Ćudić: Move betting shops at least one hundred meters from schools

(Patria) - Sabina Ćudić, a representative of Our Party in the FBiH Parliament, submitted an initiative at the last session of the House of Representatives to amend the Law on Games of Chance. If her initiative is adopted, the minimum legally prescribed distance of betting shops from primary and secondary schools and religious buildings will be one hundred meters.

"Given that Article 59 of the Law on Games of Chance defines the minimum distance of casinos from schools and religious buildings, I see no reason why the same provision should not apply to betting shops. Minors are equally prohibited from receiving payments and participating in all games of chance in casinos, betting shops, and slot machine clubs. Why then should the same rules on distance from schools and religious buildings not apply to betting shops?

Games of chance organized in betting shops are most often started by minors, although Article 5 of this law does not allow it. Their gambling starts out of fun and curiosity, after classes or during a long break, and after a certain time turns into addiction, which is also warned by the principals of primary schools who are already struggling with this problem," Ćudić stated in the explanation of her initiative.