Hungary is restructuring the way state concessions are supervised after Parliament approved legislation removing concession-related powers from the Supervisory Authority for Regulated Activities (SZTFH), the body that also regulates the country’s gambling sector.
Bill T/639, submitted by the government on 8 September, eliminates the SZTFH’s role in providing prior consent for concession agreements and removes its other concession-related responsibilities. The legislation also abolishes the legal framework governing the authority’s Concession Council. According to the SZTFH, Parliament approved the bill at its final vote on 22 September.
The change does not abolish the SZTFH itself or immediately remove its gambling-regulation functions. Instead, it separates the authority from the process used to approve and oversee state concession arrangements while the government conducts a wider assessment of the regulator’s future.
Government reviews regulator’s structure
The reform follows Government Resolution 1277/2026, published on 31 August, which ordered an examination of the SZTFH and the legislation governing its activities. The review includes consideration of whether the authority should ultimately be dissolved and whether its responsibilities could be transferred to government-controlled bodies.
Created in October 2021, the SZTFH is an independent regulatory authority accountable to Hungary’s Parliament. Its responsibilities extend beyond gambling to sectors including tobacco supervision, mining, geology, cybersecurity and other regulated activities.
Under the previous concession framework, the authority did not itself award concession contracts. Instead, it exercised a prior-consent function when contracts involving exclusive state economic activities were created, amended or terminated.
The SZTFH stressed this distinction after the legislation was approved, stating that the power to conclude concession agreements had always rested with the relevant government bodies. The regulator said its role was to assess requests against a defined professional framework through its Concession Council.
Bill T/639 removes that prior-consent requirement as well as SZTFH responsibilities covering areas such as concession registers, supervision of concession activities and efforts to standardise administrative practice. The government’s legislative explanation argues that several of these functions were already handled in practice by other state institutions, including the National Concession Office, State Audit Office and Competition Authority.
Gambling concessions remain under scrutiny
The institutional review has particular relevance for Hungary’s casino industry because land-based casino and online casino operations remain closely linked to concession rights.
Under the current regulatory framework, an online casino may only be operated by a concession company entitled to run a Hungarian land-based casino. The SZTFH remains responsible for issuing the corresponding gambling operating permits.
The regulator’s public register currently lists kaszino.hu, vegas.hu and xcasino.hu as licensed online casino websites operated by LVC Diamond Játékkaszinó Üzemeltető Kft. Its remote gambling register also lists Szerencsejáték Zrt’s TippmixPro and an LVC Diamond operation under vegas.hu.
SBC reported that the government is examining long-term casino concessions covering locations including Szeged, Győr, Miskolc, Pécs, Debrecen and Sopron as part of its broader review of the existing system.
The changes therefore create two separate questions for Hungary’s gambling market. The first concerns who will oversee concession procedures following the removal of the SZTFH’s powers. The second is whether the wider government review will eventually lead to changes in the authority responsible for gambling licensing and enforcement.
For now, the SZTFH continues to operate as Hungary’s gambling regulator, including maintaining licensing registers and supervising legal gambling activity, while the government considers a broader reorganisation of its regulatory structure.