PM Pledges Government Support for Mega Gaming Deal (Slovenia)

Slovenia Business Week October 24, 2005

PM Pledges Government Support for Mega Gaming Deal

The government stands ready to help a massive gaming project get off the ground in Slovenia should the companies involved produce concrete guarantees, Prime Minister Janez Jansa has said.

According to Jansa, the government is willing to listen to a proposal for a large gaming centre in western Slovenia and consider taking measures that would allow a deal on the project to be struck between a Slovenian and an American company.

The government would consider amending legislation if it gets the right assurances from the companies involved, Jansa suggested on Tuesday, 18 October in Bled while attending a business conference organised by The Economist.

His comments come in response to a question by the chairman of Slovenia’s largest gaming chain HIT, Branko Tomazic, regarding HIT’s plans to work with Harrah’s Entertainment on a mega gaming and tourism centre in the town of Nova Gorica.

Tomazic pointed out that HIT and Harrah’s, the world’s biggest casino operator, will sign a memorandum of understanding on 3 November on the EUR 800m deal.

Tomazic said the plan was for HIT and Harrah’s to be equally represented in the joint venture, but added that for the deal to be feasible there needed to be changes to gaming and tax legislation.

According to Tomazic, the current 38% tax on gaming is too high, while provisions limiting the size of stake of a single investor in gaming companies at 20% is also a barrier to cooperation with the American company.

Moreover, he claimed that the project would allow HIT to more than double the number of its clients and raise revenues from EUR 240m to EUR 420m.

Meanwhile, Jansa said the government will be taking any proposals regarding such a project seriously. When all the facts are laid out on the table, the government should have more leverage to decide on the steps needed to be taken, he told Tomazic.