One of the parties vying in Croatia’s snap election held April 17 promised to make extensive changes to the middle European nation’s gaming laws, including implementing a ban on gambling advertisements, SBC News reported.
The current governing party, Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), won that election, with 60 seats in the 151 seat parliament, but must hammer together a majority coalition by partnering with other, smaller parties.
One of those smaller parties, MOST, the “Sovereign Party of Croatia,” promised to impose a prohibition on gambling ads as well as beef up addiction protections. It is the fifth largest party in the country.
MOST party leader Nikola Grmoja chided the country’s political leadership for not recognizing “Croatia’s problem with gambling addiction that is not discussed within political circles.”
He cited “frightening statistics” such as “40% of juveniles are gambling on a daily basis” and public health agencies report that “40,000 Croats are addicted to gambling, a figure impacting 200,000 families.” Croatia has a population of 3.856 million.
The measures Grmoja proposed were borrowed from similar laws in Italy and Poland. He declared, “We will ban bookmakers from advertising; they will not even be allowed to sponsor sports clubs.”
Grmoja complained that 12 successive governments since 1991 (the year Croatia became independent) have not addressed the social impacts of gambling. “[T]he state supports gambling, and the impression is created that it is something that is socially acceptable.”
It is always possible that MOST’s influence on gambling will be felt if it becomes part of the coalition government put together by HDZ.
