The Institute for the Regulation of Gambling and Hazardous Habits (IPRHH) has released a detailed report expressing serious concerns about the extent of unlicensed gambling in Slovakia. This report, co-authored by IPRHH and the Institute of Sociology at the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV), is Slovakia's first representative study on illegal online gambling.
The publication titled The Black Book of Illegal Gambling analyzes the mechanisms and potential risks of illegal gambling operations, and lists specific cases of players on unlicensed operator platforms. The core of the report is based on a representative survey of 2,000 adults aged 18 to 75, showing that about 28.2% of adults have participated in online gambling in the past 12 months, equivalent to approximately 1.24 million people.
Of these, 23.7% of players admit to gambling on unlicensed platforms, about 296,000 people; another 24.1% of players are unable to confirm whether the operator is licensed, so the actual number of people potentially gaming on illegal sites could exceed 500,000. The survey reveals that the main reasons players choose unlicensed operators include higher bonuses (32.5%), better odds (29.5%), easier registration (29.1%), more games (27.4%), and higher cumulative jackpots (27%). Only 42.2% of players actively check whether the operator holds a Slovak license.
The report notes that the average monthly betting amount on illegal sites is about 85 euros, with the annual total possibly exceeding 300 million euros; including players who cannot distinguish between legal and illegal platforms, this figure could rise to 600 million euros. Additionally, 43.2% of players are unable to determine whether the operators advertised online are legal, and 17.5% believe that advertisements for unlicensed operators are more common.
The study also warns of the risks of minors being exposed to gambling through virtual paid mechanisms such as loot boxes, as well as the potential issues with influencers actively promoting gambling. Illegal operators do not verify the age of players, making it easy for minors to access gambling content.
IPRHH has made several recommendations, including requiring banks and payment gateways to block payments to illegal platforms, speeding up the administrative blocking process, strengthening the powers of regulatory bodies, simplifying administrative and criminal sanctions against illegal gambling entities, and calling for the elimination of unreasonable fees on deposits to legal gambling accounts to enhance competitiveness. Additionally, it suggests using artificial intelligence to monitor illegal advertisements and content, comprehensively supervising social networks, streaming media, and mobile applications, and establishing a "risk marking" system to quickly identify high-risk players, in cooperation with platforms like Google and Apple, to remove illegal gambling content.
In April this year, Jana Mravíková succeeded Martin Bohoš as the head of the Slovak Gambling Regulatory Authority (ÚRHH). Bohoš pointed out during the release of the 2024 annual report that regulatory reform is urgent to address the growth of online gambling and illegal activities. Although the development of online casinos has increased national revenue, it also brings challenges that require ÚRHH to strengthen interventions for vulnerable groups. He also emphasized the serious issue of unlicensed gambling—by 2024, ÚRHH will have 89 platforms on the blacklist, with the total number of blocked platforms exceeding 820.
