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The government's draft law on the return of games of chance was approved on Monday by the Legislative Committee with only the votes of the majority, even though its deputies as well as those of the opposition expressed reservations about its implementation, Albanian media report.
The government plans to reintroduce games of chance five years after it passed a law banning them. Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance, Vasilika Vjero, admitted that the legal ban had led to informal operation.
"The goal is to formalize it, to tax it," she told deputies.
Changes in the draft law on games of chance foresee the return of sports betting only online, the right to exercise this activity for only 10 operators, and their selection through a special commission.
Democratic Party deputy Dhurata Çupi said the government is openly admitting the failure of closing bets in 2018 and raised a series of criticisms about the project, including the lack of an analysis of the current gaming market, social impact, data security, etc.
"A comprehensive analysis of the factors that led to this failure and a financial analysis of the effects of this failure are missing from the report," she emphasized, adding that this analysis would help prevent a failure of the new scheme.
Çupi also noted that the government has not provided a report on the entities currently engaged in this activity, such as casinos and the national lottery.
"The current performance of the activity, the volume of circulation in this market by these entities, the increase in revenues in these five years since the closure of other games of chance remain unclear and unexplained," she said.
Socialist deputy Fatmir Xhafa had the same request for the ministry.
"How did we completely close games of chance because they are in casinos?" he asked, questioning the ministry, "What are the monetary values and how much has the state gained until 2022, and have there been any measures against them?"
The Socialist deputy also raised questions about the need to reintroduce bets after 5 years and the lack of an analysis by the government of the financial and social impact of their closure.
"The report does not explain it, but one of the key factors was the identification of social problems. What has changed in these years that bets are being reopened?" he asked the ministry representative.
He also raised questions about the guarantee provided by the project for the closure of illegal activities. "How likely is it that we will have two types of activities, legal and illegal?" he said.
Xhafa also called for stronger licensing criteria and higher tariffs.
Match-fixing through sponsorship by betting companies was another concern of Socialist deputies.
"What additional measures will we take to minimize match-fixing?" Xhafa asked, while deputy Eduart Ndreca called it "putting a noose around our necks."
"Don't rush and don't understand what damage you're doing," Ndreca said.
The ministry representative said that non-deductible taxes and strong criteria for licensing companies and their shareholders were envisaged. She strongly advocated the creation of a special fund to be created with revenues from this sector to finance sports, educational, and social projects.
Responding to Xhafa, Vjero said there are seven casinos across Albania and regarding their contribution to the budget, she added, "they are 3.1 billion lekë for 2022."