Gambling in the Czech Republic is big business

The overall Czech gambling industry is worth around 138,000,000,000 Czech Korunas (GBP 3,761,890,857)  a year in wagers based on 2014 statistics, and the online and mobile component is growing rapidly, the Prague Post reported this week.

It is estimated that gambling companies in general earned roughly 30,000,000,000 Kč in 2014.

The popularity (and the big money involved) has prompted the government to consider tax opportunities flowing from a licensing and regulatory regime for Internet gambling operators, the newspaper reveals, observing that there are currently no laws specifically targeting online gambling, and no barriers for Czech online punters to gamble with foreign operators.

And they do; the Post goes on to point out:

“Many gamblers in the Czech Republic are realizing they can get better value online. Not only are the odds in the casinos better, but numerous European operators offer websites in Czech or English, and players can deposit in Czech Koruna (CZK), meaning no currency conversions are necessary.”

The Czechs appear to have a strong gambling culture; the country hosts over a hundred strictly regulated brick and mortar casinos which are well patronised.

Revenues continue to climb despite reductions in the number of physical gaming machines – currently around 67,000 are operational across the nation. This is apparently due to the increasing popularity of online and mobile gambling, the newspaper opines, observing that more than 150 online casinos are active and promote their businesses in the Czech market, many Koruna-denominated and with local language support structures.

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