Hungary's Finance Minister Names Zoltán Sólyom to Run Szerencsejáték Zrt

Finance Minister András Kármán has put a corporate insurance consultant he placed on the supervisory board in August at the head of Hungary's state lottery and betting operator. He announced it with the charge that the company had become a payout point for the previous government's circle.

• Zoltán Sólyom became chief executive of Szerencsejáték Zrt, the wholly state-owned gambling operator in Hungary, on 27 October, Finance Minister András Kármán announced on Facebook
• The post had been filled on an interim basis by economic director Balázs Attila Pozsgai since Kármán dismissed chairman and chief executive Zoltán Guller on 30 June
• Kármán said the company had been used to channel taxpayer money to businesses close to Fidesz, naming people rather than detailing specific payments
• Sólyom has sat on Szerencsejáték's supervisory board since August, at Kármán's request; no tender, pay or selection details have been published
• The appointment completes a reset that began with a new board in July, as the government also strips the gambling regulator of concession powers

The Finance Minister Fills the Top Job Himself

Kármán announced the appointment on his Facebook page on 27 October, the day it took effect, according to Telex, HVG, Portfolio and Világgazdaság. Világgazdaság describes Szerencsejáték as one of the largest state companies in Hungary. Ministers named its chief executives under the previous government too: Zoltán Guller was appointed in March 2025 by the then economy minister, Márton Nagy.

According to the reports, Sólyom founded a corporate insurance consultancy almost 30 years ago and has held senior posts at several financial and insurance companies. Since August he has been a member of the supervisory boards of Szerencsejáték and of Corvinus Nemzetközi Befektetési Zrt, a state investment company, a role HVG says he took at Kármán's request. Portfolio reports Kármán as saying that Sólyom convinced him during the selection process that he would be the company's "gondos gazdája" ("careful steward"). Neither the minister nor the company has published the terms of that process, the name of Sólyom's firm or his pay.

Kármán's rationale was political. He said the company had "a NER kifizetőhelyévé vált" ("become a payout point for the NER", the Orbán-era System of National Cooperation), and that taxpayer billions had been distributed without transparency or justification to companies close to Fidesz, naming businesses linked to Antal Rogán, Árpád Habony and Péter Szijjártó, according to Telex and HVG. Világgazdaság notes he did not detail specific payments. HVG quotes him saying the company has "végre jó kezekbe került" ("finally come into good hands").

Four Months Without a Permanent Chief

The appointment closes a sequence Kármán began soon after Péter Magyar's Tisza party won the 12 April election with a two-thirds majority. On 30 June he dismissed Guller as chairman and chief executive, leaving economic director Balázs Attila Pozsgai in charge under the company's deputising rules, Telex reported. Three days later Economy Minister István Kapitány removed Guller as chairman of the Hungarian Tourism Agency, according to 444. On 14 July Kármán named Marcell Olajos chairman of the board and Zoltán Horváth a member, effective 15 July, and recalled four directors, three of them former senior officials in Fidesz-era ministries and one a former Fidesz press chief, according to Telex.

The company's 2025 annual report showed net revenue of 1,310.9 billion forints, approximately $4 billion, and after-tax profit of 49.1 billion forints, approximately $150 million, as reported by Világgazdaság. Three days before the April election, the Orbán government decided to take the whole profit, about 52 billion forints, approximately $160 million, as a dividend in two instalments due by 30 June and 31 October, Telex reported.

Splitting the Chair From the Chief Executive Is the Real Governance Change

Guller held the combined post of chairman and chief executive. Kármán has now separated the roles, with Olajos chairing the board and Sólyom running the business. That is a real structural change. The appointment process is not: a minister still chose the chief executive personally, from his own supervisory board nominee, and announced it on social media, just as a minister appointed Guller in 2025. A transparency reset would be more credible if it started with the selection.

The Monopoly Itself Is Not Yet on the Table

Hungary's Gambling Act (Act XXXIV of 1991) reserves number lotteries and several forms of betting to a state game organiser wholly owned by the Hungarian state. Kármán's criticism targets how Szerencsejáték spent its money, not the exclusive rights that generate it. Meanwhile the government has ordered a review into abolishing the SZTFH and stripped it of its concession powers. For licensed and offshore operators, the signal is that the new government is reorganising control of the existing model, not opening it.

Disclosure Will Be the Test

Kármán says the company owes taxpayers an account of its spending. State lotteries elsewhere, such as Sweden's Svenska Spel, already publish quarterly results that itemise their brand and marketing spending. Whether Sólyom publishes the sponsorship and grant decisions Kármán criticised will show whether the change is about transparency or simply about who controls the money.

Kármán has removed the old leadership and installed his own in four months. The harder part is making the next appointment, and the spending, look different from the last.