More than 38 municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina have changed the decisions on communal fees in which they burdened the organizers of games of chance with fees or are in the process of adopting an initiative to do so.
The subject of taxation is every gambling device and betting facility, which achieves two beneficial outcomes for local communities. The first is significant filling of local budgets, and the second is protection from the dependence of its citizens with these measures.
Filling the budget
For example, according to the report of the multidisciplinary team in Travnik, it is stated that 45 percent of the divorces they have are directly related to addictions to gambling and alcohol. Travnik is unique in that its council is preparing a decision to ban municipal spaces for bookmakers, as they already have 75 of them. However, their fees for bookmakers are still among the lowest at just over 2,000 marks per bookmaker, which is even less than the levy for pharmacies.
In Bihać, on the other hand, the annual tax for a bookmaker reaches 20,000 marks, and the introduction of the Decision achieved a third effect – that 12 bookmakers have already left Bihać.
– We have already received the first payments of 60,000 marks, and we are planning 1.15 million marks in the budget for 2026 as income from the taxes we introduced to bookmakers, said the mayor of Bihac, Elvedin Sedic.
Therefore, all those who followed Bihać in introducing these taxes count on a similar financial effect and have approximate figures which, depending on the zone they are in, reach up to 20,000 marks per facility on an annual basis.
Although it is a generally accepted trend that citizens, the opposition and some municipal/city councilors throughout BiH state in their initiatives that they follow the example of Bihać, Bihać actually followed the example of Bosanska Krupa. The only difference is that betting lobbies put more effort into suing Bihać and breaking that trend, but in the end they lost.
– The town of Bosanska Krupa was the first local community that started the fight against the scourge of bookmakers through amendments to the Decision on communal taxes in 2023 that we submitted to Bihać, we were informed by the office of the mayor of Bosanska Krupa.
Bookies also tried to overturn their decision.
– They appealed to the Commission for the Protection of Human Rights, Civil Liberties and Gender Equality, with the aim of annulling the said decision. Recently, at the session of the Commission, the appeal was unanimously rejected, notes Elvedin Hasanagić from Krupljan.
But, in addition to Bosanska Krupa, Travnik and Bihać, there are also the following municipalities and cities that made a similar decision: Sanski Most, Bužim, Velika Kladuša, Laktaši, Donji Vakuf, Zavidovići, Živinice, Kalesija, Srebrenik, Gradačac, Bijeljina, Visoko, Breza, Hadžići, Zenica, and Konjic, which deserves special attention.
Namely, on its official Facebook page, Premier betting pointed out that the City of Konjic “paid them 20,137.91 KM for unconstitutional communal fees based on the verdict of the Cantonal Court in Mostar”.
The FBiH has 79 units of local self-government, along with the City of Sarajevo, while the RS has 64, and in all of them huge amounts of money are spent by gambling addicts.
However, it was a completely different tax (for a prominent company), and Konjic and other municipalities and cities were not intimidated.
– The City Council of the City of Konjic, at the session held two months ago, nevertheless adopted the Decision on communal fees, which refers to displaying advertisements, providing services outside business premises, temporarily occupying public areas, arranging entertainment games, using machines for special games of chance and business premises where games of chance are organized, Edis Macić from the City Administration told us.
We mentioned how, after the success of Bihać, many civic initiatives are asking the local authorities for the same. However, there are those who follow the entire struggle and declare victory in each new municipality.
– What is particularly important to me is that with this initiative, all of us together, have shown that the country can be unique when there is a common goal and an opponent that harms all of us. Even Republika Srpska got involved. I truly believe that this is one of the most widely coordinated and successful initiatives in the last 30 years. The level of political will was raised to the maximum, the initiative united both the people and the institutions. This is proof that it can be done, says Selmir Mujagić, one of the activists.
Mujagić claims that the Ilijaš Municipality is next in line. Oslobođenje recently wrote that the Tuzla City Council will have an initiative on the agenda at its session in January, as well as that the Municipality of Ilidža is considering the decision and comparing it with the example from Bihać. Sometimes the initiators are chiefs and mayors, sometimes the majority, and sometimes the opposition in council/committee benches.
In addition to the mentioned three municipalities, discussions on the submitted initiatives are expected very soon in the municipalities and cities: Cazin, Banja Luka, Bugojno, Novi Travnik, Gornji Vakuf, Kiseljak, Vogošća, Novi Grad Sarajevo, Mostar, Stolac, Lukavac, Maglaj, Gračanica, Čelić, Goražde and Derventa.
So, so far we have mentioned a total of 38 municipalities and cities, where in 20 of them this work has already been successfully completed.
One of the last victories happened on the last working day of 2025 in Lukavac.
At the 12th regular session of the Lukavac City Council, the Decision on communal fees was adopted, which precisely and legally drew a line towards the gaming industry. The decision not only introduces fees, but also inspection, fines and enforcement.
Lukavac has 28 betting shops, and in this local community they expect an annual income of around 500,000 KM. Each facility has an average of 15 devices, so based on the device fees, an additional 1,500,000 KM, which is a total of two million KM per year.
All municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina received a request from citizens for the urgent inclusion of the regulation of betting shops on the agenda
Smart investments
This is money that stays with local communities. If this trend continues and by spring the number of municipalities with taxes is rounded to 40, this means that an average of 80 million marks will not end up in the pockets of the betting lobby. Money, instead of ending up at higher levels in lobbying politicians to favor these lobbies with legislation, can be invested in schools and kindergartens, in support of sports clubs and youth programs, in infrastructure, and social and preventive programs in cities and municipalities.
It could be the most significant social success in the new 2026, a change of paradigm, and a possible turn in the conduct of politics, even in the election year, he writes. Liberation.
