Latvia Gambling License

The first casino ever registered in Latvia was in the summer of 1991. Soon, the number of companies who organized lotteries appeared, even though no legislative acts existed at the time.

There were insufficient supervision and control of the gambling market and the lotteries by the government, therefore, its development was not really regulated and quite spontaneous. Two decades later, the situation remained the same, during which both players suffered and the country’s budget was very small. But then, the first initiatives appeared around 2006, which helped the Latvian gambling market get where it is today.

Recent Developments in Latvia

Gambling in Latvia was and it still is regulated by the Ministry of Finance and the LGSI (Lotteries and Gambling Supervisory Inspection). The first real legislative law that marked the beginning of regulated gambling in Latvia was the Gambling and Lotteries Law of 2006. It was aimed at ensuring public interest and players’ protection, regulating the procedure to operate lotteries and gambling, and supervising operators.

In 2011, the government proposed changes to the legislation for online gambling, which were initiated in the middle of the year. Changes to taxation, license fee, age restrictions and regulatory oversight were implemented. Operators were required to get a general gambling license to operate with a fee of LVL300k (around $500k), an annual renewal fee of LVL25k ($40), and a tax of 5% on gross win. The age restriction was also set to 21.

First licenses

After operators got their first licenses to operate, in 2014, the Latvian government published its first blacklist. Bwin.party, PokerStars, 888 and FullTilt were among the first domains which were blacklisted, even though 144 more were added in a month, Gala Coral, Betsson and Betclick included. ISPs and banks were ordered to block access to all blacklisted domains. The blacklist continued growing, to a total of 530.

And then in 2015, the Ministry of Justice amended the Criminal and Sports law to criminalize match-fixing, imposing prison sentences for the convicted offenders of up to 5 years, which came into effect from January 1st, 2016. Also, the same year, the amendments to the Gambling and Lotteries Law 2005 were implemented, finally setting the proper rules for online gambling in Latvia.

In 2017 the Finance Ministry increased the annual tax for land-based operators to a 30% rate increase. This meant an annual tax of €23.400 per unit for gaming tables and €4,164 for electronic gaming machines.

Since Live Casino games reached the Latvian gambling market, the parliament set an annual license fee for such games at a fixed cost of €400k in 2017, to be implemented from 2018, 1st of January. And in the first half of 2019, legislation was enacted prohibiting Latvian players from gambling with unlicensed operators, imposing fines for players found guilty, as well as on all ISP’s who failed to report violations of the law. In the second half of the year, new annual tax amounts were set for land-based operators, €5,172 per unit for slots, €28,080 for roulette and table games. 90% of the tax and fees were allocated to the national budget, while 10% to the regions in which the taxes are collected. The law was set to take effect from the 1st of January, 2020.