EUROPEAN REGULATION
appears sufficiently wide to cover all forms of online
gambling.
Malta
Regulated gambling products: Sports betting,
horse race betting, poker, casino, bingo and lottery.
Operator type: Private operators can apply for a
local licence (except for lottery products).
Status: Malta has approved a new Gaming Act that
replaces all existing gaming legislation with a single
piece of legislation, supplemented by secondary
legislation. The Gaming Act, with directives and
regulations, became effective in August 2018.
Netherlands
Regulated gambling products: Sports betting,
horse race betting, poker, casino, bingo and lottery.
Operator type: Monopoly for all products.
Status: On 19 February 2019, the Dutch parliament
approved the Remote Gambling Bill, which will
introduce an online gambling licensing regime. It is
understood that operators that have directly
‘targeted’ the Dutch market will face a two-year
cooling-off period before being eligible for a licence.
Implementation of a licensing regime will not likely
emerge for some time. In the interim, the regulator is
expected to continue to implement enforcement
measures against operators targeting Dutch players.
local banks and payment service providers. The
government has proposed legislative changes to stem
the flow of gambling supply from offshore, including
enhanced enforcement powers to prevent gambling
advertising from abroad. Expanded payment
blocking provisions are set to enter into effect on 1
January 2020.
Poland
Regulated gambling products: Sports betting,
Regulated gambling products: Sports betting, horse
race betting, casino and poker.
Operator type: Betting licences are available for
companies with a representative in Poland. Casino
and poker are reserved for a state monopoly.
Status: Legislation enacted 1 January 2012 permits
betting. Online gaming (including poker) is no longer
prohibited as of 1 April 2017, although the exclusive
rights to offer such products are reserved for a state
monopoly. Provisions that provide for the
establishment of a blacklist of unlicensed operators
and ISP and payment blocking came into force on 1
July 2017. The blacklist contains more than 1,000
domain names.
Portugual
Regulated gambling products: Sports betting,
horse race betting, poker, casino, bingo and lottery.
Operator type: Any EU/EEA operator can apply to
Norway
Regulated gambling products: Sports betting,
horse race betting and lottery.
Operator type: Online gambling is reserved for the
two monopoly providers, Norsk Tipping and Norsk
Rikstoto.
Status: The monopoly has extended its offering to
include live betting, online bingo and casino games
in an attempt to redirect traffic from unlicensed sites.
The Norwegian regulator continues to step up
enforcement efforts against unregulated operators,
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MARKETPLACE 2020
be granted a licence for online gambling. Lottery
games and land-based fixed-odds sports betting
remain reserved for a monopoly.
Status: A regulated market since 2015. Although
operators can now apply for licences, their
Portuguese revenue streams are subject to
comparatively high tax rates, particularly in sports
betting (8-16% tax on turnover). In 2015, the RGA
filed a state-aid case with the EC challenging the
Portuguese betting tax as breaking EU trade rules.