The Czech Ministry of Finance said on Monday that had temporarily suspended the license of debt-burdened state lottery operator Sazka.
The Finance Ministry said its move was in reaction to the company failing to pay past winners. “The reason for the decision is that Sazka did not pay within the legal deadlines the winners of the Sportka lottery to the tune of Kč 103.4 million,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said the temporary suspension was valid for 30 days with Sazka able to appeal within 15 days of the decision taking effect. Payment of the waiting winners would also mean that the suspension could be lifted, it added.
Sazka is now under insolvency administration. The creditors are so numerous, totaling around 1,800, that a ballroom has been rented in Prague for a May 26 creditors’ meeting.
Many of those creditors are individual lottery terminal operators but some of the biggest are the PPF Group of the richest Czech, Petr Kellner, and the KKCG group of entrepreneur Karel Komárek Jr.
Many other Czech gaming companies have sought to profit from Sazka’s problems by launching their own lottery games with Fortuna aiming to start its instant scratch game May 16.
Sazka, whose profits were previously widely distributed around Czech sporting associations, got into trouble when it was burdened with paying for the Prague arena that hosted many of the world hockey championship games in the Czech Republic in 2004. Originally called Sazka Arena, it has been known as O2 Arena since 2008.
