Open secret: HDZ protects betting shops because surplus money goes to the party and individuals in power

The uproar over amendments to the Law on Games of Chance and the Law on Profit Tax in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is not subsiding. Relations between coalition partners SDA and HDZ BiH are strained. They have different views on taxation. The owners of betting shops, who are already known to generate a profit of one billion marks this year alone, have also sought protection from the President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Marinko Čavara, reports the Patria news agency.

Marko Milanović, Krešo Vukoja, and Goran Jozipović, directors of the betting shops "Sport plus", "Premier", and "Bet live", visited Čavara.

If that billion KM in profit were taxed, the federal budget would be filled annually with 150 to 200 million KM.

SDA delegate in the House of Peoples of the FBiH, Amir Zukić, said that his party has not given up on amendments to the Law on Games of Chance and the Law on Profit Tax, and that he will not withdraw his proposal from the parliamentary procedure.

Zukić says that despite the threats he receives, he will not give up, and that the existing legal solutions only protect those who sat in Čavara's cabinet. Furthermore, he emphasizes that conclusions will oblige the Government to prepare amendments to these two laws as soon as possible. The SDA demands that tax be paid at the place of betting, that all betting shop owners be included, and that all winnings be taxed.

HDZ ministers oppose resolving this issue at a Government session, and the main obstacle is Finance Minister Jelka Milićević. Her proposal, or rather the HDZ's proposal, is that tax be paid in the places where the main headquarters of betting shops are located, not where the branches are. The largest number of betting shop headquarters, almost all of them, are in cantons where the HDZ is in power, while the branches are mostly in cantons where the SDA is in power.

In other words, the HDZ is defending its interests in betting shops. It is an open secret that easily earned money, i.e., surplus money, is used in this way to finance the party, as well as individuals in power who, using their positions, protect betting shop owners.