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Advertising, winning companies and lotteries, the "resumption of madness" of online betting in Albania!

2024-02-29 12:39:02Fokus SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Advertising, winning companies and lotteries, the "resumption of
Illustrative photo

Roberta Hasa

" The resumption of stupidity " or otherwise " online sports betting ", was voted on February 15 in the Parliament of Albania with 72 PRO votes and two abstentions.

In the Parliament of Albania, in July 2023, the law for the return of online gambling was filed, with the argument that online betting was exercising its activity in the dark, increasing informality after its closure in 2018, while the budget of the state lost millions of euros.

How will online bets be settled according to the draft law voted by the Assembly?

"On-line" sports bets will be placed on dedicated, authorized and monitorable websites, applications or electronic platforms of licensed entities, in accordance with the provisions of this law, for sports events and/or sports games which will taking place in the future and not involving track races.

It can also be played on the official websites, the applications of licensed entities for the exercise of the "online sports betting" activity.

Advertisements in online and television media

Publicity is allowed to be carried out by licensed gambling organizers in accordance with the rules set forth in this law:

a) in the electronic media;

b) on the authorized online pages of these entities;

c) through the placement of visual materials in public places expressly defined in this law.

Publicity is also allowed to be carried out in the audiovisual media by the organizers of the "online sports betting", "television bingo" and "national lottery" games of chance.

Advertising is allowed to be carried out by the organizers of games of chance of the "casino" category, "casinos located in five-star hotels" and 4 "casino resorts" also in the premises of ports and airports, under the conditions provided for in the relevant regulation, approved by the Licensing Commission.

In the cases allowed for the publicity of the gambling activity, the gambling organizers have the right to carry it out themselves or through contractors,

Who will get the online betting licenses and what criteria must be met?

Any legal entity or association of legal entities, domestic or foreign, that seeks to be granted a license in the "Online Sports Betting" category, must meet the minimum criteria, as follows:

 a) To be a joint-stock company, with headquarters in the territory of the Republic of Albania, registered with the National Business Center, in the object of whose activity is reflected the gambling activity in the category "Online sports betting".

b) The capital amount must be no less than 40,000,000 (forty million) ALL, which value cannot be lower for the entire license validity period.

c) To declare the source of the capital that will be invested for the exercise of the activity for the "Online sports betting" category. 

ç) The applicant entity or, at least, one of its shareholders has experience in the field of gambling in no less than 3 EU/OECD countries and for no less than 3 years.

d) The applicant entity or at least one of the shareholders must have generated in the last financial year at least 2,000,000,000 (two billion) ALL in turnover from activity in the field of gambling and have the appropriate administrative, organizational and appropriate credibility to successfully engage in such activities.

dh) To present the restrictions on changes of ownership of shares for licensees, in accordance with the provisions of this law.

e) To have the agreement with the authorized entity for the use of programs/systems/websites/applications necessary to carry out online sports betting activities.

What is the Gambling Supervisory Authority?

Supervises and controls the activity of entities that organize games of chance, throughout the territory of the Republic of Albania, in accordance with the legislation on this activity and by-laws in force.

Establishes the amount of the fine in cases where it notices a violation of the provisions of this law.

Checks and verifies whether gambling devices are certified by accredited bodies, in accordance with the rules set forth in this law. Certifies the betting equipment, according to the technical specifications, determined by the instructions of the Minister of Finance.

Supervises and controls entities authorized by the Minister of Finance for playing promotional games of chance.

Keeps the register for the entities that exercise this activity and the halls opened by them, throughout the territory of the country, for the number of machines and equipment for each gaming hall and their specific characteristics, the number of employees and their respective qualification, the number of tickets of national lotteries placed on the market and those sold, the number of lots drawn by the organizer of the national lottery and the organizers of televised bingo.

Controls and verifies the income and profit of licensed entities in gambling, as well as the repayment of tax obligations by them, reconciled in cooperation with the General Directorate of Taxes and its branches in the districts.

Notifies the General Directorate of Taxes of all data related to taxation.

AMLF inspectors impose a fine, block the activity and seize gambling equipment, when a natural or legal person conducts activity in the field of gambling in violation of the provisions of this law or without the relevant license issued by the authority of authorized for its delivery.

How will the licenses be obtained and how much will be allowed?

Under the new law, the license to offer online betting will be limited, in the whole country no more than 10 licenses will be issued.

The applicant entity or, at least, one of its shareholders has experience in the field of gambling in no less than 3 EU/OECD countries and for no less than 3 years.

It must also have generated in the last financial year at least 2,000,000,000 (two billion) ALL of turnover from activity in the field of gambling.

It must also be a joint-stock company with headquarters in the territory of Albania and be registered with the CKB, in the object of activity for games of chance in the "Online sports betting" category. 

Advertisements of casinos, 5-star hotels and in ports and airports

In the same way, publicity is allowed to be carried out by the organizers of games of chance of the category "casino", "casinos located in five-star hotels" and "casino resort" also in the premises of ports and airports, under the conditions provided for in the relevant regulation, approved by the Licensing Commission.

Signs pointing to casinos in 5-star hotels or casino reports are allowed

It is also allowed to place visual materials, signs or orientation boards by the organizer of games of chance of the category "casino", "casinos located in five-star hotels" and "casino resort", only at the central entrance to the casino.

In any case, the sign may contain only the name or brand of the casino and the direction arrow pointing towards the entrance of the casino.

The risks of opening online betting according to economic experts

Zef Preçi : Among the risks that I think the law already has and everyone can see are the very low rate of profitability of the public sector.

If 100 lek circulating in this market, only a few pennies end up in the Budget. Then a big question arises over the international reports of the last decade that consider this sector as one of the most important for money laundering activities that come from the activity of organized crime, corruption, drugs, etc.

Carrying the decision-making power for monitoring, licensing to an ad hoc body and avoiding the state monopoly on this activity leaves a path for clientelism, favoritism, corruption, that is to continue the same phenomena as before the closure.

Arben Malaj : I appreciate the process since it has been almost five years since this activity has been informal. We know that the informal market has not closed and more criminal money has remained outside the formalization of the market. So a day or so ago it should be formalized and we get some important income that is used for the education of the players, the support of sports and culture.

The selection of companies will not be easy. Interventions by those who have had bets before are not excluded. Very important is the company that will be chosen to monitor these businesses.

This requires a very serious company with great responsibility, while the forms of cooperation may be different.

We remind you that sports lotteries in our country were closed on January 1, 2019, but online ones illegally have continued.

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