The new coalition administration aims to establish a new gaming regulator while keeping a single online casino licensing.
It appeared that Austria’s online casino business will be exposed to competition once Casinos Austria’s Win2Day’s exclusivity licence expired in September 2027. The former administration was thought to be prepared to issue a tender this year.
But the new coalition administration, which entered office Monday, has other intentions.
Austria’s new three-party coalition administration includes the center-right People’s Party (ÖVP), Social Democrats (SPÖ), and Liberal Party (NEOS). They have suggested maintaining the monopoly model by operating online casinos under a single 15-year licence beginning in 2027.
To avoid additional claims of a conflict of interest owing to the Finance Ministry’s 33.3% share in Casinos Austria, the government intends to establish a new independent gaming body that would oversee the tender process for both online and land-based casino licenses.
However, there is little time to form the body because licenses expire in 2027. The procedure may potentially face legal challenges in administrative courts and the Constitutional Court.
In 2012, Casinos Austria secured its current exclusive online casino licence through a tender held by the Finance Ministry.
The corporation also owns a monopoly on land-based casinos in Austria and operates lotteries through its Austrian Lotteries subsidiary, which has a distribution network of 5,000 retail shops. However, business groups such as the EGBA have urged Austria to open its market to competition.
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The ÖPV formerly advocated for market competition, but negotiations with the right-wing populist Freedom Party (FPÖ) failed. The SPÖ will control the Finance Ministry as part of the new coalition arrangement.
Other recommendations include progressively increasing the two percent tax on casino earnings to five percent. The new administration also aims to be harder on unlicensed businesses by implementing site and payment blocking.
It may also seek to replace the present state-by-state regulation of sports betting with centralized licensing. The government claims this will provide uniform player protection standards, but states are likely to resist the move. The government also intends to regulate loot boxes, potentially classifying them as gambling items like in Belgium.
Meanwhile, the Maltese Civil Court has stated that it would not implement Austrian court decisions granting refunds to players who bet on sites that were not regulated in the nation. The court agreed with Maltese operators, stating that the decisions violated Maltese policy.
The court ruled that Article 56 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) permits the provision of services across EU states, and that Austrian gambling legislation, which maintains an online gaming monopoly for Casinos Austria’s Win2Day, is incompatible with European Union legislation.
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