A huge amount of damage is being caused to the Czech street market by internet gambling companies operating illegally in the country, said the organiser of the Forbes trade show, which was held in Prague in September.

Ivo Kasal, who is also president of the trade association, UNASCO, is working with the trade organisations for casinos and for sports betting to compile new gambling regulations for the Czech market, expected in 2010.

He told InterGame that internet gambling was illegal in the country, yet many billions of Czech crowns were being gambled on internet gambling sites. “The main providers are British-based companies,” he said, “and they try to maintain that their sites are in Czech because they are appealing to Czech workers in legal jurisdictions, but of course we all know that these illegal sites are aimed at the Czech public.”

Kasal, who has organised the trade show in Prague since 1994, said that CZK5bn is gambled on Czech language, foreign-based internet gambling sites every year. “This money goes out of the country without taxation,” he said, “and obviously it is against the interests of the Czech street market and its casino industry. The new regulations will include penalties for those operating these illegal websites.”

His organisation, in concert with the other affected sectors of the Czech industry, was preparing some recommendations to the Ministry of Finance which would help stamp out the illegal practices.