Gambling – 60 Million Euros of Registered Capital and Bank Guarantees

We remind you that from the day of the implementation of the new Gambling Law (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 18/2020, within a period of 15 months, ending on July 10, 2021, organizers are required to align their operations regarding:

1. The minimum capital for the approval of organizing special gambling games on machines, betting, and via electronic communication means, can be obtained by a legal entity that has a minimum capital of not less than the dinar equivalent of 250,000 euros calculated at the official average exchange rate of the National Bank of Serbia. This condition regarding the amount of minimum capital must be cumulatively met for each individual approval. This means that businessmen who have all types of approvals (machines, betting, via electronic communication means), currently 13 in Serbia, must have a minimum capital of 750,000 euros.

2. Guaranteeing the payment of winnings and fees – for the period for which the approval is issued, organizers must have in a bank with headquarters in the territory of the Republic of Serbia a dedicated deposit in the corresponding amounts or possess a bank guarantee for such determined amounts, namely: for machines in the amount of at least 500 euros in dinar equivalent per machine (Currently, over 30,000 machines/slot machines are registered in Serbia, cumulatively amounting to 15 million euros); for betting in the amount of at least 5,000 euros in dinar equivalent per betting shop (currently, there are over 2,500 betting shops, cumulatively amounting to 12.5 million euros); for special gambling games via electronic communication means in the amount of 300,000 euros in dinar equivalent (There are 20 organizers with approval in Serbia – totaling 6 million euros for bank guarantees).

3. According to the data from the Gambling Administration, based on the number of organizers and issued approvals – the registered capital of these businessmen when the alignment is completed will amount to 25.5 million euros, and the value of bank guarantees to 33.5 million euros.

How interesting is the gambling sector for the banking sector in the Republic of Serbia?

Out of a total of 26 banks on the NBS list, 18 work with gambling organizers.

• Banca Intesa – 25
• Komercijalna banka – 22
• AIK banka – 18
• OTP/Vojvođanska banka – 16
• Halk banka – 10
• Eurobank – 8
• Unicredit – 7
• Sber – 7
• Expobank – 7
• Direktna banka – 6
• Raiffeisen banka – 5
• NLB – 5
• Addiko banka – 4
• Mobi banka – 3
• Banka Poštanska štedionica – 3
• Alta banka – 3
• Erste banka – 3
• Pro Credit – 1

We also remind you that most bank guarantees require a deposit of 100%, and some banks, like EXPOBANK, offer certain advantages for organizers.