Czech gambling market prospers in 2016

The Czech Ministry of Finance has unveiled 2016 statistics showing that the country’s overall gambling market delivered the local equivalent of US$1.78 billion in revenues in 2016, a 29 percent year-on-year increase achieved despite operator complaints of high taxation.

The state’s take on these revenues rose 38 percent y-o-y to CZK 10.5 billion, the report reveals.

Discussing the improvements, deputy finance minister Ondřej Závodský attributed the improved business at least in part to successful government enforcement actions against illegal unlicensed operators.

Závodský including some 2017 numbers in his enforcement claim, pointing to the shuttering of some 300 illegal betting shops this year, which has reduced competition with legal and licensed operators.

The deputy minister also detailed actions against unlicensed online operators, resulting in the withdrawal from the Czech market of 52 operators who had not obtained Czech licenses. The government’s enforcement measures have included ISP domain blocking on government directives, he said.

International online gambling operators continue to shun the Czech market, complaining that the tax rate is unreasonably high, and that player registration regulations that require players to physically present themselves at land establishments and produce ID are impractical and clumsy (see previous reports).

So far only five online operators are licensed and active in the Czech market, with PokerStars the only international operator among them.