D. Gudzinevičiūtė does not usually look for words in her pocket, but she first read a 10-minute speech from the paper to journalists invited to a press conference on Tuesday. Here are the highlights.
Speech by the President of LTOK:
“We face years of uncertainty, unable to plan for anything and losing our main source of funding, losing almost everything.”
“I have been the president of LTOK for 9 years. That struggle, or more precisely the war we have waged, is not new. It has been going on almost since the first day, when the LTOK president was won by others who wanted to. ”(In the 2012 LTOK presidential election, she defeated Virgilijus Aleknas 57:43.)
“It simply came to our notice then. It starts with revenge for the criticism of the officials and ends with the price we have to pay to run a profitable business that prevents gambling in the country. ”
“The initiative to change the LTOK financing model that has been operating in the country for 30 years came suddenly and strangely – with searches in the Seimas and suspicions of gambling business representatives. Without hearing from us or the athletes, the law on lotteries has been changed. “
“All LTOK reports are public and can be found by anyone using the Internet.”
“We started planning a business model that we only had to ensure from dividends received from our lottery company Olifėja. But we got another blow. The Seimas Budget and Finance Committee is considering raising the lottery fee from 13 to 18 percent. Neither we nor the lottery business were invited. There was not even such an issue on the agenda – it suddenly appeared and took on a body. “
“It simply came to our notice then. The funds we receive will certainly not be enough for the programs we run. What is happening now is simply promoting the betting business. ”
“Draft laws on lotteries in the Seimas are being pushed by a bulldozer, without any deliberations. I can only guess that they are only useful for gambling. Regarding bribes, it must have been heard that Samoya Kac, who represents the gambling business, was detained in the Seimas on suspicion of giving a bribe. It cannot be ruled out that these laws continue to be adopted on a similar basis. ”(More on this story and S. Kaco’s commentary is here.)
What is changing?
About 10 million. LTOK, which had a budget of EUR 1 billion, has operated according to a unique model so far – it has transferred 8% of its money from its own lottery company Olifėja. support, ie from the working capital received.
“Entrepreneurs do not transfer part of the tax lion to the budget, but distribute it as they wish. Thus, public institutions do not participate in the distribution of public money “, – the issue of the current regime, Mykolas Majauskas, Chairman of the Seimas Budget and Finance Committee (BFK), explained when registering the amendments to the law.
