NEWS
Prime Minister Pahor attends public forum "Development Strategy of Gambling in Slovenia": "I will strive for a revival of this economic activity"
Today in Nova Gorica, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, attended the public forum "Development Strategy of Gambling in Slovenia". In his address to the audience, Mr Pahor emphasised that as the initiator of this forum, he would make every effort – through the presentation of various views of the future of the gambling industry in Slovenia – to persuade the stakeholders at the professional, as well as at the economic and political levels to reach some kind of consensus, thus facilitating the achievement of the results we all expect from this industry.
According to Mr Pahor, one should proceed from the preparation of a clear strategy of gambling, which is in Slovenia, as history teaches us, also a political issue. "Today, many people still wrongly believe that gambling is nothing but a profit activity. However, it has been established that this is not true and that we, therefore, need a new and fresh view of the development of gambling." Prime Minister Pahor stressed that to this end, he would strive for the limitation of collateral damage of gambling by considering the relevant practice used abroad. Moreover, he will make all the efforts needed to turn the gambling industry into an important part of our tourist offer, which, nevertheless, requires investments in terms of knowledge and money. Prime Minister Pahor will also seek solutions providing new impetus by way of legislation applicable to the gambling industry. "However, the activity itself must demonstrate transparency, which facilitates the supervision of gambling and limits any collateral damage potentially incurred by the gambling industry," said Prime Minister Pahor and added that we need courageous decisions leading to a revival of this economic activity.
Alongside Mr Pahor, the public forum, among other speakers, also featured the appearance of the Minister of Finance, Dr France Križanič, who outlined in detail the Government's efforts related to the new gambling strategy and the envisaged amendments to the Gaming Act, the host of the event, the Mayor of the Nova Gorica Municipality, Mirko Brulc, Prof. Dr Maks Tajnikar and Prof Dr Marko Pahor (both from the Faculty of Economics in Ljubljana) and several other experts in the gambling industry from Slovenia and abroad.