The Legislative Committee temporarily withdrew the draft Law on Games of Chance from the debate because it is not aligned with the current Law on Concessions, and they were not provided with amendments to the Law on Concessions that would align with the novelties of the new Law on Games of Chance.
The new law on games of chance stipulates that the right to organize them is no longer obtained on the basis of concessions, but as an administrative act, while the current Law on Concessions states that games of chance are granted through concessions. The draft law must pass the legislative committee before it can be forwarded to the main committee and the plenum for further procedure.
After an almost two-hour discussion at the committee, Committee Chairman Dragan Bojović said that after consultations with the expert service of the legislative committee, he was informed that they had not received a proposal for amendments to the law on concessions that would separate games of chance from concession obligations, which is why he is postponing consideration of the proposal for a law on games of chance in order to discuss it in a package with amendments to the law on concessions.
Explaining the draft law on games of chance, representatives of the Ministry of Finance said that there is no European Union regulation with which it is harmonized, that the new law abolishes the previous concession principle of granting hosting rights, that all concessionaires will lose their concession within 270 days, regardless of how long it lasts, and that after that, if they meet the requirements of the new law, they will receive the hosting right in an administrative procedure.
Representative of the Montenegro Bet Association, Jovana Klisić, said that this proposal is in several parts contrary to the Constitution of Montenegro, primarily because it is not aligned with the current umbrella Law on Concessions.
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She said that the law abolishes the possibility of making deposits to games through registered payment systems and e-banking, and encourages cash payments and payment cards of credit institutions - banks. She stated that this is contrary to the constitutional principles of prohibiting restrictions as well as EU standards on human rights and freedoms.
Klisić also said that the advertising ban is contrary to constitutional principles prohibiting discrimination.
She stated that in the past two months, five draft laws have been adopted that restrict the work of gambling operators, while the gray market is growing and illegal operators currently control 70 percent of the market. She recalled that the Electronic Communications Agency EKIP has stated that it cannot control illegal betting sites, that it bans them and removes their IP addresses.
She also pointed out that the Constitutional Court of Spain has repealed the law banning the advertising of games of chance in that country because it is contrary to EU standards.
Miloš Lalević from the Organizers' Group at the Chamber of Commerce pointed out the inconsistency with the Concessions Law, as well as the fact that the law revokes the acquired rights of organizers because their concessions last longer than 270 days, and that the draft law itself does not define the public interest so that the retroactive effect of the law (cancellation of previously issued concessions) would be justified and possible.
He also stated that mistakes were made in the steps taken because the huge illegal market should have been suppressed first, illegal foreign websites operating in Montenegro should have been suppressed, and only then stricter rules should have been introduced for legal publishers.
He recalled that in Italy, strict rules were introduced and the work of organizers was made more difficult, which led to the strengthening of the gray market, and that something similar happened in Bulgaria. He said that after the ban on games of chance in Albania, the country lost annual revenues of 20 million euros, and that illegal organizers received annual revenues of 70 million euros.
Ministry representatives stated that they acknowledge the objections but stand by their views. They said that they proposed disabling payments through registered payment institutions because they are more accessible than banks, have a lower level of control, and would enable a greater number of citizens to participate in games of chance.
The Ministry stated that the gray market cannot be subject to any law, that it cannot be subject to inspection control, but rather to the police and prosecutor's office.
Klisić said that they had sent 480 reports for illegal gambling but nothing had happened, that they had proposed expanding the powers of the inspectorates but that was also rejected. She stated that the grey market must be subject to the law, because then everything would be meaningless.
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