Belgrade’s new Mayor Aleksandar Sapic said that he has accepted a proposal of the opposition regarding the distance between betting shops and schools.

Sapic said this means that he has kept his word that he is prepared to accept every good and constructive proposal of the opposition.

“I am glad they remembered that precisely I worked on that ten years ago,” Sapic said, adding that, at the time, no one was prepared to address this issue.

“I absolutely accept their proposal to send a request to all schools and get a list of betting shops that are, contrary to the law, closer to schools than envisaged. We will send a request to the Finance Ministry, that is, to the Games of Chance Administrations, for all betting shops that are at an improper distance from schools to be shut down,” Sapic told the city government’s Beoinfo portal.

“We will show that it is possible to cooperate and that we will accept every good proposal,” he said, adding he hopes this particular proposal will soon be implemented.

Inspections in the field could be conducted in July and August, and the shutting down of betting shops could start in August, Sapic said.

Sapic is an official of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). He was elected Mayor of Belgrade with a tight majority.