Situated in the center of the Balkans and known as the operating site of former Yugoslavia, Serbia is a country in Europe that shares its borders with Macedonia to the south, Romania and Bulgaria to the east, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina to the west and Hungary to the north. This country is known for its folk music, cuisine, and tradition.
Not only that but Serbia has a rich history and some of the most developed industries here are motor vehicles, base metals, food processing, machinery, chemicals, tires, and pharmaceuticals. Gambling is also quite a popular activity here as many Serbians are more than open to the idea of wagering their money on various casino games.
Complicated relationship with gambling
Additionally, sports betting is also very popular in Serbia as a big portion of the adult population loves the idea of placing bets on various sports. The relationship that Serbia has with gambling is a bit complicated and even though the people are fond of this activity, the gambling industry is not too developed in this country.
The reason for that is because most of the land-based casinos are located in the capital, Belgrade, and they control the market. As a result, the government has been pretty slow in regulating both land-based and online gambling. So, illegal/underground gambling started thriving in the country and many people were participating in this activity. Although underground sports betting was a bigger problem, gambling was also hard to regulate.
Legal since 1964
As for its legality, gambling has been legal since 1964 and gambling license holders are regulated by the Games Chance Administration, which is under the jurisdiction of the Serbian Ministry of Finance and Economy.
Up until 2011, the State Lottery had a monopoly on the online gambling market, but all of that changed when the New Act on Games of Chance was introduced to the public. This new act revolutionized the way Serbians can experience casino games online and it proved to be a massive step forward towards bettering the industry.
Ever since all of these steps were taken, Serbia’s government has been able to control and regulate the gambling industry (both online and offline) in a much better way.