Gambling Comes Under Pressure in the Czech Republic
Key Takeaways
  • Gambling has been included with alcoholism and drug addiction as targets of the Czech government’s anti addiction strategy.
  • The emphasis on gambling follows last week’s proposals from the Czech Finance Minister Andrej Babiš to increase gaming taxes from the current level of 20% to between 30% and 40%.
  • The news that another billionaire wants to crack down on gambling—Babiš is worth around $2.4 billion—will not surprise the online poker industry, which has had to suffer the emotional—but factually inaccurate—propaganda put out over the last year by the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling (CSIG).

Gambling has been included with alcoholism and drug addiction as targets of the Czech government’s anti addiction strategy.

National anti-drug coordinator Jindřich Vobořil told journalists that the government wanted to curb access to drugs, alcohol and gambling and to reduce their negative impact.

He quoted a recent European study that said that up to 170,000 adults may have problems with gambling, and that 80,000 may be addicted—out of a population of slightly more than 10 million.