Albania to punish gambling companies in debt

Gambling companies in Albania which have not paid off their obligations will not be able to open new spots, according to the new guideline released on Monday by the Albanian ministry of finance aiming at fighting evasion and collecting more incomes.

Enis Tushi, Albanian director in supervisory unit of gaming, said that all the secondary spots of gambling companies which have debt to the government will be closed.

"This comes in the totality of measures that the Albanian government is taking in the fight against evasion of outstanding obligations that the gambling companies have towards the state. This is a new measure which aims at collecting outstanding debt of licensed companies," Tushi said.

According to the guideline, any entity which requests the opening of new spots for gambling must initially present a certificate issued by the directorate of taxation and if it has debt, it cannot expand.

"Any company which has debt to the state, or has not paid taxes, cannot continue with its activity or extend its activity without paying tax obligations first," Tushi said.

The supervisory unit of gaming has approved the opening of 811 secondary addresses for sports bets, the closing of 685 secondary TINS for sports bets, the opening of 26 secondary addresses for National Lottery entity for the January-June period, according to Albanian daily news.

During this same period, a total of 34 million lek (268,000 U.S. dollars) was collected from previously unpaid debt. (1 U.S dollar = 127 lek).