A draft amendment to the Ordinance on the Rules, Methods, Technical Means and Requirements for Distance Measurement under Article 44 of the Gambling Act (the “Ordinance”) has been published for public discussion on the Council of Ministers’ Public Consultation Portal.

The proposal further develops the recently adopted amendments to the Gambling Act to which our team drew attention in a previous edition of the Legal Digest. Changes are envisaged to the manner in which the distances to gaming facilities or casinos are measured from a number of sites of social and educational importance, namely:

·         Educational institutions within the meaning of the Pre-school and School Education Act (“PSEA”),

·         Higher education institutions within the meaning of the Higher Education Act (“HE Act”),

·         Community centres within the meaning of the Law on Community Centres (“LPC”),

·         Playgrounds,

·         School and student hostels,

·         Establishments where social services are provided to children and young people or where residential care services for children are provided.

According to the Gambling Act, the distance should be not less than 300 metres from relevant sites of social and educational importance. Until now, the rules for the implementation of the Gambling Act only provided for obligatory distance with respect to schools and buildings in which residential care services for children are provided.

The proposals aim to extend this scope, so it includes further institutions/sites - educational institutions, higher education institutions, community centres, school or student hostels and premises where social services are provided to children and young people or residential child care services are provided.

An entirely new method of measuring distances is also laid down, according to which the most direct walking route must be taken into account.

The above rules should also apply to the measurement of the distance of the social and educational facilities listed above to outdoor constructed billboard-type facilities that are used to conduct permissible gambling advertising.

Compliance with the mandatory distance of 300 metres will be verified through various procedures by the competent authorities, including the issuance of a special certificate by the municipality when measuring the distance between a playground and/or a billboard-type facility (on the one hand) and the main entrance of the casino or gaming hall (on the other hand).