Licensing of Czech Odds Betting and bet stores in Czech Republic

Conditions for odds betting in Czech Republic and operation of bet stores

Under Czech law, gambling business is regulated mainly by the Act No. 186/2016 Coll., on gambling as amended (“Czech Gambling Act” ), which defines all important terms and also rules for operating gambling business in Czech Republic and regulates offenses and sanctions for such offences in this area.

1. LICENCE FOR OPERATION OF ODDS BETTING IN CZECH REPUBLIC

1.1 Operating an online casino is subject to all terms described in our article Gambling in Czech Republic and Czech Gambling Act, which describes the main terms and also rules for operating gambling business in Czech Republic. Operating a Czech online casino is in addition to general requirements also subject to special requirements of player registration.

1.2 Players has to be registered if they want to participate in odds betting, except for betting animal racing. This registration provides by the operator. Registration includes identification and authentication of the identity and age, assignment of access data or another access, activation of a user account where are funds of the player, such as deposits, bets and winnings. Only one user account can be with one operator.

1.3 According to the Czech Gambling Act operator has to allow for player self-limitation measures, where player can decide if he want to set maximum amount of a) bets per day, b) bets per calendar month, c) net loss per day, d) net loss per calendar month.

1.4 A live betting ticket must contain precise time when player made a bet on the event.

1.5 Operator has to keep data record of each betting event on which he has accepted a live odds bet with exact time. The operator has to archive the record for 1 year.

1.6 The player is required to:

(i) Provide his/her identification and contact information

(ii) Set the player´s own individual self-limitation measures (mentioned above) or individually refuse these settings but in this case the registration will not be finished. The registration will not be also finished without verifying and confirming data mentioned in (i) or if the player is registered in register of individuals barred from the participation in gambling.

1.7 The operator shall not enable any transfer of the recorded funds or other game related instruments between user accounts of players.

1.8 Totalizator game: The prize fund of this game shall neither drop below 40%, nor exceed 80% of the game receipts.

1.9 The operator has to notify the custom administration when the odds betting or totalizator game will start, no later than 5 days ahead of such game launch date.

1.10 The operator shall use an electronic communication device to

(i) centrally determine the odds if he accepted the odds bets at multiple places;

(ii) record separate bets, if he accepted the bets at multiple places;

(iii) the operator has to provide for a telecommunication data connection of such electronic communication device.

1.11 The operator also has to keep records with regard to every betting event, including

(i) accepted bets;

(ii) paid out winnings;

(iii) all odds, their changes, close odds and time specification clearly showing when the odds were determined, changed or closed;

(iv) the operator shall archive this record for 2 years.

12.12 Prohibition to accept bets

(i) in which the operator has a direct participation;

(ii) on a sports competition for children;

(iii) on races, matches and competition in which: a) an animal takes part held by the operator based on the ownership, lease, usufructuary lease or similar contractual relationship; b) an individual takes part with whom the operator has an employment or similar contractual relationship; c) a competing team takes part members of which have an employment or similar contractual relationship with the operator;

(iv) the above mentioned in (iii) does not apply to the owners, lessees, usufructuary lessees of the race animal, except for bets on the animal to lose.

1.13 Prohibition to bet. There are some individuals which are prohibited to participate in any betting with the operator for whom he/she provide some acts. List include:

(i) an individual authorized to accept bets;

(ii) an individual determining odds, this individual cannot take part in betting with any licensed operator;

(iii) or an individual directly involved in betting event on which the operator accepts bets; an individual that is able to influence the result of such betting event;

(iv) an individual directly involved in the sports event – events occurring during races, matches or competitions or in those participated by the sports club in which he/she hold an office.

2. BET STORES

2.1 A bet store can be operated under the same conditions as the casino (See Article 1 and following of our article Gambling in Czech Republic and Czech Gambling Act). The operator needs to have the license to operate the bet store. There is a different amount of deposit, which is needed for bet store – CZK 30,000,000. The applicant needs to deposit a separate deposit of the required amount for every type of gambling game (i.e. online casino, casino, bet store…). The operator is also required to provide list of locations, where the bet store would be operated – i.e. where the customers can bet.

2.2 Bet store can be located at any place suitable for such store, within the restrictions stated in Article 10 of our article Gambling in Czech Republic and Czech Gambling Act. It is possible to open bet store within the bar or shopping malls and other public places, bet store can be generally operated there, if it does not fall under one of the prohibited locations in Article 10 of our article Gambling in Czech Republic and Czech Gambling Act.

2.3 Operating a bet store in the casino is not allowed, because the main activity of the casino can only be a live game or a live game together with a technical game. Nor live game or technical game definition contains the bet store or online betting. In one casino, only one operator can operate gambling games.

For more information, contact us at:

JUDr. Mojmír Ježek, Ph.D.

ECOVIS ježek, advokátní kancelář s.r.o.
Betlémské nám. 6
110 00 Praha 1
e-mail: mojmir.jezek@ecovislegal.cz
www.ecovislegal.cz

About ECOVIS ježek advokátní kancelář s.r.o.
The Czech law office in Prague ECOVIS ježek practices mainly in the area of Czech commercial law, Czech real estate law, representation at Czech courts, administrative bodies and arbitration courts, as well as Czech finance and banking law, and provides full-fledged advice in all areas, making it a suitable alternative for clients of international law offices. The international dimension of the Czech legal services provided is ensured through past experience and through co-operation with leading legal offices in most European countries, the US, and other jurisdictions. The Czech lawyers of the ECOVIS ježek team have many years of experience from leading international law offices and tax companies, in providing legal advice to multinational corporations, large Czech companies, but also to medium-sized companies and individual clients. For more information, go to www.ecovislegal.cz/en.