Last year, the state budget received 22,3 million euros from concessions for games of chance, which is 6,1 million more than in 2022, according to the report of the Administration for Games of Chance.
Compared to the previous year, the number of betting shops increased from 887 to 1.000, and the number of club machines for games of chance increased from 126 to 153.
This income was significantly increased because two casinos paid initial one-time fees of two million euros each for the issuance of new concessions - "Jackpot" for the existing casino in the Hilton hotel in Podgorica and the company with Turkish capital "Net Montenegro" for its new "Merit" casino in Budva in a new hotel on the site of the former "Zeta film" building.
Of exactly one thousand betting shops that worked in Montenegro last year, from 18 organizers, the state collected nine million euros, which is about half a million or five percent more than in 2022.
From the slot machine clubs for games of chance, of which there are 153 with 25 organizers, the state received five million euros from the concession last year, which is about 1,2 million more than the year before.
A total of 6,7 million was collected from casinos, of which four million refer to two one-time fees, and the remaining 2,7 million are regular annual and variable fees paid for casino games in three casinos that operated last year - two " Jackpot" in "Splendid" and "Hilton" and "Maestral" in the hotel of the same name in Pržno near Budva. The fourth casino "Merit Starlit", for which "Net Montenegro" paid a start-up fee of two million euros at the end of last year, started operating at the beginning of this year.
Last year, the Administration for Games of Chance earned EUR 37 from the fee for organizing prize games, and EUR 3,7 from the closed raffle.
From 13 organizers, who organize games of chance over the Internet, 1,6 million euros of concessions were collected last year, which is about 120 thousand more than in 2022. With the amendments to the Law on Games of Chance, which came into force at the beginning of January this year, concessions for games of chance over the internet have been significantly increased.
Vesuvius, which operates under the brand name "Volcano", paid the most money to the state on the basis of concessions, namely 3,3 million euros, which is about 600 thousand more than it paid in 2022, when it was also in the first place according to the amount of paid concessions.
In second place is "Jackpot", which paid a total of 3,2 million euros, of which two million are one-time fees for the new concession, and 1,2 million are regular concessions for two casinos and one slot machine club.
In third place is "MNA Gaming" - bookmakers and clubs "Admiral bet", which paid 3,1 million euros.
The new organizer "Net Montenegro" is in fourth place with two million euros, the amount it paid for one-time fees for the "Merit" casino.
In fifth place in terms of payment of money is the chain of betting shops "Lob", which gave 1,6 million euros to the state coffers.
Casino "Maestral" paid almost one and a half million euros for concessions. This is almost 300 thousand euros more than "Jack Pot" paid for regular concessions for its two casinos and slot machine club.
From the company "Čibri", which has betting shops and slot machines under the "Zlatnik" brand, the state received 1,4 million euros from its concessions last year.
On this basis, "Sporting" paid over a million euros to the state with the SBBet bookmakers, while the list of the ten largest organizers is closed by "Fun Fun" with the "Premijer" bookmakers and "Arua" with "MaxBet" which had payments of 951 and 865 thousand euros. .
"Vesuvius" has the most betting houses with 346, followed by "Čibri" 135, "Lob" 108, "MNA Gaming" 96, "Fun Fun" 88, "Sporting" 79, "Luca's Bet" 46...
25 companies have a concession for organizing games of chance in machines and electronic roulettes. They operate 153 slot clubs that have 2.517 slot machines and 112 electronic roulettes with 571 slots.
"MNA Gaming" has the most slot machine clubs - 31, followed by "Vesuv" with 20, "Arua" with 18, "Gida" with 15 and Lutrija Crne Gore and "Čibri" with 11 each, "Marković Grand company" with six ...
13 organizers were registered for online games of chance, the same number as last year: "Alfa 99 Infotech Consultancy", "Arua", "Fedora", "Fun Fun", "Lob company", "Luca's Bet", " Meridianbet", "MNA Gaming", "Sport Bet", "Sporting group", "Čibri", "Vesuvius" and "Soccerbet".
By the end of the year, a new law on games of chance, which has been announced for more than a decade, should be drafted. Two months ago, the Ministry of Finance invited the organizers to give their suggestions in the preliminary design phase. Several organizers and their associations proposed that additional norms and restrictions should be introduced in order to prevent the participation of minors and addicts in games of chance, that the measurement of the distance from the space for organizing games of chance to educational institutions should be defined, restrictions should be introduced in the advertising of games on of luck, to review the current way of issuing a winning certificate in order to prevent its use to justify illegal income, to introduce additional restrictions for the work of organizers of online games of chance...
"Vesuvius": We paid 12 million into the budget, we expect a partnership relationship
The largest organizer of games of chance, the Vesuvius company, told "Vijesta" that last year, in addition to 3,3 million euros for concessions, they paid the state another 8,78 million euros based on profit tax, after deduction, VAT , taxes and salary contributions...
In other words, in total they paid over 12 million euros into the budget, or almost four times more than the concession itself, while the company's net operating result was 27,6 million.
They state that for 25 years they have dedicated and successfully built a leadership position in the field of entertainment and organizing games of chance in Montenegro.
"Relying on modern principles of business, dominantly through the introduction of innovations and rapid adaptation to changes, 'Vesuvius' is the market leader in the conditions of a decade-long wait for the new 'Law on Games of Chance', which logically should be the framework and guideline for future development for every company. We are still waiting for it and emphasize that our experiences could be of immeasurable importance for the drafting of a new law, primarily in the interest of protecting the partnership (concessional) relationship between the state and the organizer," said the director of "Vesuvius". Danijela Jović to the question of "Vijesti", how much in total they paid the duty to the state.
The company states that they did not advertise the "obvious tendency to anathematize the industry we are engaged in, because in principle we can only stand behind our own conception and our own business responsibility".
"The overall public discourse, both media and political-populist, demands that we justify our success, as if we have given ourselves the right to do business and as if the environment in which we exist is the product of our actions alone. That's why we are grateful for the opportunity to answer how much total revenue we generated in the previous year and how much revenue we generated and contributed to the budget of Montenegro with our revenue on various bases," said Jović.
She also states that they are the only organizer that has been paying VAT on the services of foreigners for six years, which is why they have paid 3,8 million euros into the budget, and that they employ 520 workers directly or through outsourcing.
"Given that in our case, the above-mentioned figures speak more than a thousand words, we will not list the part of the funds that we, as a socially responsible company, have widely allocated and that we donate in each of our budget years, but therefore, we sincerely appeal that as a community and society in as a whole (the state, concessionaires, citizens) recognize and prevent any negative form of activity in this industry, whether it is the result of irresponsible organizing or irresponsible gambling," said Jović.
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