Coalition government agrees on major reform of gambling laws which will open up the country’s iGaming market to private operators
The Austrian government has agreed on a comprehensive reform of the country’s gambling laws, which will centre on increased player protection and an overhaul of online gambling regulations.
The three-party coalition formed by Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) and NEOS said that this represents the most significant reform of gambling laws in 26 years, bringing “player protection and the rules for the gambling market up to date”.
“With the new gambling law, we are taking a step towards more competition, legal certainty, and fair market conditions,” said ÖVP finance spokesperson Andreas Ottenschläger. “Opening up the online market ends outdated monopoly structures, creates new investment incentives, and strengthens Austria as a business location.
“At the same time, we are strengthening player protection through clear and modern safeguards and taking decisive action against illegal providers. This will allow legal companies to operate, invest, and create added value in Austria under fair conditions. We have thus succeeded in finding the right balance between effective player protection and a legally secure, functioning market.”
The new regulations will see the introduction of an open licensing system for online gambling, bringing an end to the current gambling monopoly held by Casinos Austria and its win2day brand.
In principle, licenses are available to any provider that meets strict requirements, which include functioning compliance systems for anti-money laundering and player protection, and a share capital of at least €10 million.
Under the proposed regulations, applicants for an online licence must cease their existing illegal online services from January 1, 2027, until licences are awarded.
This cooling-off period, from the date the amendment comes into force, is intended to ensure a smooth transition to the open concession system. Providers who adhere to the cooling-off period will be eligible to receive an online licence from September 30, 2027.
Providers who continue to operate illegal online gambling after January 1, 2027, will be subject to an 18-month waiting period before they can obtain a license. From January 1, 2030, this waiting period will be extended to 24 months.
To safeguard the regulated market, the government will introduce payment blocking measures to prevent payment flows to and from illegal payment providers, with all banks and payment service providers operating in Austria obligated to block the IBANs of illegal gambling providers.
In the future, international payment providers such as Visa and PayPal will also be legally obligated to cease business relationships with illegal gambling operators.
“The main objective is to reduce the payment options on the websites of illegal providers as much as possible,” said the coalition government.
The government will also look at network blocking measures to prevent websites of illegal providers from being accessible in Austria, primarily by working with large international cloud providers such as Cloudflare and AWS, as well as search engines, to block the websites.
“The reform of the gambling law was long overdue,” said SPÖ finance spokesperson Jan Krainer. “We have succeeded in reconciling many conflicting interests. The most important of these are: We are improving player protection and bringing order to an online market that has become increasingly murky and corrupt in recent years.”
NEOS spokesperson for health and capital markets, Christoph Pramhofer, added: “Gambling that takes place within the legal and regulated sector offers the best player protection. That is precisely why we are opening up the online market – in a controlled manner and with uniform rules for all providers. The previous state monopoly meant that players, lacking alternatives, far too often resorted to the gray or black market.
“With liberalization, we are now creating a modern market with healthy competition and high, binding player protection standards. The fact that this long-standing demand is now being implemented is also of crucial importance to me as health spokesperson.”
In addition to the new regulations for online gambling, the government said that another key focus of the reform is to further develop and improve player protection standards, in line with current scientific knowledge.
The changes focus on player-related measures, with a central independent exclusion register to be introduced to allow both operator-imposed and self-exclusion requests to be centrally recorded.
This measure will effectively protect players who are particularly at risk of addiction and will cover all game types except lotteries.
As a further measure, deposit limits will be introduced for online gambling and for land-based venues with slot machines.
The maximum deposits for 18-26 year olds will be €250 per week, rising to €1,680 per month for those over the age of 26.
In addition, an online gambling supervision system is being implemented which centrally monitors legally regulated deposit limits using a cross-operator limit register.
In individual cases for adults who have reached the age of 23, the deposit limit can be increased if the player has sufficient “creditworthiness”.
Any increase in the deposit limit must be accompanied by close player monitoring to ensure continued effective player protection.
Regarding slot machines , which have the highest prevalence of addiction, existing restrictions are to be tightened.
For both slot machines and online slots, existing restrictions are to be tightened with the game speed halved to two seconds per spin.
Limiting the frequency of play is intended to reduce the prevalence of addiction associated with these games. In addition, a mandatory cooling-off period after 90 minutes of play will be introduced, during which players will be shown videos specifically informing them about the risks of gambling.
The betting limit for slot machines, including online slots, will be halved to €5, with a maximum win limit of €10,000 remaining in place. Additionally, the existing ban on jackpots will be lifted to ensure an attractive legal gambling market and “counteract the migration to the black market”.
“The new regulations aim to ensure a clearly regulated and monitored gaming environment that meets the highest standards of player protection and responsible gambling,” said the government. “In the future, limits will also be introduced for virtual slot machines (online slots).
“The restrictions on mandatory maximum stakes and winnings, as well as the limitation of game speed and the requirement of a cooling-off period for players, will thus be extended to the online sector. This ensures a high standard of player protection in online gambling, analogous to that in land-based slot machine gambling.”
The draft law opens for public consultation today.