Financial Administration to Track Down Illegal Gambling Websites

Bratislava, July 3 (TASR) – Financial Administration began keeping a closer eye on illegal gambling on the internet as of July 1, with the first list of banned websites due to be released on July 17, followed by updates on a weekly basis, Financial Administration spokesperson Patricia Macikova announced on Monday.

The move has been made possible by legislation that was adopted in Parliament with the support of a vast majority of MPs.

“The global gambling market has developed dynamically in recent years. Legislation has reacted to an expansion of gambling in virtual space and has brought new challenges in terms of supervision,” said Finance Ministry State Secretary Radko Kuruc.

In the first phase, Financial Administration will search for sites with gambling activities that violate the law before calling on them to shut down such practices. If they don’t react within the period stipulated by law, they’ll be placed on a blacklist, and Financial Administration will then ask a court for an injunction to block the sites and payment transactions concerning the related bank accounts.

In addition, the authorities can impose fines amounting to as much as €500,000 for running illegal gambling websites.