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A case of double standards on Internet gambling
The Hungarian government's attempts to impede online gambling offered by sources outside its monopoly clearly do not apply to online operations launched to further fill government coffers this week.
Hungary's state lottery operator Szerencsejatek Zrt has launched online versions of its lottery and sports betting games in a move that is expected to boost the monopoly's annual revenues by HUF 1 billon, CEO Gabor Szekely announced at a press conference Monday.
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Szekely said the launch would make popular games available to new clients who preferred the convenience of the Internet. "This development is targeted at new clients who prefer gambling via the Internet, with the possibility to use bankcards. Thus we expect the online version to top our annual revenues by around HUF 1 billion each year, instead of attracting existing users from other
[gambling] platforms."
The reference to the use of bank cards (see previous InfoPowa reports) will strike a particularly sour note with international gambling groups like Sportingbet and BetandWin, who were mentioned in Hungarian HATC news reports last week that Hungarian banks are blocking payments to online betting sites. The cause for this was in order to protect themselves in a legal climate that seems to have declared online gambling on foreign sites against the law for Hungarian citizens.
Quoting the Sportingbet website, HATC reported that payments cannot be made from Hungary on cards issued by IEB, Citibank, K&H Bank, MKB, Takarkbank and savings co-operatives. The experience of the Vienna-listed public company BetandWin is alleged to be the same.
Szekely's statement would appear to confirm this.
The HUF 300 million development project, which took half a year to complete, was carried out by Silicon Computers, the Hungarian subsidiary of US-based SGI. The firm has previously implemented IT solutions for listed Hungarian firms such as Magyar Telekom, oil firm MOL, and pharmaceutical company Richter Gedeon.
Szerencsejatek Zrt has ambitious future plans to widen the range of games available on the Internet, including the popular Bingo variety "Luxor" and the recently launched real-time lottery game Putto. The organisation is also currently developing a new game that will only be available online, to be launched soon, Szekely said.
Apart from the development of the company's online gambling services, Szerencsejatek Zrt has also experienced a boost to its revenues due to the football World Cup, which has almost doubled turnover in sports betting games, Communications Director Laszlo Somorai revealed.
"The average weekly revenue generated by sports betting is around HUF 240 million, which increases to HUF 480-500 million when the World Cup is on," Somorai said. "Revenues are highest when the event commences and there
are many matches, but turnover remains much higher than average until the finale of the Cup."
Szerencsejatek Zrt saw revenues of HUF 131.8 billion in 2005, up 19 percent on the year, mainly from lottery sales.
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