Macedonia (the former Yugoslav Republic of) - SOMUCHPOKER

North Macedonia, as it’s officially called since February 2019 due to a naming dispute with neighboring Greece, is a small Balkan country with legal gambling, both live and online.

It was part of Yugoslavia until 1991. Yugoslavia was the only country behind the “Iron Curtain” with legal gambling – they legalized it in 1962. After Macedonia’s 1991 independence, games of chance remained legal in the region.

As of now, 5 casinos operate within the country. Up until recently, that number stood at 7 – however, sadly two of them couldn’t survive the Covid lockdowns of 2020. Naturally, most of these venues are located in the capital city of Skopje. Meanwhile, the rest is in the small town of Gevgelija, a small gambling center in Macedonia.

Online gambling is legal too – however, that market is ruled by the monopoly of the National Videolottery of Republic of Macedonia. It’s a company in which 51% of the equity is owned by the North Macedonian government, while the other 49% is owned by one of the biggest casino chains in Europe, Casino Austria.

As for poker per se, it enjoys moderate popularity in the country, far behind slot machines and sports betting in the gambling market.

Famous North Macedonian Poker Players

Aleksandar Trajkovski sits on top of Macedonia’s All Time Money List on Hendon, as of now. He has $263,867 in live tournament earnings. In July 2019, he came in 8th in the $600 NLHE MonsterStack event at the DeepStack Championship Poker Series at The Venetian in Las Vegas. He won $17,988 that day, which is the biggest single live tournament cash of his career to date.

He also plays online under the screen name “acethemaf” on PokerStars and “nelabejbi” on the small iPoker room NetBet. He has amassed $602,522 in online MTT winnings – more than twice as much as what he won in live tournaments.

Gjorgji Chuchuk is second on the list with $146,805 in cashes. Impressively, he has ITM finishes from 4 different WSOP Main Events: from 2008, 2009, 2012, and 2017. His highest finish out of the four is 239th place (out of a field of 6,598) in 2012 for $38,453.