Latvia, Legislation, Markets and Companies

The city council supported the ban on gambling in Riga's historical center in order to fulfill a separate decision by the Supreme Court in the case about a permission to open a gambling hall in Riga and the regulations about the city's historical center.

The Legal Department will now start the paperwork to prepare separate draft resolutions for each gambling hall in the city's historical center which will have to be closed. Once the city council resolves to close a specific gambling hall, the gambling operator will have five years to wind up its business in the particular location.

Altogether 41 gambling halls will have to be closed, and the Riga City Council will have to vote on closing of each of those establishments separately. The gambling operators may contest the city council's decisions before the court but will have to close down the gambling halls in five years anyway.

Dainis Turlais, the chairman of the Riga City Council's committee on security, public order and corruption prevention, said earlier that during its last two four-year terms the Riga City Council had not granted any permissions for opening new gambling halls not only in the historical center but the entire city. The gambling operators have complained to the court with different results.

He said he now welcomed the separate decision by the Supreme Court which encouraged the local council not just to keep refusing to issue new permissions but also to close some of the existing gambling halls. Turlais also voiced hope that other courts would take into account the Supreme Court ruling in question.

Arnis Verzemnieks, an advisor to the Latvian Gaming Business Association, said the proposal to ban gambling in Riga's historical center was detrimental to the city's business environment. He complained that companies could not count on any investment protection and legitimate expectations or plan their business in the long term. The city council could refuse to issue permits for opening of new gambling halls but it should not be ordering closing of the existing gambling halls, he said.