Herzegovina a hotbed of betting shops, 1,000 addicts in Mostar

Among all European countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina leads in the number of betting shops, writes the Bosnian news agency Patria. This was shown by recently published research by several relevant institutions in the country and Europe.

Experts warn that betting shops are a major problem burdening Bosnian society. As many as half a million people in the country give money to betting shops. That is, roughly, one quarter of the total population in BiH.

At the same time, a large number of betting shops in BiH serve only to extract money from the country. The debt of betting shops to the state, only in the Federation of BiH as of October 31, 2014, exceeded 25 million KM. This was confirmed to the Patria agency by the Tax Administration of the Federation of BiH.

Adisa Hamzić, spokesperson for the Tax Administration of FBiH, earlier explained to Patria that betting shop owners most often do not pay contributions for pension and disability insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance for their workers, which has led to a multi-million debt of betting shops in BiH.

A paradise for betting shop profiteers and the plundering of citizens and the state in the country is Herzegovina. Betting shops that are among the largest debtors to the state come precisely from Herzegovina. Leading the way are Intersport d.o.o Mostar and Derby Bet Shop d.o.o Mostar.

Nada Matović, head of a group of pathological gamblers, told Večernji list that Mostar is turning into a hotbed of gambling addiction, because about 1,000 pathological gamblers already live in this city.

She warns that elderly people, children, men, and women are betting, and there are also many cases where entire families are addicted to gambling. In such families, children suffer the most, because nervous parents beat them after losing money while betting.

Matović warned that gambling may seem like a golden goose for the state, but in the future, the state will invest more in treating gambling addiction than it previously gained from it. Furthermore, she warned that it is more difficult to cure gambling addiction than alcohol addiction, Patria reports.