According to the municipality, it is justified to prohibit the organization of gambling within 150 meters of municipal institutions and capital companies, religious institutions, post offices, credit institutions and social services, educational and sports institutions, and apartment buildings.
The regulations apply to any new initiatives to expand the gambling business in Daugavpils, but in fact also affect all nine gambling halls currently operating in Daugavpils, which should close in five years. This is the period set by the Constitutional Court's decision to allow entrepreneurs to find other business models.
Decisions on the closure of each establishment will be taken in the coming months.
The Daugavpils City Council already adopted a decision 11 years ago, in 2013, regulating the gambling business, namely that the existing number of gambling establishments should not be increased. Until now, Daugavpils Municipality has had nine gambling halls, but during this time the Council has adopted a series of regulations that further tighten the regulation of gambling in the municipality.
The toughest restrictions on gambling are arousing a response among residents of Daugavpils, but not confidence that the situation will improve. There are fears that if gambling in the city center disappears, it will reappear elsewhere and that it will still be possible to play on the internet.
Gambling operators, who are not happy with the Daugavpils City Council's strategy of closing down gambling halls, are determined to litigate and plan to appeal every case. This has been publicly stated by both Arnis Vērzemnieks, President of the Latvian Gaming Business Association (LSBA), and Matīss Batarags, a representative of the company Klondaika, which currently has two operating gaming halls in Daugavpils city center.
"In our opinion, this vote by the municipality to close gambling is not legal, as has been proven by several Constitutional Court rulings that such restrictions on gambling in cities where not every location has been specifically studied and justified harm the population," Batarags said.
Daugavpils City Council stresses that it will only restrict gambling in the city, not ban it altogether, as other municipalities such as Riga or Kekava have unsuccessfully tried to do, and ultimately lost in court to the powerful gambling lobby. Daugavpils is taking a different path, explained Marina Dimitrijeva, deputy head of the council's legal department. First, as the Constitutional Court requires, to find concrete arguments for the negative impact of a gaming hall and give the operators five years to find new opportunities.
"This is required by law, to balance the interests of business and citizens, the hall will be closed only after five years, so that the entrepreneur can restructure his business and not suffer so deeply," Dimitrijeva added.
Meanwhile, the gambling operators stress that the council's decision will result in the loss of almost 100 paid jobs in the city, as well as a significant reduction in municipal tax revenues.
