Slovenia’s push towards online gambling has been vetoed. A recent bill that would have opened the Eastern European country up to online gaming using the provisions used by the European Economic Community has failed to get the required votes.

The main supporters of the bill point out that due to the limited choices for online gaming in Slovenia, people have turned to unregulated sites for sports betting and online gaming.

The bill was aimed at regulating and licensing the sports betting and online gaming industry. Initially, the bill was doing well. It passed the National Assembly with a vote of 35 in favor to 26 against.

The main driving force of the bill is from MP Branko Zorman. He first presented the bill back in January 2017 and has been pushing for it ever since. His main reason is that in his opinion, around 85% of the revenue generated by Slovenian sports betting was leaving the country because of unregulated foreign operators.

The National Council Commission for Economy, Crafts, Tourism, and Finance which is part of the upper house of the parliamentary system in Slovenia held a vote for the bill and the results were not in its favor. There were 30 legislators who voted on the bill and in the end it came down to 18 who voted against the bill while 12 were in support. This result puts an end to this iGaming bill.

Should pro-iGaming legislators decide to push forward with their plans in 2018, then the bill will need to go back to the National Assembly and get more than two-thirds approval if it wants to have a chance at success.