Betting companies ask Izetbegović who is to blame for illegal hirings in public companies

Bakir Izetbegović, member of the BiH Presidency and SDA president, accused betting company owners of being responsible for the 'paralysis' of the FBiH Parliament. Izetbegović stated that the "betting lobby is fighting tooth and nail against taxing income, and that sessions are constantly postponed because of this," reports NAP.

Private betting companies criticize Izetbegović for his accusations. They explain that it is not right to blame betting companies for something they cannot influence. They believe that there are many problems in BiH that the authorities could have solved, and which have nothing to do with betting companies, but these problems remain unsolved to this day.

- Are betting companies to blame because Bakir Izetbegović has Amir Zukić, Asim Sarajlić, or Mirsad Kukić, who are suspected of blackmail, organizing and managing a criminal group that carried out illegal hirings in public companies – ask private gambling operators.

- Are betting companies to blame because the largest tax debtors in BiH are public companies that owe 89.86 percent of the total 1.1 billion KM in tax debt. Private companies owe only 10.14 percent, and none of them are currently active betting companies?

Are betting companies to blame for the flourishing crime, corruption, nepotism, and lawlessness in BiH?

Are betting companies to blame because Fadil Novalić and Jelka Milićević have their close and extended families employed in state-owned companies without a tender, while ordinary people see no way to get a job – added the private gambling operators. Private betting companies claim that legal domestic gambling operators are not a betting lobby at all. They stated that they are "legal domestic companies that operate legally in compliance with legal regulations, that fill the federal budget directly with 80 million KM annually, and indirectly with 186 million KM annually, and that employ 5,500 domestic workers and rent 3,000 premises from domestic landlords."

Domestic gambling operators are convinced that everything the FBiH Government and the Federal Ministry of Finance are doing regarding the Law on Games of Chance is actually just paving the way for closing down domestic private betting companies and handing over the market to the Austrian Novomatic.

- The government's amendments to the Bill on Amendments to the Law on Games of Chance are designed to demand 187 million KM in taxes from operators with 150 million KM in revenue. Therefore, the amendments are designed to close down domestic betting companies. These same amendments tax slot machines, of which Novomatic has 1,500 in Lutrija BiH, many times less. The government's draft law is designed to ensure Novomatic wins the BiH market – claim domestic gambling operators, reports NAP.