Slovakian Casinos

Slovakia represents a European country located somewhere in the middle between the Western and Eastern European countries. Gambling as an activity in Slovakia started appearing back in the 19th century. This was the period in which horse racing was especially popular among the local residents. The first forms of organized horse race betting took place back in 1840, organized by the “Racing Association”. The first state hippodrome was built back in 1868 in the capital of Bratislava. For a long time horse racing, which is currently under the supervision of the “Turf Direktorium für die Slowakei”, was the only legally organized form of gambling.

The first Slovakia casinos started appearing in the late 1980s and early ’90s. Since then, gambling in Slovakia has gone through many changes and modifications, which have led to the current situation. Nowadays, there are around 20 land-based Slovakia casinos, which are mostly operated by two major operators, such as the “Slovakia Casinos” group and the “Olympic Casino” company. The first operator was established back in 1990 and opened its first land-based Slovakia casino back in 1991 in the city of Piestany. The second operator is, in fact, the company based in Estonia. It has opened its first land-based Slovakia casino back in 2008 in the capital of Bratislava. This casino is known under the name of “Radisson Blue Carlton Hotel”.

As for online gambling, there are no Slovakia online casinos. However, the recent updates of gambling laws and legislation recognize and accepts international online gambling companies, which finally gained the possibility to seek licenses and start providing their services in the Slovakian domain. Nowadays, the Slovakian players can choose between a high variety of online casinos that offer a wide range of casino games, as well as to enjoy online lotteries and bingo.

Legislation Details

All activities in Slovakia casinos and Slovakia online casinos are regulated according to the Gambling Law that was introduced back in 2005. However, this law had some minor setbacks, especially regarding online gambling as an activity. This law has declared that all land-based and online gambling operations are under the control of the country’s lottery organization, known under the name of Tipos. This declaration made it possible for Tipos to hold a complete monopoly of the entire Slovakia gambling industry.

However, back in 2008, the influence that Tipos had on the land-based casinos became significantly smaller, which made room for international providers to jump in with their offerings. The years 2017 and 2018 were also significant for online gambling and Slovakia online casinos. The Slovakian government has submitted some legislation updates to the European Commission, which will enable all international private providers to gain licenses to operate in the Slovakian domain starting from the 1st of March, 2019. Before this update, the online gambling market was organized according to the update introduced in 2016, which brought strict restrictions to all international online casinos.

All gambling operations, including both land-based and online gambling, are under the control and supervision of the state’s Ministry of Finance. For this purpose, the Ministry has formed a specialized regulatory body known by the name of Gambling Committee. This regulatory body is in charge of the implementation of new gambling laws, the approval of new updates and amendments, as well as issuing licenses to the operators.

Additional Information

Since 2013, the number of job positions in land-based Slovakia casinos has increased significantly, reaching the current figure of over 600 employees. The number of customers has reached a figure of around 390000 back in 2016, which represents an increase of around 30000 individual visits compared to the year 2015.

Annual revenues of the Slovakia casinos were around €29 million back in 2015 and 2016, surpassing €30 million in the previous two years. Compared to the year 2013, the revenue has increased over 33%.

At the moment, there are four main casino operators providing services in Slovakia: Slovakia Casinos, Olympic Casino, Casino Banco and CBG, widely known by the name of Casino Admiral.

The law strictly implies that all gambling activities are completely prohibited for the people under the age of 18, according to the regulations introduced by the European Commission.

Back in 2017, the law has been updated with new regulations considering the protection of personal and banking info, according to the instructions from the European Commission and the European Union.

The current legislation recognizes the following forms of gambling: slot machines, table games and poker, bingo, various forms of betting, including sports, horse and fantasy betting, as well as several types of lottery games. They are all supervised by the Slovakian Ministry of Finance, through its regulatory bodies and offices.

Online Gambling

Online gambling in Slovakia was for a long time prohibited for the domestic providers, as well as closed for the foreign operators. The entire online gambling market was completely under the monopoly of the state lottery Tipos.

However, as mentioned before, the Slovakian government has submitted its plans to open the market to the international providers. This update implies that Tipos will keep its control over bingo, lotteries and online raffles, while the other forms of gambling, such as RNG games, will be totally open towards the foreign companies, which now have the opportunity to apply for operating licenses.

The update has brought a new regulatory body, known under the name of “Regulatory Office for Gambling”, which has the task to centralize all online gambling activities. The main two goals of this body are licensing, supervision and monitoring, as well as the administration of taxes and fees. It has been implied that the tax for international Slovakia online casinos will be reduced from 27% to 23%. The rate of 27% was applied to all local sports betting providers before this update.

All details about the regulation of Slovakian gambling industry and the activities of Slovakia online casinos can be found under the sections 9 and 29 of the state’s Gambling Law.

Mobile Gaming

As mentioned above, Slovakia is currently still resolving legal issues to open its online gambling market towards international providers. This will also affect the mobile gaming possibilities for the Slovakian players, since all of the international online casinos offer the possibility of playing online casino games in instant-play mode, directly through the web browsing app by running the game in Adobe Flash player. And since these legislation updates are nearly finished, it won’t be long before Slovakian players can enjoy their favourite casino games via all known mobile devices.

Slovakia Casinos

The list below displays the most visited land-based casinos in the previous several years:

Banco;
Olympic Casino;
Casino Admiral;
Rebuy Stars and
Piestany Pribinova.

Almost half of all land-based Slovakia casinos facilities are located in the capital of Bratislava, offering over 40 different table games and over 500 various slot machines.

Banco Casino is located in the capital of Bratislava. The establishment offers a wide range of different games to choose from, including electronic, American and European Roulette, Blackjack and Blackjack Switch, Ultimate TH Poker and slot machines. The casino also organizes and hosts various tournaments, especially Poker competitions. It also organizes two leagues, the quarterly league and the cash game league.

Olympic Casino possesses land-based facilities in several Slovakian cities, including the capital of Bratislava (Olympic Casino Carlton and Olympic Casino in Eurovea), Kosice, Zilina and Trnava. The Carlton Casino is the biggest facility and it offers a high variety of games one can play, including slot machines, traditional table and card games. It is also open 24/7 and it provides additional services, such as hotel accommodation, shopping and gastronomy services and organizing of various events and celebrations.

Admiral possesses two land-based facilities, one in the city of Nitra-Chrenova and the other, bigger one in the capital of Bratislava, known under the name of Grand Casino Admiral. It provides a wide range of games, such as the American Roulette, Blackjack standard and Switch, Ultimate Hold’Em Poker, Russian Poker, jackpot games, slot machines etc.

Rebuy Stars also has several facilities, two located in Bratislava and the other ones in Kosice, Zvolen and Poprad. The customers can also enjoy a palette of games, including slot machines, poker and classic casino table games. it also organizes and hosts various events and tournaments, especially poker ones, which are very popular among the players from this country.

The Piestany Casino operates under the management of the “Casinos Slovakia” group. It is one of the earliest Slovakia casinos, given the fact that it was founded back in 1991. It offers several game types, including slot machines, the Ultimate Texas Poker, Oasis Draw Poker, Blackjack and the American Roulette. It also offers a generous loyalty program through which the most devoted customers can acquire various prizes.