Hungary Reviews Scrapping Gambling Regulator After Licence Scandal
Hungary's government has ordered a review into whether to dissolve the country's gambling regulator, the Supervisory Authority for Regulated Activities (SZTFH), and redistribute its powers to ministries under direct state control.
According to a resolution published in the Hungarian Gazette on August 31, 2026 and confirmed on the government's own site, kormany.hu, prime minister Peter Magyar has instructed justice minister Marta Gorog to report by September 30, 2026 on how the SZTFH could be shut down and its responsibilities transferred to existing state bodies.
Casino Concession Sparked The Review
The review follows controversy over a 35-year casino concession awarded by the SZTFH without a public tender.
The licence, covering the Sopron casino until 2061, went to CAI Hungary Kft, a company linked to businessman Istvan Garancsi.
The award came weeks after the government had promised to review all casino agreements issued in Hungary, including several granted in the final months of the previous administration.
An Authority With A Wide Remit
The SZTFH was created in 2021 under Act XXXII to oversee a mix of unrelated sectors: gambling, including online casinos, alongside tobacco retail, mining, court enforcement officers and liquidators.
It reports only to parliament rather than to a government ministry, a structure the government's own statement says it wants reassessed alongside the licensing questions.
Regulator Defends Its Independence
The SZTFH has stood by its record and rejected suggestions of political interference.
In a public statement, the authority said: "The SZTFH is an independent regulatory body established by the Parliament ... subject only to legislation in terms of its activities and is solely accountable to the parliament for its operations."
It pointed to its enforcement record, including shutting down illegal online gambling operators and tightening protections against underage access, as evidence of independent oversight.
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What Happens Next?
The justice minister's report is due by September 30, 2026, after which the government will decide whether to proceed with legislation to dissolve the SZTFH.
Any restructuring would need to specify which ministry or agency assumes responsibility for gambling licensing and enforcement, a detail not yet addressed in the published resolution.
For operators active in Hungary, the immediate risk is regulatory uncertainty rather than an imminent change: licensing and enforcement continue under the SZTFH until any new structure is legislated.
Readers tracking European market oversight can find further coverage on online casinos regulation on gambling.com.
