There aren't too many sectors in this economy or any other that can count on constant growth. However, the gaming industry is an exception. Last year Czechs spent 84.6 billion Kč ($3.4 billion) gambling for an 8.5 percent increase over a year earlier. Kateřina Luisa Daňhelová, general director of Synot Holding, a corporation that includes some of the nation's major gaming providers, talks with The Prague Post about the opportunities and threats facing the industry here. She also reveals how last year's bribery scandal involving the 1.FC Synot soccer club affected the holding and how she would respond to her own children if they asked for gambling money.

Providing gambling games such as betting or electronic roulette is the backbone of business activities for Synot Holding. What do you perceive as the risks or even hazards of these enterprises?

Our activities are directed toward entertaining people. It's a matter of choice — nobody forces people to gamble or play roulette. If they do it, they do it of their own free will and I believe that we provide them with an interesting variety. My personal stance on gambling? I'm not a gambler, but I would rather bet on well thought-out and systematic games. On the other hand, in my position I must make decisions that carry a certain entrepreneurial risk. I do this, however, only when absolutely necessary. In private, I try not to take risky steps, and if you ask me about the lottery, I consider this an ordinary form of entertainment.

ň Synot Holding consists of 41 companies ranging from car dealers and real estate firms to security agencies and lottery companies. What is the main criteria for incorporating a business firm into your holding?

Synot includes a broad range of companies and independent activities, but the entire structure is built with the outlook of diversifying activities over the course of 15 years, which has its own logic. Most of the companies operate different kinds of lotteries including the operation of gaming machines and lotteries licensed by the Finance Ministry. In respect to this, it was necessary to insure other strategic purchases that secured its activities, including the purchase of Synot Real Estate, property and personal security [GAN] and online monitoring of all equipment [SGS]. These individual companies came together under one roof that today we call the holding. It does not mean, however, that we have completed our diversification. Instead we are currently concentrating on the stabilization and growth of those activities in which we are already market leaders. All of these companies provide these and different services not only to the holding but above all to other customers.

Ă The name Synot received unprecedented media attention last spring, after the bribery scandal of 1.FC Synot soccer club kicked off the biggest-ever corruption affair in Czech soccer. How much did this affair harm other companies within the Synot Holding that in fact had nothing in common in soccer? Didn't actually the frequent appearance of the name Synot in the media help attract more attention to your business companies?

The majority of the companies within the holding did not and do not have anything to do with soccer. This is where I see our weakness; we didn't promote our companies well enough, and when this so-called affair broke out, somebody said Synot equals soccer which equals corruption. We considered 1. FC Synot only as a marketing tool; it was never a dominant area of our business. And whether the affair helped us? I know that, sometimes, even bad publicity is considered good publicity, but that isn't always true. I believe that the name Synot, which the majority of companies in the holding use, creates publicity because of its results.

Ő The Czech Republic ranks fourth in Europe in terms of the volume of people's expenditures on gambling. Why do you think the gambling industry is so successful in this country?

It's a game, a thrill — it entices people. Maybe they are enticed by winning more than by betting. The Czech market has a lot to offer. Personally, I don't expect any overwhelming growth in the gambling industry. Rather than that, I see that other forms of gambling and betting will open up, for instance over the Internet and with other modern technologies.

ΠIsn't it absurd that so many people here lament about low incomes, but their expenditures on lotteries are constantly growing?

Lotteries aren't the only field that has recorded growth. I think that it's important to perceive lotteries as a part of the economy.

œ What business opportunities for gambling providers do you see in the planned launch of digital TV broadcasting, which will enable viewers to bet via TV sets?

Digitalization is still in its infancy, but it will be possible to use your own television like a computer. Let's not forget, however, that we are still not allowed to bet using the Internet, so digitalization in and of itself doesn't mean much. Legislation needs to be prepared and this always runs a long course. But we would indeed be bad entrepreneurs if we weren't already thinking of these opportunities.

– Online betting via the Internet is growing in this country. How big a threat do foreign betting chains that ignore valid Czech laws when receiving bets from local punters pose to your own business?

We perceive Internet betting, offered by foreign gambling companies and illegal in the Czech Republic, as even larger competition. The market share of Internet betting in the Czech Republic isn't large, but by continually investing into advertising and marketing, as these companies are doing, their market share could potentially rise.

— Talking about the illegal practices of foreign Internet firms, do you think the law should be changed so that they could legally do their business here, or should the Finance Ministry take a harder line to push them out of the market?

We are of the view that a change in the law should end illegal practices, including advertising for these services, or on the other hand liberalize the market and allow Czech betting offices to offer Internet betting. In the case of market liberalization for Czech companies, we will be ready to offer betting services over the Internet to our clients.

" Now let me ask a couple of personal questions. As a mother of two children, how would you respond if they approached you with a request to borrow some money for gambling on electronic roulettes?

That's like if you were to ask if the head of a tobacco corporation would allow his children to smoke. ... First of all, my children aren't 18 and until that time, the law does not allow them to gamble anyway. Once they reach that age and they live on their own, they can do whatever pleases them. If from time to time they would like to gamble for fun, I have nothing against it. There is of course a large difference between entertainment and addiction.

" What was the best and the worst bet that you've ever made yourself?

I only bet on my abilities and that has always paid off.