Online Gambling in the Czech Republic

The Czech Republic will open its doors to online gambling, various reports have indicated.

It was the sportsbook industry in the Czech Republic that lobbied for the legalization of Czech internet gambling - specifically, a land-based sportsbook operator called Fortuna Group.

Currently, the five largest Czech sportsbook operators are already operating on the internet, and if all goes as planned, some of them will soon open up to online casinos as well.

The government's decision to legalize gambling online came when they realized how much money the country was losing to offshore gambling sites operating illegally in the Czech Republic. They felt they deserved the same opportunities as foreign companies, so new regulations will allow limited, taxed internet gambling later this year.

About the Czech Republic

The Czech Republic, sometimes referred to as Czechia in English, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west and northwest, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. The Czech Republic has been a member of NATO since 1999 and of the European Union since 2004.

The Czech Republic covers an area of 78,866 square kilometers (30,450 square miles) and has a population of 10,674,947.