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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Two European casinos compete for licence to open casino in Belgrade

Belgrade, 20 September 2006

Director of the finance ministry's Administration for the Games of Chance Zoran Jadzic said today that the documentation for a competition to grant the licence for a new casino in Belgrade has been purchased by two large European casinos, while the competition for building a casino outside the city has been scheduled for October.

Zoran Jadzic at today's press conference

At a press conference, Jadzic recalled that in early September the government invited applicants to apply for the licence to open a new casino in Belgrade. The deadline for applying is October 16, he added.

He explained that the bids will be opened within seven days after the deadline and two weeks later the submitted bids will be ranked.

According to Jadzic, the criteria for ranking the submitted bids are a payment of a minimum of €500,000 for the licence, documentation on the bidder's turnover in the last fiscal year, as well as the amount of money the bidder intends to pay into Serbia's budget in the course of the next ten years, since the licence will be granted for that period.

Jadzic recalled that the previous licence for opening a casino in the capital had been issued to Grand Casino, owned by Casino Austria, adding that €18 million was paid to the government for the licence and the company was obliged to open a new casino by the year's end.

Speaking about the enforcement of the Law on the games of chance, Jadzic specified that two years after the law was adopted, the Administration for the Games of Chance issued 79 licences to legal subjects and approved the organisation of 81 prize draws, whereas it collected 709,000 dinars in fines this year.

The income from the games of chance in the period January 1–August 31, 2006 is 2.7 million dinars, which is considerably more than in the same period last year, said Jadzic. If this trend continues, the total 2006 income from the games of chance will be around €110 million, he concluded.