Bookmakers demand government exempt players from taxes

Representatives of private bookmakers in FBiH are outraged by the latest statements of the Federal Minister of Finance, Jelka Milićević. They announced that the FBiH Government admitted to them that they are aware of the bad Law on Games of Chance, which the Government plans to send for a vote in Parliament, but that such a law is a product of political agreement among federal authorities and that nothing can be changed anymore.

The director of the company “Sport Plus“, Marko Milanović, said that as an economist, he is surprised that the minister, also a graduate economist, did not notice the absurdities proposed in the amendments to the new Law, and he wonders how many expert people there are in the FBiH Government.

- First, the prime minister talks about savings he allegedly made, calls us drug addicts and prostitutes, and then the deputy prime minister states that we are victims of a political compromise. The fact is that if everything goes as proposed by the amendments of the FBiH Government, the prime minister and deputy prime minister will leave at least 35,000 people without a livelihood - Milanović stated.

Private bookmakers have been saying for months that the adoption of the proposed amendments to the Law on Games of Chance will jeopardize the employment status of 5,500 employees, which is the current number of employees in 13 private companies engaged in games of chance in FBiH.

- The latest amendments to the law bring almost direct announcements of layoffs for our employees, termination of contracts for more than 3,000 rental spaces where our betting shops are located, but all in all, they jeopardize the existence of about 35,000 people who are directly and indirectly connected with our business. These numbers are not imaginary - Milanović added.

From the bookmaker “Sport Plus“, they state that, for example, if the Government's law had been in effect since the beginning of 2016, bookmakers would have operated with a loss of about 152 million KM in the first nine months of that year.

- We have been clear from the very beginning. We demand that the Government completely exempt players from taxes, and let the bookmakers collect taxes on the difference between stakes and payouts - said director Milanović.