IFGR attended a conference called “Focus on Online 2019” organized by the Office of the Government on November 5th . At the conference, there appeared not only representatives of the public administration, Finance Minister Alena Schillerová and her deputy Stanislav Kouba for the Ministry of Finance, Jarmila Vedralová and Viktor Mravčík for the Office of the Government, but also addictologists and preventists, including foreign experts. In the final discussion panel, Jan Rehola spoke with Petr Mikoška as a gambling industry representative.
The conference included a press conference of Minister Schillerová, Jarmila Vedralová (National Drug Coordinator) and František Trantina (Chairman of RECOVERY), during which the Minister replied to one journalist’s question that the proposed extension of the remote identification (two-document verification) is still under discussion and the question whether it will eventually be allowed remains. According to MoF, this verification is not safe for players.
We consider the main success to be the extension of the subject of the conference. Therefore, instead of the annual everyday focus on the harmful effects of gambling, it also focused on the computer games addiction and social networking, the Internet and new technologies addictions. This extension is based on an agreement with Mr. Mravčík and Mrs. Vedralová so that the topic did not 100% overlap with the conference organized by the Institute in October.
Main conclusions of the conference:
- Minister Schillerová reiterated that technical game taxation is at its maximum.
- MoF is currently faced with the problem of the so-called “dipping” (mothers on maternity leave operating raffle via Facebook) and is starting to tackle the issue of the so-called loot boxes actively (packages with randomly generated game equipment that can be exchanged for real money)
- As part of the gambling regulation analysis, the Mof will evaluate the “safety” of the so-called games played for fun.
- By the end of this year, an Action Plan of Anti-Addiction Policy should be adopted until 2021.
- MoF confirmed that it plans to adopt a regulation change based on the results of the gambling regulation analysis in October 2021.
- It was confirmed that the launch of the Register of Excluded Persons is planned for mid-2020.
During the final panel, the debaters emphasized the need to set up a balanced and predictable regulation, and not just in relation to gambling, which its addressees would like to follow because that is the only way it would make sense. An important tool should be the development of a single concept, whose creation should involve all interested parties.
MoF has already issued a short report regarding the conference. You can find it here: https://www.mfcr.cz/cs/aktualne/tiskove-zpravy/2019/regulace-hazardu-funguje-stat-se-zabyva-36541
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