Hungary Appoints New Head of State-Owned Gambling Company

Hungarian Finance Minister András Kármán has appointed Zoltán Sólyom as the new CEO of Szerencsejáték Zrt., a state-controlled gambling group. The appointment was announced on Kármán's Facebook page on 27 October but has not yet been published in the official gazette.

The company was left without a leader after Kármán dismissed former CEO Zoltán Guller in July. The board of directors was also dismissed in August. The minister had argued that the company needed to be "restructured."

In July, Krisztina Rédey, Szabolcs Imre Ágostházy, Gábor Bordás and Zsófia Illés-Puka were removed from the board of directors. Marianna Gabriella Poltné Palásthy resigned. Marcell Olajos became chairman, while Zoltán Horváth joined the board. The changes took effect from 15 July.

These changes are part of the TISZA government's review of how state assets and institutions in the gambling, energy and public services sectors are managed. In his announcement, Kármán sharply criticised the company's previous management. The minister claimed that Szerencsejáték was financially poorly managed and was used by former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the Fidesz government as a financing tool. According to Kármán, the company distributed billions of forints in tax money to businesses close to Fidesz for political reasons, without transparency or justification. The minister said that as a company wholly owned by the state, Szerencsejáték must account to Hungarian taxpayers for its spending.

Sólyom has no experience in gambling or Hungarian politics. In 1997 he founded Palladium Consulting, a corporate insurance advisory and brokerage firm. Before that, he worked as a senior executive at Generali. According to Kármán, Sólyom has served on the supervisory boards of Szerencsejáték and Corvinus International Investment since August. The minister said this gave Sólyom the chance to get to know the company better before taking up his new post.