Prague slot machine prohibition
In September 2020 Prague City Council decided to forbid all technical gambling games in the capital. Even with a licence, the ban—which covers slot machines—applicates to all places.
The prohibition covering the city was scheduled to take effect in 2024. With the longest of these lasting to current year, venues might thus keep providing technical games through to the end of their licenses.
December saw slot machines still in use and in place. Prague sources, meanwhile, claim that machine removal from venues has been continuous since the beginning of the year. A few remained in place up till the end of January.
iGB contacted the department of gaming control to get confirmation that the ban went into force on January 1. This implies venues cannot lawfully provide slot machine gaming.
Furthermore mentioned by department director Martin Šabo were authorities starting to enforce the prohibition as early as 2021. Those establishments with extended licences, however, have been able to keep running machines during that period.
Legal and easily available slot machines are still seen in licensed venues outside Prague.
Still easily available in Prague are online slots.
The restriction solely covers land-based slots; online gaming are still accessible from Prague. But the same ruling that resulted in the machine ban also changes rules for internet gaming.
Online gambling sites without a licence used to be solely regarded as unlawful if they were especially aimed at Czech users. This has since been changed to any live, nationally accessible website without a licence. December 31, 2023 marks this shift in effect.
Šabo warned in the statement to iGB, though, that reforms in the Czech Republic might not be ending here. Referring to an office review for the protection of economic competition (ÚOHS), this discovered the decree is "not entirely in line with the legal regulations concerning competition law".
"We cannot exclude the possibility that imposed fines may cause future changes in the operation of gambling activities in Prague," Šabo remarked.
Prague officials keep shutting down unlawful activities.
Some venues have been running machines in spite of complete ban implementation. This has prompted actions by Prague customs officials.
An inquiry last month revealed an illegally run gambling establishment in Střížkov in Prague 9. Officers discovered sixteen technically advanced gaming devices running.
Along with cash, technical equipment valued CK1.6m (£53,659/€62,867) were confiscated together with machine reset keys.
Customs officials conducted 76 checks overall last year, finding 14 unlawful locations. Forty-five machines in all were seized.
