The gambling industry continues to expand in Bosnia and Herzegovina. There are 2,343 registered betting shops in the country—two-thirds of which are located in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina—and last year, citizens spent a staggering 1.875 billion convertible marks in betting shops and casinos. Meanwhile, a total of 367 million marks was paid into the entity budgets through various fees and taxes on winnings.
The scale of the problem is particularly evident in Banja Luka, where certain streets have earned the nickname “Banja Luka’s Las Vegas.” On one such street, not far from the city center, there are six betting shops within a span of just about a hundred meters, with a seventh one already in the works.
According to data from the Republic Administration for Games of Chance, there are 741 registered betting shops in Republika Srpska, along with 869 locations offering slot machine games and 1,429 locations for electronic games. Revenue from fees for organizing games of chance and taxes on winnings has increased compared to 2020, further illustrating the extent to which this industry is expanding.
Against this backdrop, Milorad Dodik, president of the SNSD, has announced an initiative that would prohibit the opening of new betting shops and casinos, the installation of slot machines in hospitality venues, and the advertising of gambling in the media and on social networks.
However, this announcement has drawn criticism, largely due to the authorities’ previous policies regarding this sector. Banja Luka Mayor Draško Stanivuković describes Dodik’s initiative as hypocritical, pointing out that the City Assembly has rejected his proposal to restrict the operations of betting shops and casinos on 20 separate occasions.
Stanivuković claims that his city administration attempted to increase fees for gambling operators in order to reduce their numbers, but that such proposals consistently met with resistance from the SNSD.
“The SNSD categorically rejected this. We wanted to raise the fees to reduce the number of casinos and betting shops, and ultimately eliminate them entirely from the largest city in Republika Srpska. If you want to get rid of casinos and betting shops, why did you hand these businesses over to your cronies, amend the law in 2019, and create an openly monopolistic system? If you are against this—well, you have been in power in Republika Srpska for 20 years. There are 2,800 such outlets,” stated Stanivuković.
Betting shops in the immediate vicinity of schools
A particular concern is the accessibility of betting shops to minors and their proximity to educational institutions. Research by Detektor has revealed that dozens of betting shops are located in the immediate vicinity of primary and secondary schools. While the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina mandates a minimum distance of 100 meters, no such legal restriction exists in Republika Srpska.
Denis Džidić, Director of BIRN BiH, also highlights the ties between certain political factions and the gambling industry, which complicates the adoption of effective regulations. “Through the media, it is very well known that the measures of certain ruling structures are connected to certain bookmakers, such as HDZ and other large parties, and it is natural for such parties to block the regulation of the market. It is a market of several million marks a year,” Džidić warned.
Apart from financial and political interests, the consequences of gambling on young people are becoming an increasingly serious problem. Džidić warns that the age limit for people who start gambling is dropping drastically, and that children of elementary school age also face this form of addiction.
According to him, there have been cases of children in the sixth grade of elementary school who already start gambling, while some students of the first and second grades show signs of pathological gambling. He also warned about cases of young people who committed suicide because of gambling debts.
Psychologist Marko Romić warns of an additional dimension of the problem, the consequences that one parent’s gambling addiction leaves on the children. Instead of security and stability, children in such families grow up with broken family relationships, loss of trust, and seriously compromised self-confidence and sense of self-worth.
While politicians blame each other for the expansion of the gaming industry, the numbers show just how lucrative a business it is. Almost two billion marks spent in a year, thousands of branches and ever younger people who come into contact with gambling raise the question of how effective the existing laws and supervision are in general in protecting citizens.
