From The Black Market to Open Markets – A Brief History of Sports Betting In Hungary

For many decades during the Cold War period, Hungary was heavily under Soviet rule and gambling was strictly prohibited. This, in turn, created a vast underground black market that was operated by various illegal groups.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Hungary became one of the first ex-Soviet countries to officially legalize gambling, and now Hungarians have total access to many local and international websites that offer everything from sports betting to casino games, including the chance to take advantage of all the casino and Olvasson sport ajánlatainkról available.

In this article, we will cover how Hungary’s laws have formed the gambling landscape in the country over the last 30 years and what we expect to see in the future.

The 1990s and State-Owned Monopoly

In 1991, Hungary officially legalized gambling. However, to claim the monopoly on this lucrative business, the new law stated that all sports betting must be done through a state-run enterprise. This resulted in the national lottery service, Szerencsejáték Zrt, becoming the obvious choice to run the sports betting market.

At first, punters could only place bets at official bookmakers on the high street. This lasted until 1998 when Szerencsejáték Zrt opened its internet site-a a site that remains to this day as the only truly legal sportsbook in Hungary.

The 2000s and Joining The EU

In 2004, when Hungary joined the EU, many international companies took this as a good sign that the country would be willing to open up to bookmakers from across the bloc.

Sadly, however, this was not the case and in late 2004, UK-based sports betting site Sportingbet got fined 500,000 forints for operating a site in Hungary.

Sportingbet claimed they had adhered strictly to EU laws that permitted international betting companies to offer their services to other EU nations. However, Hungary would not budge on the issue.