FBiH Parliament Session: Where Will Betting Shop Owners Pay Taxes

In the continuation of the session of the House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament, MPs are expected to consider the Bill on Amendments to the Law on Games of Chance today, provided that diametrically opposed views on this burning issue are reconciled. As a reminder, this session began on April 20, but was adjourned without an agenda being adopted, writes the Patria News Agency.

Coalition partners SDA and HDZ BiH have different views on the amendments to this law. SDA proposes that taxes be paid in the municipalities or cantons where the betting shops are located, while HDZ BiH wants the tax to be paid at the headquarters or central offices of the betting shops, which are mostly located in Herzegovina.

This law has also led to strained relations between SDA and HDZ BiH. A number of MPs believe that the law should be returned to the FBiH Government, which would then determine the amendments and send them to the parliamentary procedure.

Betting shop owners recently sought protection from the President of FBiH, Marinko Čavara, who supports their request to pay taxes where their headquarters are, not where their branches are.

The annual profit of betting shops is over one billion KM.

Jakovčić and Wigemark at the beginning of the session

Federal MPs will be addressed at the beginning of the session today by Ivan Jakovčić, Member of the European Parliament. Lars Gunnar Wigemark, Head of the EU Delegation and EU Special Representative in BiH, will also attend his address.