The government's plan to receive 50 million euros from the activities of games of chance in the next year, to cover the deficit in the state coffers due to the reduction of contributions to pension insurance, will have the opposite effect - the budget will receive less than the current 25 million because the new law provides for fees for organizers who are ten times higher than in the countries of the region. Organizers will drastically reduce the number of bookmakers' places because they will not be paid for their work, while the gray market will grow, said a "Vijesti" interlocutor familiar with the preparation of the new law.
The government plans to increase the fees from games of chance in the next year to 45 million euros, instead of the current 25 million, as well as to receive another five million euros through the already adopted tax on winnings in games of chance.
The law is on public debate until November 18, and a central public debate is planned for the 12th. The authors did not participate in the working group that prepared the draft law. The Ministry of Finance is obliged to submit to the Parliament a draft law on the budget for the following year by November 15, that is, before the end of the public hearing on this law.
According to "Vijesti" information, the budget proposal will contain an item that 45 million euros are expected from the fees for games of chance, which is provided for by this law, which additionally renders the public discussion and comments of the organizers on the new fee amounts pointless.
The fee is ten times higher than in Serbia
The proposed changes increase the monthly fee per bookmaker from the current 500 to 1.000 euros, although in neighboring Serbia, with a much larger market and turnover, this fee is only 100 euros per bookmaker. The monthly fee per machine increases from 50 to 100 euros, while in Serbia it is 25 euros.
"Each betting shop has two to three employees whose labor costs have also increased due to the increase in the minimum wage. Rent for office space has also increased, as have various other expenses. There are few betting sites that, once all expenses are deducted, bring the organizers more than 500 euros in profit, and now the Ministry of Finance is proposing to increase the fixed concession by 500 euros while simultaneously increasing the cost of the variable fee. So the operation of classic betting shops will not be profitable and two thirds of the 970 current betting shops will be closed", said the interlocutor of "Vijesti".
The state now receives about six million euros per year from fixed concessions for betting shops, and it planned to earn 12 million from that next year. Due to the expected reduction in the number of betting places, that income will drop to only around three million.
About three thousand employees are currently working in the gambling industry, and the reduction of the number of betting shops would leave 700 to 800 workers without a job.
The same bill increases concessions for other forms of casino games of chance, slot clubs and online betting, from which the Ministry of Finance plans to receive another ten million euros.
In addition to increasing these costs, the organizers are obliged to change their information systems, train their employees, adjust the gaming area so that it is not visible from the outside, remove advertisements... which will significantly increase their costs that the state does not reimburse even though it imposes them.
The law has been amended seven times since 2004.
The current law on games of chance was adopted in 2004 and since then it has been amended seven times, mostly through the increase of fees for organizers, the introduction of new online games of chance that did not exist in the basic law and through norms of protection against underage betting.
Although the law from 2004 required the introduction of online supervision to control the payments and payouts of organizers of betting games, it was introduced only in 2016, when the Minister of Finance was in the Government of Electoral Confidence Rasko Konjević and his advisor Ilija Vukcevic, who was previously director of the Gaming Authority. Since then, the state's income from variable compensation has doubled.
A great influence on the law on games of chance and this activity in general until 2016 had the Association of Organizers of Games of Chance (UPIS), which was dominated by organizers whose owners were now deceased Branislav Brano Mićunović i Sava Džigi Grbović. They managed, with the amen of the state, that for years their Lottery of Montenegro does not pay a fixed concession for sports betting of 500 euros per month per betting place just because they called that game "toto", as well as not to pay four million in fees for their casinos "Jackpot" even though the three previous directors of the Gaming Authority claimed that this obligation existed.
UPIS led a media campaign against those three directors, which included brutal personal insults, songs, caricatures,... All three were either dismissed or left their positions on their own during that period. In December 2016, the Lottery lost the right to organize lottery games due to the expiration of the concession, which was determined by the then director of the Administration Ilija Vukcevic, but he was also dismissed after that.
Although some of the politicians, who are now in power, proposed the abolition of games of chance in Montenegro, based on Albania's reputation at the time, this did not happen and Albania has since re-legalized games of chance.
Profit for RTCG and Cable TV
The new proposal of the Law on Games of Chance also prohibits the advertising of games of chance except in TV broadcasts of sports events and on portals that specialize only in sports news.
This means that only RTCG will be able to broadcast commercials, which is the only one thanks to subsidies from the state budget to broadcast matches, as well as TV stations from abroad and cable television because they are not registered in Montenegro and there is no possibility of controlling the broadcasting of commercials.
This will lead to domestic commercial media losing part of their income, and advertisements will continue to exist on other media, money will go abroad and the state will lose VAT on advertising services that it had until now.
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