Eight offences in § 95 and not one of them is about the player
Verbatim wording
The fines in § 95(2) run from 200 to 250,000 euros. Paragraph 1, however, defines for itself whom they fall on: a natural person who is a supervised entity under § 80(b) to (k). The list in § 80 has eleven items and the player is not in it.
The paragraph defining its own circle of people
Gambling offences fall under § 95 of zákon č. 30/2019 Z. z. Its first sentence is no formality, it is a filter:
An offence in the field of operating gambling games, promoting gambling games or related activities is committed by a natural person who is a supervised entity under § 80(b) to (k) and who…
Only then do eight letters follow, from a) to h):
- unfulfilled duty imposed by the authority's decision,
- obstruction of supervision,
- promoting a gambling game contrary to law,
- taking part in operating an unlicensed game,
- unlicensed use of the designation “kasíno”,
- promoting a game without a licence,
- failure to fulfil duties under § 85(12) and (13),
- operating a gambling game without a licence itself.
Read that list as a description of roles. In it are operators, promoters, providers of connectivity and payments, and people obstructing the authority's supervision. A player who bets does none of those eight things.
Fines are assigned by paragraph 2 and rise with gravity. For letter a) the range is 200 to 1,000 euros, for letter g) 10,000 to 100,000 euros and for letter h), operating without a licence, 20,000 to 250,000 euros. The other ranges we did not transcribe and do not fill in by estimate.
These are sums that articles about “casinos without a licence” often quote without that first sentence, and that first sentence decides. Without it § 95 looks like a price list for anyone. With it, it lists sanctions for eleven groups the law named in advance. Operators' terms read the same way, always with the clause's first sentence: casinos without a Slovak licence in figures.
Every citation of § 31, § 33, § 36, § 80, § 85 and § 95 on this page comes from the version of the act in force from 1 January 2026. The English translation the authority itself offers is the version of 1 June 2019, and its numbering of the paragraphs of § 85 already differs.
Who is a supervised entity
§ 80 lists eleven groups under letters a) to k). They are operators of gambling games, persons taking part in the operation or assisting in it, the operator's employees, promoters, persons providing a prohibited offer, anyone using the designation “kasíno” or “herňa” without a licence, and further entities with duties under § 85.
Closest to the player is letter d):
persons who operate gambling games without a licence and persons who take part in operating such games or carry out activities needed to realise such games or in any way assist in operating such games or directly or indirectly enable their operation.
The whole letter speaks of operating, not playing. A bettor neither operates nor enables the game: it is enabled by whoever offers it, promotes it or opens a route to it. So the player falls outside § 95(1) and the fine in paragraph 2 cannot be imposed on him.
The only two bans on participation in law
The law bans participation in gambling games in two cases, and both stand in § 33.
The first is age. Paragraph 1 begins “Participation in gambling games is prohibited to a natural person under 18 years of age” and at once obliges the operator to prevent it.
The second is the register of excluded persons. Under paragraph 2 participation is also banned for natural persons recorded in it, and an internet game operator must check it at every player log-in to his account. Those are duties of a Slovak-licensed operator; who holds one is listed by who holds a Slovak licence.
How the register of excluded persons works and ends
The Úrad pre reguláciu hazardných hier keeps the register, and § 33 itself set it up. Whoever is in it may not enter an arcade or casino, nor play online at a licensed operator.
A person applies for entry himself, by post to the authority's address or electronically through slovensko.sk with a qualified electronic signature. It is no measure set behind the player's back, but an act with an address and a signature.
The register's practical boundary is, however, exactly the licence's. Only an internet game operator with a Slovak licence must check it. A brand without one does not, because nobody can require that of it, and self-restriction recorded on one side of the market does not reach the other.
That is the hardest practical consequence of the whole division and has nothing to do with bonuses or payout speed. The free gambling helpline is 0800 131 000, from abroad +421 587 875 800, run by OLÚP Predná Hora.
The free number is 0800 131 000, and +421 587 875 800 from abroad. The line is run by OLÚP Predná Hora, a specialist hospital, and is funded from the state budget and from voluntary contributions.
The offer is prohibited, the address recorded
The law tackles unlicensed play with one more instrument, and it is addressed. § 85 sets up the Zoznam zakázaných ponúk, where the authority records websites and account numbers providing a prohibited offer.
Entry is preceded by a procedure with time limits. The authority publishes a notice of intent and calls on the operator to end provision within ten days. The person concerned may object, also within ten days, and the address is removed if the prohibited offer proves no longer provided.
Duties from the entry then fall on third parties: connectivity providers, banks and application stores. Not the player. The edition as at 31 August 2026 has 1,120 valid entries, broken down by the list of prohibited offers.
The difference from § 95 lies in what is prohibited. The law bans the offer and making it accessible, not participation in it. So one and the same site can at once be in the register and at once give the player nothing exposing him to a fine.
What does not follow from it
Playing at a foreign operator is not thereby without risk. The risk is contractual and monetary, not one of offences: the money sits at a company outside Slovak law, and a dispute would run under its law and its terms. What figures stand there is shown by withdrawal limits, and who belongs in this group is defined by foreign online casino.
The authority acts too, only aiming elsewhere: at the domain and account. The list it keeps is described by the list of prohibited offers.
About documents § 95 finally says nothing. That an operator is not bound by the § 33 does not mean it wants no documents. Its verification clause stands in its terms, taken apart by identity verification.
How to check the quotation in two minutes
Open predpis č. 30/2019 Z. z. in the Zbierka zákonov, switch to the wording in force today and turn to § 95. Read the whole first sentence of paragraph 1, including the reference to § 80(b) to (k), and only then the level of the fines.
If you come across an English version, check its date. The one the authority offers is old and already diverges in numbering § 85's paragraphs. We do not quote it; the procedure is in how we read documents.