Gambling Law: Opposition and experts on one side, SDA and HDZ on the other

Head of the SDA Club in the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Ismet Osmanović said tonight in the show 'Answer the People' on FTV that he expects the House of Peoples of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to adopt the amendments to the Gambling Law at its session on Thursday.

The same wish was expressed by the head of the HDZ BiH club in the House of Representatives, Jozo Bagarić.

The controversial Law has sparked many debates in the public in recent months. The Gambling Law is one of the main obstacles among coalition partners SDA and HDZ BiH, which is why the government in the Federation has not been functioning at full capacity since last summer. The proposed amendments to this law will be presented to the delegates of the House of Peoples on Thursday, and then to the representatives in the House of Representatives of the Federal Parliament.

There are numerous criticisms from both the opposition and economic experts regarding the new Government's Gambling Law.

Dženan Đonlagić, head of the DF club in the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said in the show on FTV that one of the key objections of his party to the amendments to the Gambling Law is that the Law does not cover all types of games. Đonlagić, who is also a professor at the Faculty of Economics in Sarajevo, reminded that the new law does not provide the same treatment for private gambling organizers and the machines of the Austrian concern Novomatic, of which there are about 1,400 in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Osmanović admitted that the Law does not treat Novomatic machines, but said that it is certainly a „domestic company, because it has a subsidiary company in Bosnia and Herzegovina“. 

Head of the SDP Club in the Federal Parliament Elvir Karajbić warned that the new Government's Gambling Law will lead to an outflow of players to online betting shops or to the other entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska, which is why neither the Government nor the game organizers from the Federation will benefit.

Director of the Lottery of Bosnia and Herzegovina Edhem Pašukan also warns of the harmfulness of the new Government's Gambling Law. He said in the show 'Answer the People' that it is not clear to him why the Government is passing a law that will harm the Lottery of Bosnia and Herzegovina, even though this company is state-owned, Patria reports.