Slovenia’s National Council veto online gaming bill

The countries current sports betting market consists of a monopoly by Športna Loterija, who are the only company legally allowed to operate sports betting services and Loterija Slovenije, the national lottery operator.

This latest vote contradicts an earlier decision by the National Assembly, which had voted 35-26 in favour of opening up the countries online gaming market in order to help better regulate it.

The failure of the bill to gain the National council’s approval forces the Assembly to vote again on a potentially amended bill that would now require a two-thirds majority to suceed.

Proposals  to open up Slovenia’s market are predominantly driven by the notion that a vast majority of online gambling activity in the country is currently done so through unregulated sites as residents look to use varying sportsbook other than Športna Loterija.

The vetoed bill was first introduced in January 2017 by Branko Zorman, a Slovenian MP who supported claims that 85% of the current revenue generated from sports betting in the country was going to companies outside of the small European nation.

In proposing the bill,  Zorman argued that the country could stand to gain large amounts of revenue from allowing additional sports betting companies to operate in the country; the introduction of regulations would establish €500k annual licensing fees and a share of their revenues.

Stay updated with GI

Follow Gambling Insider for independent news, analysis and industry expertise.

Add as a preferred source on Google

Harrison Sayers

Gambling Writer

Harrison Sayers is a journalist and editorial professional specialising in the gambling and iGaming sector. He began his career at Gambling Insider, where he served first as Editorial Assistant (July 2017 – November 2017) and then as Staff Writer from March 2018 to October 2018, contributing news coverage and industry analysis to both the publication’s digital and print channels.

Since then, he has continued his career in gambling regulation and compliance journalism, working with GamblingCompliance and VIXIO where he covers regulatory issues and industry developments across European and African jurisdictions.

Visit Profile