More than 60 Percent of Gamblers lost Money on Betting: BiH has the most registered Betting Shops in Europe – Sarajevo Times

The latest data from Brazil show that gambling as a habit and addiction knows no bounds. More than 60 percent of the inhabitants of this country who bet on a match or sports game lost money. In order to prevent its residents from becoming addicted to sports betting and online games, but also to fill the budget with taxes that betting companies must pay to the state, based on the revenues generated, at the end of December last year, the Government of Brazil passed a law that prescribes the taxation of betting companies, but they still need to pass a series of regulations so that the entire law becomes applicable in practice. The government plans to give these companies until the end of the year to regulate the area. The popular Tigrinho game could soon be regulated, along with many others.

Expected nearly two billion in taxes

According to the Ministry of Finance, the expected inflow of money from taxes this year will amount to around one billion and 970 million euros. During the last year, betting companies in this country in the sector achieved an income of 120 billion Brazilian reals, which is close to 20 billion euros, and represents an increase of as much as 71 percent compared to 2020.

This enormous profit, which is a consequence of the devastating statistics that about two million Brazilians are addicted to betting and online games, and that this country is the third in the world, behind America and England, in terms of spending on betting, has attracted the attention of official institutions that have decided to stop it in the end, but also to fill the state coffers.

A study by the Brazilian Society of Retail and Consumption (SBVC) shows that 23 percent of gamblers stopped buying clothes, 19 percent stopped shopping at the market, and 11 percent did not spend on health and medicine.

The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies gambling addiction as a mental disorder, characterized by an uncontrollable desire to continue gambling, regardless of the economic consequences on one’s budget.

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is the country with the most registered betting shops in Europe with more than 3,200 payment places that generate enormous revenues, but most of them do not pay taxes.

As it was written earlier, betting shops operating in the territory of the Federation last year had an income of an incredible 597 million and 950 thousand BAM, at the same time they paid a little less than 30 million BAM in taxes to the budget. Tax debts of betting shops in the Federation of BiH (FBiH) amount to about 49 million BAM. It is almost impossible to forcibly collect these funds because, in accordance with the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court, it is not possible to confiscate the property of the owner, but only of the legal entity. And the betting shops themselves usually have no assets.

50,000 pathological gamblers in BiH

In the Republika Srpska (RS) entity, there are 804 betting shops managed by 20 companies. Also, these companies have 164 betting machines spread across RS.

Revenues from fees for organizing games of chance in the budget of RS as of November 22nd, 2023 amounted to 95.6 million BAM.

“We still don’t talk about gambling as the problem it really is. Some estimates say that in BiH more than 500 thousand people visit betting shops and gamble every day, and that of that number some 50 thousand are pathological gamblers. Which means that they are people who have developed a gambling addiction,” says Sanela Pekic from the Association for the Prevention of Addiction NARKO-NE Sarajevo, Forbes writes.

E.Dz.