Slovakian Gambling Market Analysis With WH Partners and Playtech
Slovakia will follow new gambling rules after the parliament overrode the president’s veto and adopted the new law on gambling. A total of 86 deputies voted for the change, supported by some opposition MPs also. This will increase the protection of gamblers, adding the rules for running gambling games on the Internet.
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Slovakia’s parliament has passed the new gambling act prepared by the Ministry of Finance, which will open the Slovak market for foreign operators, including operators with a registered office outside of Slovakia.
The new act became effective on March 1, 2019, except for some provisions which will be effective as of 1 June 2019 and we have seen a lot of movements in the market.
One of the most important changes is private domestic companies, as well as companies from the European Union, will be able to apply for online gambling licenses.
The law also introduces more measures to protect gamblers. The minimum number of gambling machines in one gambling house will increase to 15 machines. In addition, gambling in these houses will be banned between 3:00 and 10:00. (You can read the European Gaming Briefing on Slovakia here.)
Partypoker announced their exit from the market last week. As of Thursday, February 28, the company has stopped accepting players from Slovakia and will implement geo-blocking to prevent the play from existing customers, reported Czech poker site Poker-Arena.
The third edition of Prague Gaming Summit will include a special panel discussion which is titled “Focus on the Slovakian market regulation and decrypting Poland's licensing procedures” and will be joined by industry experts of the region such as Michał Sałajczyk (Associate, Bird & Bird Poland), Stefan Švec (Sales Director, Playtech), and Dr. Robert Skalina (Senior Advisor, WH Partners).
The panel will be moderated by Andrius Gabnys (Managing partner/Attorney-at-Law, Gabnys Law).
About Stefan Švec
Štefan Švec is an industry professional with over 11 years of experience in the retail and online gaming space. Focusing on Central and Eastern European countries, he has co-created several successful projects as Doxxbet and CardCasino and consulted to local market leaders as Synot or Slovmatic. Started as an operator of Poker cardroom in Slovakia and went from Online product manager, Head of products to Head of Sales, Consultant, and Managing Director. Two years ago he has joined Playtech, the world biggest supplier of gaming products and services, where he leads the sales efforts in Eastern and Central Europe included CIS. He is mostly responsible to develop new Tier1 opportunities, to establish new business prospects and investments possibilities across the region.
About Dr. Robert Skalina
Dr. Robert Skalina is a Czech Advocate as well as a Registered European Lawyer in Malta. He is based in Prague and works in Malta regularly.
He is a financial service and corporate lawyer and provides advice to a wide range of investment managers, advisors and funds, including private equity and hedge funds. Robert also regularly advises clients in the gaming/gambling industries and has vast experience in the area of mergers and acquisitions and complex cross border transactions.
Robert has previously held the position of head of legal of a London based investment advisor active throughout EMEA region. Prior to that, he served as legal counsel for the largest retail bank in the Czech Republic.
Robert graduated with an LLM cum laude from the London School of Economics. He holds a Master of Laws degree from the Charles University in Prague. He provides advice in English, Czech and Slovak.
Do not miss this opportunity to attend the leading conference in the region which offers the option for both new companies and veterans, to learn about industry insights and compliance updates, while also take part in several industry related discussions with the leading groups that are at the forefront of the gambling industry in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Austria, Switzerland, and Germany.
You can Register here or View the Agenda
About Prague Gaming Summit
The yearly summit offers the opportunity for both new companies and veterans, to learn about industry insights and compliance updates, while also take part in several industry related discussions with the leading groups that are at the forefront of the gambling industry in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, and Liechtenstein.
Panel discussion lead by the leading experts of the gambling industry, will approach all regulatory and compliance related aspects of the mentioned markets and will also highlight some trending topics such as the relationships between Regulators, Operators - Affiliates, MasterCard's new requirements for Online Merchants (CFD, FX, Gaming, Crypto), understanding millennials (with emphasis on eSports, Daily Fantasy Sports an Virtual Sports), outsourcing for gaming companies, IT security, AML, KYC, CSR.
The program will also include a very important IMGL MasterClass that will aim to share the latest insights by the International Masters of Gaming Law experts about advertisement banning.
The conference is held on a yearly basis and it is a “must-attend” gathering for all industry shareholders who are looking for top quality learning and networking having the online and land-based gambling industry in focus.
Full details about the event can be found on the official event website: www.praguegamingsummit.com
About the organizer, European Gaming Media and Events
European Gaming Media and Events is a leading media and boutique event organizer company in Europe and produces the prominent conferences in the region such as:
- (Central and Eastern European Gaming Conference)
- CEEG Awards (Central and Eastern European Gaming Awards)
- Prague Gaming Summit
- Mare Balticum Gaming Summit
- Baltic and Scandinavia Gaming Awards
- EGC (European Gaming Congress)
- VIGE (Vienna International Gaming Expo)
The live events/conference division is in charge of organizing boutique style executive gaming events that focus on bringing inside information from the top gaming experts in the European Union and beyond.
In short, they cover most areas of Europe with international events that serve the local and global industry, optimize networking opportunities and bring the hottest topics into scope.
The event destinations in 2019 will include a further expansion for the company in their quest to enter the Western European region and bring their expertise to produce local gaming events.
For more details about the calendar, agendas and locations, visit the Live Events/Conferences section on europeangaming.eu
