The city of Bihać is the only local community in the Una-Sana Canton that, a little over a year ago, adopted a decision to introduce a mandatory municipal tax for organizers of games of chance.
After much opposition from the betting lobby in the city and subsequent court proceedings, this decision was finally implemented recently, and the city budget will be able to collect about one million marks in revenue annually from the collection of these taxes. It should be noted that the decision covers all types of games of chance, from slot machines to classic and electronic games of chance, as well as the premises where the organizers are located.
The mayor of Bihać, Elvedin Sedić, says that not everything went smoothly with this decision, because one of the betting shops initiated court proceedings before the Cantonal Court in Bihać, stating that the decision on the disputed taxes is illegal. This court, however, determined that the decision made by the Bihać City Council was unanimous, in accordance with higher legal regulations, which was subsequently confirmed by the Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“The decision of the Supreme Court has shown that Bihać’s fight for fairer tax treatment is justified. The fact is that organizers of games of chance collect hundreds of millions of marks thanks to the addiction of our citizens, while at the same time giving nothing to the state and the cities in which they operate,” said Sedić.
He emphasizes that this is not about banning games of chance, but about an effort to return part of the money that leaves citizens’ pockets every day to the local community through the tax system.
“This is not about restricting the rights of citizens to dispose of their money, but about a fairer distribution of income. We believe that it is justified for an industry that makes huge profits to participate in financing the local community from which it draws its profits,” said Sedić. According to the official records of the competent city services in Bihac, ten legal entities have been registered that have one or more payment points in the city area, and are engaged in organizing games of chance.
“Whoever wants to do business in Bihać, let them respect the rules of this community. The money we collect, we will invest in projects that will be known to have been financed with money from betting shops,” said Sedić. As we learn, the example of Bihać will be followed in the near future by some other local communities in the Una-Sana Canton, where similar decisions on taxes are being prepared, Nezavisne writes.
