The Minister of Education and Sports, Evis Kushi, held a meeting today with the head of the AFF, Armando Duka, after the latter's request for the reopening of sports betting and the profit from them to go to investments in sports.
The government categorically rules out the opening of sports betting halls, but are open to talking about their return online.
"We categorically rule out the recurrence of the catastrophe of gambling halls, bingo and betting, as well as the negative consequences of this social phenomenon in Albanian families, but in the meantime we want to hear more about the possibility of formalizing the digital market." it is said in Kushi's post on social networks.
Kushi admits that today in Albania sports betting operates on the black market, but according to her, this is a problem across the globe. In the following days, the Minister announces that she will hold meetings with representatives of other sports federations and interest groups.
Full post:
I have consistently followed closely the recent discussions by various representatives of the sports community regarding the issue of reopening sports betting. Of course, their claims about the black market of betting are not baseless, there have even been police operations in this regard. But meanwhile we are aware that all over the world, even in the most developed countries, the problem of the digital black market of sports betting is very sensitive.
We categorically rule out the recurrence of the catastrophe of gambling halls, bingo and betting, as well as the negative consequences of this social phenomenon in Albanian families, but in the meantime we want to hear more about the possibility of formalizing the digital market.
Therefore, we started today a hearing with representatives of the Albanian Football Federation, in order to exchange our opinions and attitudes in the spirit of dialogue and cooperation on the law of sponsorships and other issues related to sports.
The Ministry of Education and Sports has shown continuous support for the development of sports in the country and such meetings are useful to move forward together and to undertake policies that guarantee a dignified sport. In the coming days we will hold hearings with representatives of other sports federations and interest groups.