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Prague 1 wagers slots ban

City officials must approve bid to stop 'gambling boom'

By Kimberly Ashton
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
November 14th, 2007 issue

KURT VINION/THE PRAGUE POST
A ban would mean a tough beat for districts: Prague 1 alone scores 34 million Kč a year from machines.
As gambling continues to mushroom in Prague, City Hall and individual districts are mobilizing to restrict the growing number of slot machines.
“The main reason is that it is a social issue — gambling and related crime and prostitution,” says Alexandr Koráb, spokesman for Prague 1, which is behind the fight to ban the machines completely in the city center.
“We have roughly 800 slot machines in Prague 1 and now there are altogether 7,550 slot machines in Prague,” he says.
Prague 1 Council resolved Nov. 5 to ban slot machines but the resolution must be approved by the City Assembly at its next meeting, according to Koráb.
City Hall spokeswoman Eva Kubátová says that an ordinance dealing with slot machines is being prepared, but she declined to give specific information about what it might contain.
“We’re not considering a total ban. Preparing the ordinance, we’re taking into account the demands of each city part. Prague 1, for instance, demands a total ban,” she says.
“[Other] municipalities are foremost addressing [the need] to limit the negative influences primarily on children and youth associated with this sort of activity, for example, the risk of a gambling addiction, robberies to obtain the necessary financial resources,” Kubátová says.
Rudolf Blažek, the city’s deputy mayor, says the main goal of the ordinance is to stop what he considers to be a gambling boom.
“At present, it’s almost common that gambling machines are near schools and other inappropriate places,” Blažek says.
Gambling hurts society in other ways, too, Kubátová says.
“An addiction may lead to an impaired personality, the breakup of families and sometimes even termination of one’s life due to an unsolvable, complicated living situation,” she says.
Both Kubátová and Koráb say they haven’t received any reactions from owners of herna bars, or gambling bars, who would be primarily affected by the bill. “The [city] council only received a few questions from those operating gambling machines in regard to the content of the ordinance,” Kubátová says.
Any restriction would have financial implications for individual districts. Koráb says Prague 1 alone receives up to 34 million Kč ($1.9 million) a year from gambling proceeds.
“If this [ban] happens, it has to be incorporated into the 2008 budget,” Koráb points out. “But Prague 1 is not living off [this money]. For example, we receive some 500 million to 600 million Kč from leasing nonresidential spaces, just to give you an idea.”
Prague 2 Mayor Jana Černochová says her district, which wants to reduce the number of hernas by 40 percent, would lose about 20 million Kč. “We will definitely miss this amount, but I am sure, on the other hand, that we will definitely improve the life and atmosphere in Prague 2.”
Overdue effort
Senator Josef Novotný, a longtime opponent of unrestricted gambling, says that, while he appreciates the city’s most recent efforts to reduce the machines, it’s late in coming. “The number of tourists visiting the Czech Republic seems to be dropping slightly. Hernas and casinos are pushing stores and services out of town, and visitors also usually detest [gambling establishments],” he says.
Dr. Karel Nešpor, a psychiatrist at Bohnice Psychiatric Hospital in Prague 8, also says City Hall should have acted much earlier.
“It is a great problem,” he says. “The situation in the general population is not known. Only a small fraction of gamblers seek help.”
Nešpor told The Prague Post this summer that the number of gambling addicts needing inpatient treatment jumped more than 45 percent between 1999 and 2004.
They are usually addicted to slot-machine gambling and sports betting because of availability and marketing, he says.
The easy access to gambling machines is plain to anyone who has walked down Prague streets at night, with neon herna signs beckoning every several meters.
“There are more than 600 companies in the Czech Republic that focus on gambling,” Novotný says. “This number is still growing.”
Crackdown
So far, the government has been loath to rein in the industry; last year, the Senate did not approve an amendment that would restrict gambling. But that seems to be changing. Now, Novotný says, “support [for such laws] has definitely grown. … For example, the Senate refused tax relief for the gambling industry.”
Even the owners of gambling establishments are willing to support tougher rules, if only to avoid a total ban on gambling, he says. This trend seems to be gathering strength.
“I am quite happy with the way things have developed this year. We have managed to drag the public’s attention to this problem, we have managed to set up an association of towns and municipalities against gambling and together we are currently finishing a new amendment, even tougher than the previous one,” Novotný says.
— Naďa Černá and Hela Balínová contributed to this report.

Kimberly Ashton can be reached at kashton@praguepost.com


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