Prove there’s a problem with gambling. Then maybe we’ll do something about it. We might even ban the herna bars that are breaking the law.
This seems to be the latest response from the Finance Ministry to local councils that don’t want gaming machines in their districts. It seems fairly absurd. However, in a country famous for its lenient stance on gambling, the situation in fact signals a breakthrough. The ministry’s actions in the coming weeks will determine whether its offer to help councils curb gambling can be taken seriously. If events so far are any guide, however, it looks like herna bars and casinos may themselves soon fall on unlucky times.
In the past, city councils that have mounted campaigns against gambling have tended to get stuck on the same sad course. The councillors place limits on the number of gaming machines allowed in their precincts. This works for a while, but then the gambling menace returns. Only this time it’s in an even more pernicious form. The old slot machines are replaced by video lottery terminals (VLTs). The VLTs work on similar principles, but now it costs more to play them, and councils may not regulate their use. A single example will suffice: The city of Bohunín started off with 144 slot machines. This number was culled to 33, but sure enough, over the next two years, 70 VLTs moved in.
This mess can be blamed on a special edict issued by the Finance Ministry in 2003 (and tailored to suit the Sazka lottery company), which put VLT operations outside the ambit of the local councils. The same rules held that these machines could only be approved or banned by the ministry.
To city mayors, it might seem like the public servants were having a joke at their expense. The reality is probably captured more closely in the words of Pavel Němec, a former chairman of the state office that regulates gaming and lotteries: “The people responsible for monitoring gambling in the Czech Republic are so overworked because of staff shortages that they have turned into ‘approval agencies’.” These watchdogs don’t have the energy to keep gambling in check.
Nevertheless, changes are afoot. The mayor of Litvínov has sent the Finance Ministry police records about three herna bars that have broken the law: The operators let minors gamble on the premises. Ministry officials have promised to remove their licences. The process should only take “a few weeks”.
It would, of course, be more sensible if the local councils could themselves take action against the herna bars, irrespective of whether they feature slot machines, VLTs or roulette. The state has sworn many times that it would introduce the necessary law. The reality, however, is that all attempts at strict regulation have fallen by the wayside. And the finance ministers have played along with gaming companies like Sazka.
Caretaker Finance Minister Eduard Janota, who is cultivating the image of a hardheaded technocrat, still holds out hope. If the state restricts gaming, it stands to lose hundreds of millions of crowns in taxes and fees. On the other hand, it will thwart tax evasion that, according to estimates, involves the same amounts as gambling. It will also begin to clean up a realm now dominated by the mafia and tied to the drug trade and prostitution. Assuming Janota is true to his word, parliament will vote on the new gambling bill in September. The next few weeks should tell us how realistic this hope is.
