Czech Republic issued new gambling law

The recently approved gambling law regulates online operators, casino licensing process and taxation deals.

Czech Republic.- Last Thursday, Czech Republic President Miloš Zeman closed the gaming regulation debate by signing the Czech Act of 26 May 2016 on Gambling into law. The project was introduced in May and was quickly passed by both legislative national Chambers.

The bill achieved unanimous endorsement by the Senate last month. Although the president had 30 days to sign it, the Czech Act on Gambling received the approval right away. Now, the new gaming framework will enter into force in January 2017. A public statement issued by the government expressed: “Unclear provisions of the new gambling law will be explained and specified to operators in these seminars.”

The Gambling law establishes conditions for the online gaming licensing process, which enables foreign operators to participate and for the tax payment. New tax rates will be of 23 percent of gross gaming revenue for sports betting and lotteries and 35 percent for RNG casino games, on top of the standard 19 percent corporate tax rate.

The government will also be able to block unauthorised online gambling sites. For this reason, official governmental websites suffered hacking attacks by Anonymous as it ended current illegal betting services.

Next July, the Finance Ministry Andrej Babiš will offer a series of workshops in order to address questions concerning the new regulations and present various aspects of the new gambling law. “Some parts of the new gambling law are going to come into force on the day of its promulgation,” he commented.