Genelienė, Greta

Research background: Gambling is a specific activity that has an undoubtful impact on the national economies, however the evaluation of this sector still has been analysed very little by economists. This article comparatively analyses the peculiarities of the gambling sector activity in Lithuania, Latvia, Slovak Republic and Czech Republic in the period from 2015 to 2020. Purpose of the article: The purpose of the article is to evaluate the activity of the gambling sector in Lithuania, Latvia, Slovak Republic and Czech Republic. Methods: The following methods are used in the article: comparative analysis and synthesis of scientific literature and legal acts, analysis of graphical and statistical data. Findings & Value added: An analysis of scientific literature and legal acts revealed that definition of gambling is defined differently and in some countries certain types of gambling are not even considered as gambling or does not exist. The evaluation revealed that during 2015-2019 the highest AAGR of the gambling sector’s GGR was in Latvia (11.09%) and in 2019 Latvia also had the highest GGR per inhabitant 199 Eur. On the contrary, during 2017-2019 in the Czech Republic AAGR of the gambling sector’s GGR was -5.63% and in 2019 GGR per inhabitant (39.51 Eur) was the lowest. According to the mentioned statistical data, total GGR and the population size, Latvia has one of the largest gambling sector in the evaluated countries, so gambling sector in other countries still has great potential to growth. Although because of COVID-19 Latvia experienced huge losses of GGR, Slovak Republic online gambling sector showed a great potential to grow and it can be assumed that in Lithuania online gambling sector didn’t took over all of the potential revenue from land-based gambling sector.

This paper analyzes the peculiarities of providing remote gambling services. The objective of the paper is to evaluate the peculiarities of remote gambling services provision and to assess changes in remote gambling in Lithuania. The following methods are used: comparative analysis and synthesis of scientific literature and legal acts, analysis of graphical and statistical data. First of all, the conception and classification of entertainment services are analyzed. Then the specifics of the legal regulation of remote gambling are discussed and recent changes in remote gambling in Lithuania are evaluated. The analysis revealed that the conception of entertainment services is heterogeneous and depending on the nature of the entertainment industry, the list and provision location of entertainment services are changing. The analysis demonstrated how rapidly popularity of remote gambling services in Lithuania is growing: in 2019 remote gambling gross revenue increased by 44,5 percent compared to 2018 and in 2019 remote gambling gross revenue was 35,95 percent of total (remote and land-based) gambling gross revenue in Lithuania.

This article analyses the social costs of gambling sector in Lithuania. The aim of the research is to evaluate the change of gambling sector’s gambling gross revenue according to the established right to submit a request to self-exclude from gambling since May 1, 2017. The scientific problem of the research is how to define and evaluate gambling sector’s social costs. The analysis is conducted by evaluating dependency connection between gambling sector’s gambling gross revenue and gross domestic product taking into account the changing quantity of requests to self-exclude from gambling and current economic situation in Lithuania. The following methods are used for analysis: graphical analysis, paired correlation analysis and linear regression analysis. First of all, the conception of the social cost of gambling is being analysed in the article. Then using previously specified methods the relationship between gambling sector’s gambling gross revenue and gross domestic product in the country is evaluated. Using a linear regression equation, the model, showing how gambling gross revenue of gambling sector was expected to change in response to changes in the country's gross domestic product is obtained. According to gambling gross revenue for 2017-2019 the model reveals that gambling sector revenue, considering the change in gross domestic product, had a higher growth potential and the right to submit a request to self-exclude from gambling established in 2017 may have had a serious effect on slowing down the growth of gambling revenue.