The Prague Posts reports that the Czech government has approved tougher regulations on gambling and online gambling, including tax hikes that go as high as 35 percent.
“The government today adopted important instruments for more consistent regulation of gambling in our country. This is yet another important fulfilled pledge from the government’s policy statement,” said Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka.
The Finance Ministry, which has prepared the bills, expects them to help cut significantly the number of gaming machines in the eastern European nation and reduce gambling. The proposed higher taxation should also bring more money to the state coffers.
The bills reduce the number of gaming machines in certain localities, impose loss limits, ban gaming machines in restaurants and bars and introduce a special monitoring system to guard against problem and underage gamblers.