A politician in Moldova has encouraged people to “spy” on others to help police route out illegal gambling advertising as the country cracks down on all forms of betting commercials.
Moldova’s parliament has passed legislation outlawing the advertising of casino gambling, sports betting and lotteries and there is an even greater crackdown coming in 2022.
A report from the Chișinău-based news agency IPN quotes MP Dumitru Alaiba, co-chairman of the commission on economy, budget and finance, in encouraging the country’s 2.6 million people to self-report abuses of the law.
“We have many laws that exist on paper only, not yet in reality,” Alaiba is reported as saying.
“To make sure that this will not be the next such law, let’s make joint efforts. If you see any violation of the law, call the police. Just do so that the state does its job.
“The police are obliged to ascertain the violation and to fine those to blame.
“Be our ‘spy’. Take a picture and send it to the email address ceb@parlament.md. The commission is responsible for the implementation of the law and this will help us a lot.”
The new legislation in Moldova prevents gambling advertising both in person and online.
The MP has also stressed that the crackdown on gambling advertising in the country is part of an effort to protect the population from the harms of gambling addiction, with nearly 1.3 million lottery tickets sold daily across the country.
Gambling In Moldova
Moldovans have been able to legally gamble since 1991, when the fall of the USSR lead to a revolution in social and economic laws across eastern Europe.
Online gambling was officially approved in 2016, yet the majority of online wagering activity is done via government-controlled means.
Moldova has much more control over its own gambling laws because it is not part of the European Union. Interestingly, all forms of gambling apart from casinos are the monopoly of the state.
There are just four licenced casinos in Moldova and only a handful of online casinos that aren’t state-owned. Unlicenced foreign casino websites are blocked, although players who do play on these sites are not prosecuted for doing so.
Whether or not Moldova relaxes its casino advertising ban in the future remains to be seen, but there is evidently an appetite in the country to crack down on the normalization of gambling.
The gambling age for sports and lotteries is 18+, while for casinos it is 21+.
