines, two electronic roulettes with 14 gaming places. The Administration for Games of Chance then established a reduction of the fixed part of the concession fee for this organizer in the amount of 4.838.70 euros. This confirms that someone was counting slot machines at the time, and that there were officially no tables for hand roulette and card games, although they can be seen in those rooms in photographs from the period.
Blocked the coast in Krašići, attacked the director of Radio Tivat, the prosecutor's office is investigating him because of FC "Arsenal"
According to the data from the central registry, businessman Rado Arsić is the founder of 12 companies, eight of which are closed and four are still active.
Through several companies, he bought shares together with Aco Đukanović in Rudnik uglja Pljevlja and Prva banka.
Together with Miloš Medenica, the son of Vesna Medenica, he owns plots of land in Krašići near Tivat, next to the coast where they built villas, closing the promenade by the sea. The Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS) filed criminal charges against them two years ago, considering that the two of them had committed the crimes of "illegal occupation of land" and "construction of a building without registration and construction documentation". The then Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism declared the case secret and did not grant MANS access to the documentation.
In 2019, the director of Radio Tivat filed a report of assault against Arsić Dragan Popadić, allegedly for writing about a court case led by the Arsić family.
Last year, the new management of the Municipality of Tivat submitted a criminal complaint to the Special State Prosecutor's Office regarding the work and operations of FC "Arsenal", in which Arsić, who was the head of this football club at the time, and former mayor Siniša Kusovac are mentioned. Payments of over 400 to this club from the municipal coffers, without the necessary documentation and procedures, are disputed. SDT launched an investigation into this case.
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