Bratislava city council fights against gambling

Many casinos and gambling clubs are open non-stop in Bratislava, but as of 2016 their opening hours might be cut short, as the City Council plans to vote on a proposal that should limit opening hours from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm in all boroughs of Bratislava. This was reported in a Tuesday story by the SME daily. The vote will probably take place in November, when three fifths of the councillors present will have to vote in favour of the proposal in order for it to be approved. Bratislava may lose € 3.8 million in levies and administrative fees by the introduction of this measure as of January 2016. "As much as 85 percent of gambling houses' revenues come after 10:00 pm. Such a limitation might cause them to go bankrupt", said Juraj Daniel, spokesperson for the Games and Entertainment Association and the Videogames Operators Association. Gambling has been intensively discussed since May of this year, when the city council and city boroughs launched a petition to ban the activity. It will be possible to sign the petition until the end of 2015, and the move will be successful if at least 120,000 signatures are obtained. The petition should serve as support in negotiations with the Government about the boroughs' ability to regulate gambling on their territory on their own. Brno (the Czech Republic) and Vienna have already banned gambling, while Prague is also due to discuss such a proposal soon. "The problem is that gambling clubs are usually based in the most lucrative parts of the town, where they actually devalue the city's environment", said Veronika Remišová, a legislator from Bratislava Old Town Borough Council. Gambling addiction also poses a problem. Last year, 350 people were voluntarily treated for gambling addiction. According to the European Commission's statistics, 5.5 percent of Europeans are addicted to this activity.