Hungary Ends Gambling Regulator’s Concession Powers, Gives 30 Days to Transfer Files

Hungary has taken concession powers away from its gambling regulator, the Supervisory Authority for Regulated Activities (SZTFH). 

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The law, which also scraps the authority’s Concession Council, came into force on 1 October. The government submitted bill T/639, which changes several concession-related laws, on 8 September 2026. Parliament pushed it through under urgent procedure and passed it in a final vote on 22 September.

The law appeared in the Magyar Közlöny on 30 September as Act LIX of 2026. It ends the SZTFH’s tasks and powers tied to concessions. The government said it also plans to abolish the authority outright down the line, spreading its duties among other state bodies.

The SZTFH was set up in 2021 under the previous government. Its remit stretches across gambling, the tobacco market, mining, the Hungarian Chamber of Judicial Officers, the register of liquidators, and checks on activities regulated by concession contracts.

“Although the supervisory authority, as an autonomous regulatory body, was obliged to report only to Parliament, the independence of the SZTFH is called into question by the fact that a former administrative state secretary of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office was appointed to head it, for nine years,” the Hungarian government stated.

SZTFH defended role

The SZTFH did not stay quiet. On the day of the vote, it published a corrective notice, disputing what it called serious inaccuracies in the bill’s justification and in the parliamentary debate.

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The authority pointed out that concession contracts are actually concluded by the minister designated by the government of the day. From 1 October 2021, the SZTFH’s role was to give prior consent before a concession contract was concluded, amended, or terminated.

The authority also laid out its inspection record, saying it carried out more than 23,000 concession-related inspections between 2021 and 2025, covering casinos, online casinos, national tobacco shops, and mining. 

Under the new law, the SZTFH’s prior consent is no longer required for concession procedures, including those already underway when the law took effect. That covers tenders, invitations to submit offers, and the conclusion, amendment, or termination of concession contracts.

Within 30 days of the law taking effect, the SZTFH’s president must hand the authority’s concession files to the minister responsible for state assets. Those files include documents on tenders, contracts, and inspections.

The government can now decide, by decree, which minister or central government body will run concession tenders and handle contracts on the state’s behalf.  There are currently no talks of the SZTFH being abolished, according to European Gaming.

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