Betting in Slovenia
All gambling in Slovenia was completely banned up until 1989. After the country gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, gaming halls and casinos became available in the bigger cities. Later, in 1995, the Gambling Act authorized regulated gambling throughout the nation.
The opening up of Slovenia’s gambling industry has benefited local citizens who can now legally participate in betting activities such as lotteries, sportsbooks and games halls. It also attracts foreigners from nearby countries, in particular Italy, thus creating further revenue for the nation.
Slovenia welcomes tourists as they provide a large percentage of the gambling industry’s income. Major casinos have been purposely built near to the Italian border to take advantage of the vast numbers of people willing and able to travel into Slovenia to enjoy gambling. Punters must be 18 or over and be in possession of ID or a passport to enter.
The Perla Casino and Hotel is Slovenia’s largest casino and is situated in Nova Gorica. The facility offers over 1000 slot machines, more than eighty table games - including poker - and is open around the clock. The area boasts another two gambling establishments, The Park Casino & Hotel and the Princess Casino. Both provide similar gambling opportunities.
Slovenia’s capital city, Ljubljana, and Kranjska Gora - a town which borders onto Austria - both have gambling sites. Slovenia has twenty casinos, all of which have acquired government issued licenses to offer on-site sportsbooks. Horse and dog racing remains illegal throughout the country.
Slovenia has two Lotteries services available. The national lottery known as Loterija Slovenije, has various games available, such as Astro, Loto, 3X3 Plus 6, Izredna Srecka, Kviz Srecka, Deteljica, Hip and Ekspres. They compete with a company named Sportna Loterija also known as the “Sports Lottery”.
Having joined the European Union, the Council of Europe and NATO, Slovenia changed its currency to the Euro in 2007. The country’s official language is Slovenian, however Italian and Hungarian are also used near to border locations. Gambling companies have also recognised that having casino dealers who can speak English is good for business.
At this point in time, Slovenia does not host any online betting sites. The government permits lotteries, but will not issue licenses to local companies to offer internet gambling of any kind. Attempts have been made to block access to foreign gambling sites, but without success. However, measures to prohibit the promotion of foreign betting sites on the Slovenian internet have worked.
Internet betting in Slovenia has not been deemed illegal by law but at the same time, it has not been officially authorised. To date, almost 500 off-shore internet sportsbooks welcome play from the Slovenian citizens. A few even provide information using the Slovenian language including Bet-At-Home, Bwin and Ladbrokes.
Many of the Slovenia-friendly bookies allow players to deposit funds directly using credit and debit cards. Others allow transactions in Euros via such financial services as Click2Pay, ClickandBuy, Ecocard, Entropay, Ezipay, Moneybookers, NETeller, Paysafecard and Ukash.
