Gambling in Central Europe and Eurasia is attracting “significant attention from Western markets,” as noted during the global markets panel session at the SBC Summit.
Companies like Entain and Flutter Entertainment continue to actively explore these regions, and industry experts gathered in Lisbon to discuss expansion prospects in the Balkans and the Caucasus region.
Max Potomkin, CEO of RISK, noted that Uzbekistan is nearing the legalization of the gambling market, marking the beginning of a journey through the subcontinent and presenting an “tremendously fruitful” opportunity for growth.
The market is expected to open on January 1, 2025, and regulators have just over three months to develop rules and create a safe and responsible gaming ecosystem. As Potomkin pointed out, “the set of rules has already been approved.”
Speaking about the regulation in the country, he highlighted: “This market has been trying to legalize for the past five years, and it’s not easy.” Furthermore, Potomkin reported that the country’s regulatory body has studied “best practices from Central Asian markets” and has already included specific regulations for the Eurasian market in its list.
This notion caused Potomkin to encourage any brands wishing to enter the nation to “be compliant with all Central European and Asian regulations that are there already”, with a gambling licence expected to be required.
Discussing one of Uzbekistan’s neighbors, Potomkin noted that the situation in Kazakhstan is “a little bit tougher”. As one of the “most developed markets” in the region, he explained that “all operators there have been working for many years.”
Although these companies are already well established in the Kazakh gambling sector, Potomkin encouraged brands to consider entering this market, indicating that the lack of new players represents an “exciting prospect” for those looking to make their move.
He referred to Kazakh players as “very loyal clients”, playing on an average of seven different websites within a short period of time. However, one aspect of the nation’s regulations could cause issues for player retention, as well as an increase in black market activity.
Potomkin stated: “The government has implemented a very interesting programme. Once you disable your account on one gambling website, it will be canceled on all operators operating with the same license.”
Moving on to Central Europe, Savo Bakmaz, CEO and CFO at Maxbet, provided an expert opinion on the state of Serbia’s igaming market, which he described as “a very social market” that may cause issues for online-only operators.
Bakmaz noted that Serbian players are fond of sitting in retail shops for a social experience, referring to Maxbet’s various Serbian locations as “sports bars” rather than betting shops.
“The social component is very important for our customers,” Bakmaz said. “There are a lot of companies that have tried to enter the market solely online and most of those companies have suffered a lot.”
According to the Maxbet CEO, Serbia is home to over 3,000 retail betting shops, making it “very hard for foreign online operators to compete with the domestic, local guys”.
The footfall in retail locations has also created different channels of profit for companies like Maxbet, encouraging the need to place importance on Serbia’s land-based sector.
Bakmaz added: “We all know that online players are spending more, but they’re sitting in our shops and hanging out with their friends and watching the game. What’s really important is that last year in Serbia we sold three million cups of coffee and three million beers – we are the biggest cafe in Serbia.”
Despite highlighting the operator’s success in Serbia’s land-based space, Bakmaz explained that the nation’s regulator is currently considering updating its gaming law, a move which he referred to as “overregulation”.
The notion of overregulation was echoed by Adam Lamentowicz, General Manager for Romania at Superbet, as he informed the audience on the latest updates within Romania’s gambling market.
“Overregulation is common across jurisdictions right now,” he said. “We’ve seen this in Romania with many amendments in recent years. Since regulation in 2015, we’ve had important changes every year – including a ban on slot machines in shops in regions with less than 15,000 inhabitants.”
Lamentowicz repeated this sentiment for Poland, describing the nation’s market as “a good example of overregulating”, while having very outdated regulation that was originally established in the early nineties – before online casino gaming was introduced to players.
Meanwhile, Maarten Haijer, Secretary General of the European Gaming and Betting Association, stressed the need for operators expanding their online casino offerings to the rising igaming hubs in Eurasia to consider localisation.
Haijer detailed: “It’s not that easy to take your product and place it in a different marketplace. You need that local knowledge and you need to know how the regulator functions.”
This is also a key consideration for compliance, as Haijer explained that “the way that different countries regulate depends on their approach to gambling, which depends on their society”.
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