Slot machines can return to the statutory city of Chomutov after five years. The votes of YES, the KSČM and the Nový sever movement approved it by the local council. The city promises 30 million crowns a year in taxes from gambling, and thus wants to partially rehabilitate the shortfall in the budget.
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But according to the opposition, these revenues in the city coffers mean, above all, much higher losses from the pockets of the Chomutov residents, who must first ‘feed’ the vending machines.
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Calculating the cost of this earnings is very easy. For technical games such as slot machines, a 35% tax rate applies. The money raised will then be divided between the state and the municipality in a ratio of 35:65. As the opposition pointed out, in order to gain 30 million crowns in the municipal budget, it is necessary for local players to leave as much as 130 million crowns in the ‘casino’.
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“The town hall wants to get money into the budget at the cost of destroying the lives of many citizens of the city and their families. If you don’t have debts yet, gambling will allow you to make them. It is as if we are going back in time to the mafia years, when the profit from gambling was more important than the quality of life in the city, “says Marian Bystroń, chairman of the PRO Chomutov representative club.
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It was the PRO Chomutov movement that enforced the ban on gambling in 2015, shortly after winning the municipal elections. However, the then coalition with ANO and the KSČM later disintegrated. The coalition groups ANO, Nový sever and KSČM hold the majority of their seats in the current council.
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Croupiers in vests
At the return of gambling in Chomutov, local citizens and representatives of the non-profit sector came to express their disagreement at Tuesday’s council meeting.
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“Gambling did not bring anything good in the long run,” said Barbora Musilová from the People in Need organization. “Let’s not be blinded by the vision of quick profit,” she added.
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A student from the local grammar school, in turn, pointed out the potential costs, such as the increased number of police patrols due to rising crime, or the cost of possible litigation. And there was also a debate about the concrete form of future casinos.
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“In Chomutov, there used to be a classic casino with croupiers in vests,” said opposition representative Jan Rödling. “But after a while it went bankrupt, and that was at a time when there was no regulation. So it is clear that in fact it can only be gaming rooms, “he added.
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The de jure decree does not allow casinos, but casinos. However, according to the Gambling Act, for a casino to be established, it is enough to add a long line of ‘technical games’, ie slot machines, to the ‘live game’, such as roulette, a wheel of fortune or ordinary dice. As a result, there is a large number of casinos in the Czech Republic called casinos.
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Against all
The negative effects of gambling on the players themselves are described, for example, in the annual report of the National Monitoring Center for Drugs and Addictions. According to this report, most of the treated players suffer from anxiety-depressive disorder, a fifth of them are taking antidepressants or insomnia, and about half are considering suicide.
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Family problems, rising crime and other public costs then convince more and more municipalities of a total ban on gambling on their territory.
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The number of municipalities that have restricted or completely banned technical games in their territory, ie slot machines.
Technical games have previously been banned by Brno, České Budějovice and Jihlava. Last year, Ostrava joined them and this year also Prague, which has long dominated gambling in the Czech Republic.
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Chomutov has so far been one of several medium-sized cities where citizens have decided to ban technical games altogether. For example, Frýdek-Místek, Havířov, Kolín and, since last year, Děčín have kept the same strict meter.
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At the end of the munitions year, some form of restrictions applied in the territory of 706 municipalities, exactly 21 more than a year earlier. Of these, 439 municipalities banned technical games altogether.
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Casino next to the housing estate
However, the powers of each city in deciding on gambling end with its cadastral boundary. Unfortunately for the critics of gambling, the suburb of Chomut’s 50,000-strong village is the village of Otvice with 679 inhabitants, which operates a casino called a casino on its territory.
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The games room in the Otvice business zone is located in the immediate vicinity of the Písečná housing estate in Chomutov.
Mayor Marek Hrabáč (YES) together with other coalition representatives therefore have a clear opinion on the matter. According to them, local citizens gamble, only the city does not make any profit.
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“After all, a Chomutov citizen really has the opportunity in the Chomutov district, when he goes to Baumax, to Kaufland, to go and play in a casino. In the Písečná housing estate, it will pass through a passage and the passage will end directly at the casino, “Hrabáč reminded at the meeting of the council.
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In the end, the council approved the return of gambling to Chomutov itself with a ratio of 19 votes YES, the New North and the KSČM, 12 opposition representatives were against.
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