EUROPEAN REGULATION
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, together with directives
and regulations, is effective as of 1 August, 2018.
NETHERLANDS
Regulated gambling products: Sports betting,
horse race betting, poker, casino, bingo and lottery.
Operator type: Monopoly for all products.
Status: The Dutch parliament’s lower house
approved the Remote Gambling Bill in 2016, which
will introduce an online gambling licensing regime.
In September 2018, the Government opened a public
consultation on the implementing regulations of
the Remote Gambling Bill, which will be followed
by debate and a vote in the Senate, expected in
early 2019. It is understood that operators that have
previously been fi ned by the Dutch regulator will not
be eligible for a licence. In the interim, the regulator
continues to implement enforcement measures
against operators targeting Dutch players, having
imposed recent sanctions against three well-known
operators.
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 traffi c from unlicensed
sites. The Norwegian regulator continues to step up
enforcement efforts against unregulated operators,
local banks and payment service providers. On 4
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MARKETPLACE 2019
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June, 2018, the Ministry of Culture notifi ed a draft
regulation to the European Commission that would
establish payment-blocking measures. The standstill
period ended on 5 September, 2018. The European
Gaming and Betting Association is understood to
have fi led a legal challenge against the proposed
measures.
POLAND
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.
PORTUGAL
Regulated gambling products: Sports betting,
horse race betting, poker, casino, bingo and lottery.
Operator type: Any EU/EEA operator can apply
to be granted a licence for online gambling. Lottery
games and land-based fi xed-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
fi led a state-aid case with the EC challenging the
Portuguese betting tax as breaking EU trade rules. On
13 October, 2018, the government approved the state
budget law for 2019 which proposes the introduction
of a fl at rate of 25% tax on GGY for all games. The
fi nal version is expected to be approved at the end of
November 2018.