Hungary's parliament curbs gambling regulator's concession powers

Hungary's parliament has approved legislation that reduces the powers of the country's main gambling regulator and scraps the body that advised it on concession deals, according to SBC News.

Lawmakers backed the measure on Friday 2 October by 135 votes to 46, with six abstentions. The vote was carried chiefly by TISZA, the party of Prime Minister Péter Magyar, which holds a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly.

The target is the Supervisory Authority for Regulated Activities, known by its Hungarian initials SZTFH, which has regulated gambling since 2021 alongside sectors including tobacco, mining and cybersecurity.

The legislation, Bill T/639, was put forward by the government on 8 September. It removes SZTFH's functions over concession agreements and dissolves the authority's Concession Council, whose advisors had been appointed under the previous Fidesz government.

Once the changes take effect, SZTFH will no longer need to give prior consent before concession tenders are launched, offers invited, or concession contracts signed, amended or ended.

TISZA intends to appoint ministers to examine how SZTFH previously granted major gambling concessions. Companies holding those concessions have been given a 30-day window to disclose their ownership and management structures, SBC News reports.

Finance Minister András Kármán has framed the review as part of a wider anti-corruption push designed to restore confidence in an economy that, according to SBC News, has trailed every other EU member state since 2023.

SZTFH has pushed back on how its role has been portrayed, insisting in a statement issued on the day of the vote that it never had the power to award concessions itself, a responsibility that sits with the government. It said its function was limited to granting prior consent and related oversight. Former officials have told media outlets that TISZA is using the authority as a scapegoat for the country's economic difficulties.

The parliamentary vote follows a government resolution published in the Hungarian Gazette on 31 August, which ordered a review of SZTFH's operations and the laws that underpin them. Justice Minister Márta Görög was given responsibility for examining options to abolish the authority and move its duties to bodies under direct government control, with findings due by 30 September.

Casino licences have drawn particular attention in the review, including concessions covering Szeged, Győr, Miskolc, Pécs, Debrecen and Sopron. Some of these agreements run for as long as 35 years; the Sopron concession, held by CAI Hungary Kft, is reported to extend until 2061.

SZTFH has described itself as an independent regulator accountable to parliament, pointing to its enforcement action against illegal online gambling and its work protecting minors in the tobacco sector. It says it will cooperate with the government's legal review.

SZTFH is one of several state bodies now under TISZA scrutiny, alongside state media, the defence department, the Chief Prosecutor's Office, Hungarian Energy and councils reporting to Kármán's Finance Ministry.

The authority is also facing criticism over its oversight of Hungary's 2022–2023 online gambling and sports betting reforms, which followed a European Court of Justice ruling that found Hungary had granted an unlawful online monopoly to state lottery operator Szerencsejáték Zrt. Those reforms were meant to open the market to competition but failed to draw international operators, amid claims the terms still favoured the incumbent.

TISZA has already acted against Szerencsejáték Zrt directly: Kármán ordered a full overhaul of its board this summer, pledging to remove political influence and cronyism from its management.

Szerencsejáték Zrt remains a significant contributor to state revenue, with lottery proceeds funding cultural, arts and heritage projects across Hungary, meaning any restructuring carries implications well beyond the gambling sector.

TISZA, Magyar and Kármán have given no indication they plan to open the online gambling market to further competition. Their stated priority is tighter governance and accountability, leaving open the question of which institutions will take on SZTFH's regulatory functions if it is dismantled.