Official language: Hungarian
Population: 10,034,000
Currency: Forint (HUF)

Current Exchange Rate
1 EUR = 265.57 HUF
1 GBP = 292.85 HUF
1 USD = 179.15 HUF

Casinos in Hungary
The first true casino in Hungary did not open until 1981. By 1993, the country had 20 major casinos scattered across its cities, though most were clustered in and around Budapest. One of the most popular casinos is the Las Vegas Casino in Budapest which, curiously, was opened by Sylvester Stallone in 1992. Today, the number has dropped to 7. Despite this dramatic decline, gambling in Hungary is still very popular – it just takes place in smaller venues.

Hungary has thousands of small gambling halls. The law only lets these smaller venues operate gaming machines, but among them, there are over 30,000 gambling devices available to Hungarians. These machines only offer limited stakes and small jackpots, but they are extremely popular, and can be found in most areas.

Online Casinos in Hungary
Online gambling in Hungary does not share the same freedoms. There are no true Hungarian online casinos, as the country does not allow online gambling. They have even taken measures to prevent players from using foreign casinos online. Since June of 2006, Hungarian banks have not been allowed to process payments to and from internet gambling sites.

Part of the situation comes from the gambling monopoly in Hungary – a state-run company called Szerencsejáték has exclusive rights to all lottery and sports gambling, and has a major interest in most Hungarian casinos. The Hungarian government sees internet gambling as competition and therefore tries to control it. The EU sees things differently, and has been putting tremendous pressure on Hungary to open its gambling industry to foreign interests. If and when this change occurs, there are sure to be more Hungarian internet casinos emerging. In the mean time, the choices available to Hungarians are limited to foreign based online casinos.