Find online casinos accepting players from Slovakia.
Almost all forms of gambling activities have been legalized on the territory of Slovakia since 1992 when the country received a sovereign statute. During the time when it formed part of Czechoslovakia, all kinds of gambling activities were subject to tight control and heavy restrictions.
In 2017, a new amendment to the Slovak Gambling Act was brought into force, introducing (among other restrictions) a black list and censorship of the websites of non-licensed gambling operators. Since 2018, pursuant to that act, the Slovak authorities have stepped up enforcement against operators running online gambling activities without a license in Slovakia. In addition, running or advertising of non-licensed foreign gambling games on Slovak territory is subject to rather heavy fines.
In May 2018, a new Gambling Bill was introduced in reaction to increasing popularity of online gambling. The new bill sought to regulate online gambling rather than fight against it by establishing a licensing system for commercial online gambling. Nonetheless, a gambling provider would have had to meet the condition of having its registered office in Slovakia or another EU member state.
Country’s lottery is Tipos, which is run by the government and regarded as the largest operator and provider of online betting services.
Current laws and regulations
Slovakia is currently branding a new gambling act recently set up on March 1, 2019. The new act opens up the market to foreign operators and ended the monopoly on online gambling games, previously held by state-owned lottery operator TIPOS.
The Office for the Regulation of Gambling was also formed as a new dedicated gambling regulator.
The main casino operators in Slovakia are Banco Casino, Casinos Slovakia, CBG (Admiral Casino) and Olympic Casino Slovakia.
Table games, including poker, can exclusively be operated in casinos; except for card games, which can also be operated outside casinos.
All types of gaming machines can only be operated in licensed gaming halls or casinos. However, gambling on gaming machines not located in casinos faces strict limits, such as a maximum wager of €0.10 and the player’s winnings are capped at €5.
Gaming machines outside of Casino operations have a maximum bet set at 10 EUR. Machines within Casinos have no limit for the maximum bet.
Amendments to the country’s gambling act that took force in 2013 allow municipalities to ban gambling activities taking place in their territory, provided a petition is signed by at least 30 percent of the municipality’s population over the age of 18.
Requirements according to law
Slovakian gambling operators are required by law to take all necessary measures to prevent anyone under the age of 18 from taking part in gambling and, as such, can request proof of identification.
The number of brick-and-mortar casinos on the territory of Slovakia exceeds 20 and each one features a decent number of gambling facilities.
The regulatory body in charge of the gambling affairs in Slovakia is the Gambling Committee, overseen by the Ministry of Finance. Its members have the authority of approving law amendments and implementing new gambling-related laws as well as issuing licenses. It seems like the latter is not among their top priorities as the number of licenses granted over the last couple of years is negligible.
The Finance Ministry has not granted a license to any fully operational online casino but it did enable the national lottery to provide certain online gambling products, although their variety is quite limited.
Tipsport is the sole fully licensed online operator in Slovakia.
Enforcement of restrictions and taxation
Slovakia has been regarded as one of the countries where neither players nor operators are supposed to comply with tough restrictions. Yet, Slovakia gambling authorities decided to prosecute and therefore limit the negative impact of the unlicensed betting operators. However, the success of that campaign was sporadic as it attracted opponents and proponents, so residents are still allowed to place their bets at any preferred site.
Slovakian officials decided to withdraw their proposal related to the blocking of unlicensed betting operators. So, the system remained unchanged and Slovakian operators are not allowed to provide online gambling services, while the foreign ones are supposed to pay solid fees in order to be eligible for offering their products in Slovakia.
Due to the fact that Slovakian residents are enabled to place their bets wherever they want, there is a considerable number of operators trying to lure them by providing services in Slovakian language and adopting convenient payment methods that are widespread in the country.
Operators are also supposed to pay tax equal to 27% of the difference between the payoffs and the amount of money generated through bets.
In retrospective, online gambling is permitted but the fact that Slovakian gambling authorities have quite a conservative approach towards granting licenses, makes it impossible a poker site, bingo hall or sportsbook to be established and popularized. Yet, poker is gaining popularity in both formats online and traditional.
The lack of authorized online gambling operators also halts the development of the mobile gaming industry, although a significant number of players access foreign mobile casinos.
