EUROPEAN REGULATION
In conjunction with Christopher Elliott of DLA Piper London, iGB Affiliate provides a regulatory snapshot of
iGaming markets across the European Union. This includes all regulated products and legalised operator types
within each country, and any impending market updates.
AUSTRIA
BULGARIA
CYPRUS
Regulated Gambling Products: Sports
betting, horse race betting, poker, casino,
bingo and lottery.
Operator Type: Licences for sports betting
and horse race betting are available for
private operators on a regional basis
within Austria whereas poker, casino,
bingo and lottery are controlled by the
monopoly, Austria Lotteries.
Status: It is understood that the
compatibility of Austria’s monopolistic
gambling laws with European law may be
scrutinised further following aggressive
marketing pra ctices by Austria Lotteries
and a recent ECJ decision regarding
the restrictions imposed on gaming
machines. Even so, the Member State
has proposed changes to its regulations
(notably a ban on in-play betting) to help
curb match fixing, measures with the
Austrian Bookmakers Association has
agreed to implement.
Regulated Gambling Products: Sports
betting, horse race betting, poker, casino,
bingo and lottery (excluding raffles and
instant lottery games)
Operator Type: All products are available
to private operators save for lotteries,
which are reserved exclusively for the
monopoly provider.
Status: Bulgaria’s Gambling Act became
law on 1 July 2012 but licences were
not available until mid-2013 as further
implementing legislation needed to be
in force. Any operator from an EU/EEA
jurisdiction or the Swiss Confederation
can apply for a licence. The Bulgarian
regulator has now issued 12 licences,
including to a number of leading
international operators.
Changes to the tax rate in Bulgaria from
a turnover to a gross gaming revenue
based system has prompted a number of
operators to apply for a local licence.
Regulated Gambling Products: Sports
betting and lottery.
Operator Type: OPAP have a
monopoly over lottery operations and
only sports betting licences are available
to private operators.
Status: Cyprus regulated online
gambling in July 2012. The government
published a blacklist and warned local
ISP providers that they would face
fines for failures to block sites offering
unlicensed gambling products.
In response to a request for further
information by the EC in November
2013, Cyprus has notified draft
legislation to the EC. However, the
draft only addresses the criticism
of the requirement to have a local
establishment. The EC standstill period
ended on 6 October but commentary
from the EC has not been published.
BELGIUM
CROATIA
Regulated Gambling Products: Sports
betting, horse race betting, poker, casino,
bingo and lottery.
Operator Type: The new Belgian
government has published a coalition
agreement which proposes to increase
the number of land-based casinos from
9 to 11. Accordingly, this will allow
online operators to team up with the new
casinos to offer casino products online.
Further restrictions and a tightening of
the legal framework is also proposed,
with three decrees having been notified
to the EC (relating to the type of games
that can be offered and limitations on
such games as well as the monitoring
and control of online games). It is
uncertain if the proposed changes will be
implemented this year. The potential for
EC infringement proceedings remains.
Regulated Gambling Products: Sports
betting, horse race betting, poker, casino,
bingo and lottery.
Operator Type: All products are available
to private operators save for lotteries,
which are reserved exclusively for the
monopoly provider.
Status: Following Croatia’s accession to
the EU in July 2013, it was understood
that the Member State would submit
new legislation to the EC that was
compatible with European law.
However, on 5 March 2014 the
Croatian government notified a draft
bill which seeks to embolden the
position of the monopoly and local
operators. Only land-based casinos
and betting operators can apply for a
licence pursuant to the draft bill and
ISP blocking is also proposed.
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iGB Affiliate Issue 48 DEC/JAN 2014/2015
CZECH REPUBLIC
Regulated Gambling Products: Sports
betting, horse racing betting and lottery.
Operator Type: Online gaming is not
expressly regulated but a limited number
of local licences are available for Czech
companies with Czech share ownership.
Lottery is reserved for the monopoly.
Status: A draft bill has been published
which creates a local licensing regime
for all gambling activities together
with stringent enforcement measures
for any unlicensed operators. The
government hopes that the draft bill can
be implemented by 2016.
DENMARK
Regulated Gambling Products: Sports
betting, horse race betting, poker, casino,
bingo and lottery.
Operator Type: Sports betting, poker and
casino licences are available to private