A new arcade is growing in Prague 10. Despite everything the politicians promised for more than two years
photo: Markéta Šálková, PrahaIN.cz/Newly established gaming place in Prague 10
WE KNOW FIRST: The management of Prague 10 fought loudly against gambling two years ago. The then Michal Kočí even pirated about its complete ban. It is November 2022 and what was promised does not apply. A new playground is being built on the corner of Vršovická and Petrohradská streets.
“We consider the operation of games to be very problematic, as the number of negative phenomena increases as a result. Gambling addiction in many cases leads to significant social problems for players, often even to crime. We therefore welcome the intention of the capital city of Prague to set up a new ordinance and especially appreciate the open approach of councilor Hana Kordová Marvanová, who strives for the greatest possible involvement of city districts in the preparation of a generally binding ordinance,” Pirát Kočí published in 2020.
In the same report, Prague 10 boasted that from 2007 to 2020 there was a reduction in places where gambling can be conducted. From 140 to fourteen.
However, Ten also claimed on its website that by 2023 the district will be completely casino-free.
Life is a change
“In Nuslí, all the gambling halls have been cancelled, so are they moving to Vršovice? A new game room instead of a flower shop. The corner of Vršovická and Petrohradská, where there is already a game room across the street,” pointed out the Vršovická group discussants on FB.
Dozens of comments appeared under her November 18 post. Mostly negative. There was also one who mistook the game room. Across the intersection, at Vršovická 27, there is already one.
“But this one (Butterfly) has been there for many years. It used to be the U Rohlenů pub, later named U Botiče, then a grocery store in the 1990s,” said Petr K.
The others misled him. And they explained that this is a newly created place. Flowers were sold for years at Vršovicka 32, where the game room was founded.
The new councilor is silent
We asked Michal Kočí (Pirates) directly about who and why approved the new gambling hall, but also about the change in Prague 10’s approach to gambling. We also approached his party colleague and former deputy mayor, Jana Komrsková. We will bring the reaction in a separate text during Friday afternoon.
Pirates from Prague 10 received a total of 16.77 percent of votes in this year’s municipal elections, but did not get into the council. Together with the ANO movement (gain of 17.67 percent) they remained in the opposition. Their coalition colleagues from the previous election period (VLASTA – STAN and KDU-ČSL together with ODS) did not take them into the team this time.
We sent the same questions to the current deputy mayor Radek Lojd from TOP 09. He is safe. However, he did not comment on the new gaming room.
Entrance to the play area on the corner of Vršovická and Petrohradská streets, source: Markéta Šálková, PrahaIN.cz
The editors went to the address where the new gaming room should be located. However, it was closed today, November 22. A day later, a sign was placed on the door saying it was open from 2pm to 2am, but the door was locked. However, due to the imperfect covering of the windows, we spotted two slot machines.
Looking from the outside, however, we did not learn who was running the business. We didn’t even find out her name. It is not marked. We didn’t even follow the list of companies at the address.
The number of gambling halls in Prague’s Vršovice will obviously not drop to the announced zero during December.
For the gambler, in addition to this gambling house, there are also other variants in the vicinity of Moskevská street or the already mentioned Motýl na Vršovické. For the sake of interest, specifically these gaming rooms are marked, even with information on who exactly runs them.