More than three quarters of Slovenians place their sporting bets with foreign providers, which do not have the concessions to perform such activities in Slovenia and do not pay taxes. That’s a great loss for Slovenian sport, Slovenia’s disabled people’s organizations and the state budget, said Branko Zorman, an MP from the ruling SMC party at today’s press-conference. He said that it should be made possible, as quickly as possible, for the foreign betting platforms to be able to operate legally on the Slovenian market, which would bring in additional income and provide more safety for Slovenia’s gamblers. Mr. Zorman also announced that he filed an official proposal for amendments to the Gaming Act.

According to Zorman’s calculations, Slovenian gamblers place between 150 and 250 million euros worth of bets abroad every year. That means that every year Slovenia is left without concession fees ranging between 5 and 13,5 million euros, as well as additional millions of euros only from taxes, which cannot be calculated as they depend on the winning sums, Zorman explained. The additional income would help Slovenia’s sports organizations, represented by the Foundation of Sport (FŠO), and the disabled people’s and humanitarian organizations represented by FIHO foundation.

The draft amendments would open the Slovenian market to all sports betting organizations which operate or have their headquarters in the European Economic Area, and in return they would provide Slovenia with additional income.