The new Law on Games of Chance was published in the “Official Gazette of RS” no. 18/2020 of 3 March 2020 and entered into force on 11 March 2020, whereas its application has started on 11 April 2020 including the deadlines for operators to adjust their businesses accordingly.

Socially responsible operation

The new law solutions create a more efficient legal framework for socially responsible organisation of games of chance by their operators, including, inter alia, specifying and amending previous advertising methods for games of chance. The advertisements now have to contain prohibitions for minors and warnings on prevention of gambling addiction, while advertising prohibition is also extended to cover the operators in printed and electronic media intended for minors.

The social responsibility objective is also supported by the provision that prescribes minimum distance between the new locations where games of chance are organised and which is 100 meters. This shall only apply to the new locations which are to be approved under the new law.

Prohibitions

The prohibition of further use of right to gambling organisation is more precisely defined i.e. it is stipulated that a legal transaction or other act whereby such transfer has been done shall be null, which increases legal certainty.

It is now clearly stipulated that the root of the words, i.e. words “casino”, “cazino”, “kasino” or “kazino” may only be used by operators who have valid licence for organisation of games of chance in casinos.

A new prohibition has been introduced for organisation of special games of chance – betting by owners or co-owners of sports clubs as regards the events in that type of sport and competition class, for the purpose of preventing possible misuse.

Also, it is prohibited to keep slot machines or tables that were approved by the Authority and which have not been put to use in the premises where special games of chance are organised, as well as to keep the equipment for organisation of games of chance – betting i.e. slot machine games in the premises where special games of chance are organised and which does not enable storage, archiving and exchange of data electronically through Authority’s software.

Video surveillance

Video surveillance obligation has been extended to slot clubs and betting shops and it is now prescribed that an operator shall be bound to keep the recordings for 30 days or longer upon Authority’s order.

Activity registration

Operators of special games of chance shall be obliged to register betting and gambling as their prevailing activities.

Share capital

The minimum amount of share capital has been uniformed for all operators of special games of chance except for casinos (EUR 1,000,000), i.e. the share capital value has been increased to EUR 250,000 for each individual licence. The new law also introduced a requirement of share capital accumulation for operators of special games of chance on slot machines, betting and online gambling. Therefore, if an operator organises games in all three of the above sectors, his cumulative share capital shall be EUR 750,000.

Information and communication system

The operators who organize special games of chance on slot machines, betting and online gambling shall be obliged to use information and communication systems that ensure storage, archiving and electronic exchange of data through Authority’s software, for the purpose of surveillance.

Lottery games in goods and services

Duration of lottery games in goods and services has been extended from 30 to 45 days, whereas an operator may not organise two lottery games simultaneously.

The number of lottery games in one year has been increased so that legal entities and entrepreneurs shall be allowed to organise lottery games in goods and services for the purpose of advertising four times during one calendar year instead of two times as under the previous law.

The request for lottery game organisation shall be submitted to the Games of Chance Authority no later than 30 days prior to the start of lottery game.

The operator who obtained the approval shall be obliged to publish the rules of the game minimum 8 days prior to the game start, instead of previous 15 days, in minimum one daily paper distributed on the entire territory of the Republic of Serbia and to provide the evidence of publishing to the Authority within 3 days upon the day of publishing.

In addition, the deadline for reporting to the Authority as regards the results of the lottery game has been extended to 30 days instead of previous 15 days.

Compliance with the law

The operators shall be bound to comply their business to the provisions of the new law within 15 months after the outset of its application i.e. until 10 July 2021.

This article is to be considered as exclusively informative, with no intention to provide legal advice.
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