SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Sports betting is back in Albania after a five-year absence since a ruling took it out of the market in 2018.
The ban of regulated gambling, with the exception of state-sanctioned casinos, was signed into law by Prime Minister Edi Rama and his Socialist Party five years ago with the aim to put the brakes on Albanian organised crime.
However, in 2022 Rama began backtracking this decision and announced that the government is preparing to lift the ban after statistics showed that crime groups have remained rampant and underground gambling poised a bigger threat to the economy than ever before.
“It is a pity for this activity to be carried out by people who break the law and where high-profile elements in organised crime are active and making completely unreasonable profits,” Rama said in a 2022 public hearing with Albanian sports federations.
The new regulation to overrule the ban received significant support from the Albanian Parliament, with the changes allowing only online sports betting and putting it under the control of 10 companies, regulated by a newly-established “Commission of Licences”.
In and of itself, the new law states: “Online sports bets are bets placed on dedicated, authorised and monitorable websites, applications or electronic platforms of licensed entities, in accordance with the provisions of this law, for sports events and/or sports games, and do not include track races.
“The Licensing Commission designs and proposes programmes dedicated to the protection of the players, which are approved by joint instruction of the minister responsible for finance and the minister responsible for social affairs.”
Despite winning a majority, the vote attracted some stark opposition, with Rigels Xhemollari, Director of Tirana-based civil advocacy group Citizens’ Resistance, calling the move ‘stupid’.
“Unfortunately, 72 MPs voted today for ‘the resumption of stupidity’, a law that restores ‘Death’, the influence of crime in sports betting and the social drama of people who have addictions,” Xhemollari commented.
