The halting of the restriction imposed by Ķekava County Council on the organisation of gambling within its territory corresponds with regulations, the Constitutional Court concluded, announcing its verdict.

With this verdict Ķekava County Council has lost the lawsuit in which it attempted to challenge the act issued by then the Minister of Environment Protection and Regional Development Minister Artūrs Toms Plešs to halt the municipality’s issued binding regulations “On Organisation of Gambling in Ķekava County”.

The lawsuit was initiated following the request from Ķekava County Council.

The legislative act issued by then the minister halted the regulations On Organisation of Gambling in Ķekava County of the 8th of September 2021. The minister explained in the challenged act that the regulations in question do not correspond to regulations that have higher legislative power.

In November 2021 the county passed binding regulations that completely banned the organisation of gambling within its territory.

Ķekava County was the first Latvian municipality that used the right provided by amendments to the Law on Gambling and Lotteries passed on the 15th of April 2021 that permit municipal administrations pass binding regulations that prohibit the organisation of gambling within specific locations and territories.

On the 8th of September 2021 Ķekava County Council decided to ban all gambling within Ķekava’s administrative territory.

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