Gambling Organizers Requested a Meeting with Minister Jelka Milićević

In continuation of their efforts to constructively participate in the drafting of the new Law on Gambling, gambling organizers from the Federation of BiH have sent a "Request for an Official Meeting regarding the Drafting of the Draft Law on Gambling" to the FBiH Minister of Finance, Jelka Milićević, reports Patria.

The organizers refer to the "Conclusion of the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament," which, at the continuation of its 15th session held on December 8, 2016, adopted the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Gambling in the regular procedure and tasked the FBiH Government with conducting a public debate within 30 days and for the proposer to take into account all remarks and positions submitted and expressed at the said session.

The organizers also referred to the "Memorandum of Understanding between the USAID Mission and the Government of FBiH," signed in July 2015 by the Prime Minister of FBiH Fadil Novalić and the US Ambassador to BiH, Maureen Cormack, which defines the intentions of the Government of FBiH and the United States Agency for International Development in BiH (USAID) regarding assistance to the Government of FBiH in improving the fiscal sector through the Fiscal Sector Reform Project (FAR).

In their "Request for a Meeting," the organizers also highlight the guidelines given to them by the Minister of Finance Jelka Milićević herself at a meeting held on November 17, 2016, at the premises of the Federal Ministry of Finance, according to which organizers must be active participants in the drafting of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Gambling.

- We want to be active participants in drafting a legal solution that will be beneficial for the Federation of BiH, for the organizers, and for the players themselves. We want to be active participants in drafting a legal solution that will protect competitiveness and competition in the domestic market, enable domestic companies to enter foreign markets, as well as employ new workers, and which will bring maximum possible revenue to the federal budget - the organizers state, requesting that all gambling organizers, as well as representatives of USAID, be present at the meeting.

- From the very beginning of the initiative for amendments to the Law on Gambling, we have been available to the FBiH Government for discussions and cooperation, because our goal is also the further regulation of this activity through quality legal solutions - the organizers emphasize. They add that after the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament rejected by a majority vote the urgent procedure for amending the Law on Gambling, noting that haste in the case of such a complicated law cannot bring anything good, it is now up to "the FBiH Government and the Federal Ministry of Finance, led by Minister Jelka Milićević, who have before them the instructions from the House of Peoples of FBiH, the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding with USAID, and also domestic gambling organizers ready for cooperation," writes NAP.