Jana Mravíková to take the helm at Slovakia’s gambling regulator
Mravíková replaces Martin Bohoš as director general of the ÚRHH.
Slovakia.- Jana Mravíková has taken over as director general of the Slovakian Gambling Regulatory Authority (ÚRHH), stepping into the role vacated by Martin Bohoš at the start of the month. She is a former director of the Slovakia Department of Finance and Economics. Bohoš will continue to work with the regulator.
The change in leadership follows the presentation of the regulator’s 2024 annual report, in which Bohoš expressed the need for regulatory changes to respond to the growth of online gambling and illegal offerings. As noted in our interview with Bohoš in the final weeks of his tenure, online gambling has grown considerably in Slovakia, as it has in the rest of Europe.
Bohoš has stressed that although online casino growth had boosted state revenues, it also presented challenges and required the ÚRHH to enhance self-exclusion controls and supervision of intervention with vulnerable consumers. He also highlighted concerns about unlicensed gambling – the ÚRHH added 89 platforms to its blacklist in 2024, bringing the total list of blocked platforms to over 820.
Rise of online gambling in Slovakia
The ÚRHH annual report shows that Slovakian gambling spend reached €24.2bn in 2024, a rise of 14 per cent year-on-year. Online gambling generated bets of €12.8bn and land-based gambling €8.92bn (€6.14bn from gaming halls and €2.78bn from casinos).
The online sector contributed winnings of €11.7bn, while online casino player losses reached €480m. Losses via land-based gambling were also €480m. Meanwhile, gambling taxes totalled €347m, up by €46m year-on-year.
While online gambling saw double-digit growth, land-based casinos and gaming halls saw mixed results. Gaming halls, which are run under government contracts, took €6.14bn in bets in 2024 and paid out €5.8bn, resulting in net losses of €340m. That led to a 5 per cent fall in their contributions to the state (€58.95m) in spite of stable player engagement.
Bohoš told legislators he expects the land-based gambling sector to continue to face challenges due to local government restrictions, such as the ban on gambling venues in Bratislava, and changing consumer habits while the growth of online gambling is expected to continue and to create more competition.
