Prague 7 Achieves Zero Tolerance to Gambling, Closes All Gaming Houses and Slot Machines

Prague 7 has achieved zero tolerance to gambling. In October, the last gambling site at Milady Horákové street was closed.

“It’s great news. In 2015, we set a zero-tolerance against gambling and gaming machines through a decree of the City of Prague 7. Since then, we have been pushing the Treasury to speed up the lengthy process of licensing. It took longer than [expected], but in the end it [happened]. Prague 7 is now completely without gambling and gaming machines. We are pleased that Prague 7 is no longer contributing to becoming a pathological player and destroying life,” Jan Čižinský, Mayor of Prague 7 said.

The local referendum on the abolition of gambling clubs in Prague 7 took place in 2014. Although ultimately, it was not due to lower participation than required by law, almost 92% of the more than seven thousand voting citizens voted in favour of zero tolerance.

“The signal from our citizens was absolutely clear. At the beginning of the last parliamentary term, 26 gambling venues were allowed in Prague 7, and we did everything we could to cancel them all. There are a number of negative phenomena associated with casinos and gambling, whether from security or social perspective. Also in Prague 7, there were several very problematic gambling houses, where public order and even criminal offenses were often violated. At the same time, the availability of gambling clubs has a very negative impact on the number of pathological players or people who, through gambling, found themselves in crisis situations,” Ondřej Mirovský, Councillor of Prague 7 said.