Rudolf Huliak, the Minister of Sports and Tourism in Slovakia, has presented a set of amendments to the country's gambling laws. The regulations, which opened the online gambling market in 2019, offer greater advantages to gambling operators than to customers, as Huliak points out.
Main proposals
Huliak wants to ban the advertising of gambling to welfare recipients, individuals with alimony payments due, or people with tax debts, as an additional step to his other proposed revisions. He also wants the national lottery operator, TIPOS, to assist in allocating funds toward public and social projects.
“We are not here to promote the gambling industry – we are here to control it,” he said. “Illegal operators exploit loopholes, target vulnerable citizens, and channel profits offshore. Meanwhile, regulated platforms face burdensome compliance with little protection from competition. That’s unsustainable.”
“Our goal is a clean, accountable, and socially responsible gambling environment. Strengthening TIPOS is not about state control for its own sake – it’s about ensuring that profits generated from gambling are reinvested in Slovak communities, not lost to foreign markets. This amendment is the first step in realigning the system toward public interest, rather than private enrichment.”
Opposition
Opposition groups, including the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), claimed that the minister was putting forward himself as a reformer while seeming to evade issues of taxation and consumer protection. It is alleged that there are gaps between the tax rate and the amount collected from licensed operators, prompting a parliamentary inquiry into the matter.