After years of hard work the Czech Republic could possibly be about to earn permits to offer online gambling. The Finance Ministry may finally be listening to the Republic’s promise to prevent minors from accessing the sites.

Radio Praha recently released a report that stated the Fortuna Group could be in contention for a license. The Fortuna Group operates a land based sports betting facility in the Czech Republic. The Group also offers telephone betting services, games and lotteries.

Tomas Bahnik from Fortuna Group commented on Radio Praha that they are losing several million Euros a year because they cannot offer online gaming services. However the Group could possibly be going online as soon as Monday.

Bahnik stated that internet betting will be officially allowed on January 5th and will be very strict and monitored well, compared to other gambling companies. Bahnik commented: “Every person, including teenagers, can use Internet betting without control. Our main goal is to control this situation. If someone wants to bet through Fortuna on Internet, they must register in a bricks and mortar office and show their identification. Only then they are allowed to play.

“We don’t accept credit cards but only regular payment cards because we don’t support gambling and gamblers and we don’t want people to become addicted to Internet betting. That’s something foreign companies don’t do.”


- 2008-12-31