The state lottery will be organized again by the end of this year. A public tender for the new casino will be announced when the amendments to the law on games of chance are adopted. The procedures for joining the inspection for games of chance to the Administration for games of chance have begun, as well as preparations for the improvement of online supervision of organizers. All these measures should contribute to the continuation of the trend of increasing state revenues from games of chance, the Director of the Administration for Games of Chance told "Vijesta" Andrija Ćetković.
At the beginning of February, the government adopted the Information on planned activities in the field of games of chance. The information stated that "an analysis will be undertaken in order to find the best solution for reactivating the organization of games of chance." Lottery games in Montenegro have not been organized since the end of 2016, when the concession of the Lottery of Montenegro expired.
The lottery was founded as a state company in 1960, and in 1997 it was transformed into a joint-stock company where the state retained management. The state package of shares was sold in 2005. Since 2017, the company has owned only slot clubs and Television 7, and has been operating at a loss for most of the years. The majority owner is a businessman Sava Grbović.
Ćetković, when asked when the announced formation of the state lottery can be expected, said only that it is expected to be organized by the end of this year. According to unofficial information from "Vijesti", several modalities of organizing that company are being analyzed, as well as the scope of the games it would organize.
On Friday, the Democrat Club submitted to the parliamentary procedure a proposal to amend the law on games of chance, which foresees the establishment of a state-owned company that would have a monopoly in organizing lottery games of chance, as well as the right to organize other games of chance.
Open space for a new casino
The company "Jackpot" closed its casino in the hotel "Falkeinsteiner" in Bečići in December last year, after the Commercial Court confirmed that their concession, which had already been extended once, expired in February and that they have no legal basis for a new extension. They could get a new ten-year concession only by paying a fee of two million euros. After the concession expired, the casino operated for nine months thanks to the legal games of the company's management and the disputed decision of the then judge of the Commercial Court. Blaž Jovanić, who has been in remand prison since May last year and was indicted for organized crime two weeks ago.
As this casino ceased to operate, it was announced that the state would announce a public tender for the issuance of a new concession, which could be opened anywhere in Montenegro. Previously, there were announcements about investors' interest in opening large casino-hotels in tourist areas such as Porto Montenegro and Luštice bay.
"The previous competition was announced as a competition for awarding a concession for organizing games of chance in casinos and did not refer to a specific number of casinos. Given that it contained provisions from the current Law on Games of Chance, if there are amendments to the Law on Games of Chance in the part that refers to this type of games or if a new law is adopted, it would impose the need to publish a new competition." , said Ćetković.
The amendments to the law on games of chance, which the Government recently sent to the Parliament, provided for the abolition of the initial fee of two million euros and the annual fee of 50.000 euros, and instead introduced a monthly fee of 41.666 euros. With this calculation, the state would receive twice as much money from the casino in ten years than before.
Better work of inspection and supervision
An amendment to the law on inspection supervision was also announced so that the inspection for games of chance, which is now part of the Directorate for Inspection Affairs, would be annexed to the Directorate for Games of Chance.
"Procedures are underway, and the merger of the inspection for games of chance with the competent body of the Administration for games of chance will lead to synergy and improvement of the supervision and control of the organizers. Of course, it would contribute to this, and expansion of personnel capacities is also needed," said Ćetković.
The information system for the online supervision of games of chance (ISONIS) has been in operation since 2017, and it enabled the state to control all payments and withdrawals of money in betting and games of chance in automatic clubs.
"Control has improved significantly, which shows a noticeable increase in budget revenues based on variable concession fees, already after the first year of using the system. According to the plans of the Administration for Games of Chance, the priority for the improvement of ISONIS is the fiscalization of the system, that is, all transactions in the field of games of chance. In addition, it is planned to include other types of games of chance that have not been subject to IT surveillance until now," Ćetković announced.
The proposal to amend the law on games of chance was withdrawn from the parliamentary procedure last week due to its inconsistency with the Law on Concessions. Amendments to the law plan to increase the concession fees for the organizers of online games of chance and partially for casinos. The organizers also complained that part of the concessions were increasing by 400 percent, and that they would not be able to withstand such an increase.
Ćetković states that an increase in state revenues was expected from the changes in the law.
"Taking into account that total revenues in 2022, compared to 2021, increased by 14,3 percent, and in January 2023, compared to the same month in 2022, by 15 percent, we believe that new organizational changes and laws, this trend of income growth continued even more strongly. The increase in income will largely depend on the amount of variable fees that will be introduced for arranging games of chance online. The state budget in all previous years was deprived of non-payment of this type of compensation, which is widely charged in neighboring countries", said Ćetković.
Last year, the state received 16,2 million euros from gambling
Last year, the state earned 16,2 million euros from concessions for games of chance, which is two million more than the year before.
According to data from the Administration, 8,56 million euros were collected from betting games, 3,75 million from slot machine games, 2,44 million from casinos, 1,47 million from online games, 4,6 thousand from raffles and 25 thousand from prizes games XNUMX thousand euros.
Bonus video:
