Finance minister is under scrutiny

Online gambling has been a significant factor behind the growth of major gaming companies, but police are investigating whether the legalization of the games in 2008 was a gift to the industry from Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek in exchange for a bribe.

Kalousek is being investigated by the anti-corruption police for suspicion of taking a bribe of millions of crowns from Marek Dospiva, the head of Penta Investment, which owns the Fortuna gaming company, in exchange for granting Fortuna a permit for online gambling.

"[Kalousek] has strongly denied the allegations and will be happy to cooperate with police," said Finance Ministry spokesman Jakub Haas. "[He] points out that all of the companies that applied and met the conditions received the authorization, not just one."

The bribe, which allegedly took place when Kalousek was finance minister for the Christian Democratic Party (KDU-ČSL) in Mirek Topolánek's government, is said to have gone through Brno entrepreneur Dušan Novotný, who sent TOP 09, the party Kalousek later founded, a donation of 11 million Kč ($608,500). That money is thought to have come from Penta, which bought a network of pharmacies from Novotný in 2004.

Penta also denies bribery took place. Dospiva told the daily Právo the allegations were spread by former KDU-ČSL Chairman Jiří Čunek, who told Ekonom that Penta had offered up to 10 million Kč for the legalization of Internet betting.

Gaming companies, including Fortuna, Sazka, Synot Tip, Chance and Tipsport, were granted 10-year licenses in 2008 allowing them to operate fixed-odds online games and games based on betting on odds offered by sports bookies.

Online gaming has proved a major driver to boosting profits. Fortuna reported a 2.6 percent rise in net profit in 2010, which company executives said was "positively affected by market growth in the Czech Republic and Slovakia where the share of ... online betting grew."

"Online betting is the trend of present years, and it has increasing dynamics," said BH Securities analyst Petr Hlinomaz. "The advantage is usually a higher frequency of bets, and it is easier for betters to bet anytime and anywhere. … The disadvantages might be lower margins and higher competition."

In 2010, Fortuna generated 23 million euros in gross winnings from its Internet games, or 25 percent of the company's gross winnings, according to Patria analyst Tomáš Sýkora.  

In the Czech Republic, Fortuna's gross win from online betting was 13 million euros last year, or 29 percent of the company's gross win in the country, said Erik Hegedus, an analyst at Wood & Co.

Cat Contiguglia can be reached at
ccontiguglia@praguepost.com