TLDR Hungary removed the concession powers of its gambling regulator, the SZTFH, under a law that took effect on October 1, 2026. The law also scraps the SZTFH’s Concession Council and ends its prior consent role in concession deals. The SZTFH president must hand all concession files to the minister for state assets within 30 days. The government questioned the regulator’s independence, pointing to its head’s past role in the Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office. The SZTFH disputed the bill’s reasoning and said it ran more than 23,000 concession inspections from 2021 to 2025.
Hungary has removed the concession powers of its gambling regulator. The change took effect on October 1, 2026.
The regulator is the Supervisory Authority for Regulated Activities, known as the SZTFH. The new law also scraps the authority’s Concession Council.
The government submitted bill T/639 on September 8, 2026. The bill changes several laws related to concessions.
Parliament handled the bill under an urgent procedure. Lawmakers passed it in a final vote on September 22.
The law was published in the Magyar Közlöny, Hungary’s official gazette, on September 30. It is listed as Act LIX of 2026.
Government Questions Regulator’s Independence
The SZTFH was created in 2021 under the previous government. It oversees gambling, the tobacco market, and mining. It also covers the Hungarian Chamber of Judicial Officers, the register of liquidators, and checks on activities under concession contracts.
The government said the authority’s independence was in doubt. It pointed to the person chosen to lead it for a nine-year term.
“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