Each Czech spends almost CZK 10,000 ..

12.09.2006

Each Czech spends almost CZK 10,000 on betting yearly

Prague, Sept 12 (CTK) - Czechs increasingly often indulge in betting and lotteries, and their passion for gambling puts them level with people in advanced countries rather than with central European peers, betting companies have said.

Each Czech will spend almost CZK 10,000 on legal lottery and betting this year, up from CZK 9,000 in 2005 and CZK 6,000 in 2000. Besides, the popularity of betting on the Internet is growing, although this activity is still illegal in the Czech Republic.

Spaniards, Britons or Italians are able to spend much more than Czechs, but the CZK 10,000 sum is high in central Europe.

"We do not belong in this region when it comes to betting," said Jozef Janov, a manager at Penta Investments which owns betting firm Fortuna.

"It is appropriate to highlight the fact that a Czech loses CZK 3,000 a year on average, which is four times more than an American," reads a report on an amendment to the lottery law, drafted by senators in the summer.

Some 37 percent of Czechs take part in lotteries or betting, and more than half of them place a bet at least once a week.

Four percent of Czechs do the illegal odds-betting on the web and another 12 percent are contemplating this option, said the International Business and Research Services agency.

Czech lottery organisers and betting companies received a record-high CZK 90.7 billion in 2005, 50 percent more than in 2000. They paid out CZK 69 billion to winners.

Besides, Czechs spent up to CZK 4 billion on betting on the Internet with foreign companies, Jindrich Rajchl from Austria's bwin told the Euro weekly.

The highest jackpot in the history of the largest Czech lottery organiser Sazka, paid to a single winner, was CZK 112.9 million from August 2003. Two winners went halves on the highest-ever Sazka jackpot worth CZK 148 million in April 2002. frj

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