Albania Votes to Ban Online Gambling, Shut Down Slot Parlors and Betting Shops

However, Rama has suggested that the official market only accounts for about 20 percent of the actual gambling activity in the country.

Albania s televised bingo game and government-sponsored lottery will still be allowed to operate.

Fighting Back

Opponents to the gambling ban – which has mostly been met with support by the public have remained largely quiet throughout the campaign, but that started to change this week.

As the vote approached, the association representing the gaming industry offered to cut the number of betting shops in half, and promised to further decrease those numbers in the years ahead.

It escalated from there, with the association promising to take legal action on the basis that operators had a legal right to do business in a democratic country.

It was too little, too late, however, as the vote passed easily. But that doesn’t mean the fight is over.

Representatives for Albania’s gaming operators are promising to combat the prohibition.

The companies are also evaluating the damages from the unilateral interruption of their licence and mulling legal action to recover the damages,  said Artan Shyti, head of the Association of Sports Betting Societies, according to Retuers.