Austria’s Online Gambling Structure Set For Reform

Austria is closing in on long-awaited reform to how the country’s gambling sector operates.

The Ministry of Finance is reportedly closing in on revealing draft legislation that could pave the way for major changes to the industry in the coming months.

Austria has been considering changes to gambling regulations for a long time, but the pace of progress has been very slow leading to many people becoming impatient.

At the moment, the present framework for the gambling market in Austria is anchored to a single licence, which covers lotteries as well as online gaming.

Win2day, under the brand name Austrian Lotteries, operates the country’s lottery system. The company sits alongside a dozen land-based casino licences that are held by Casinos Austria. Austria’s state holding company, ÖBAG, has a 33% stake in Casinos Austria so the state has a high level of control over how the gambling industry works in the country at the moment.

What Changes Are Likely In Austria?

After the People’s Party (ÖVP), liberals (NEOS) and centre-left Social Democrats (SPÖ) decided that they were going to form a coalition earlier this year, speculation that gambling regulation would be on the agenda reached fever pitch.

Following the February pact, the trio of ruling parties in Austria promised there would be a “further development” of the gambling monopoly, which put liberalisation on the table. The current licensing systems are set to expire in 2027, so time is running out to decide what happens next and Simon Priglinger-Simader, who is the president of the Austrian Betting and Gaming Association (OVWG), believes an announcement could now be imminent.

He told iGaming Business:

It should only be a question of days until the draft is released and then it will be all about the political negotiations he told iGaming Business, but the signals we’ve received from all three parties have been positive when it comes to a licensing reform for online gambling.

Should this prediction be accurate, it could be possible for a new gambling bill to be drafted in Austria as soon as February or March next year. If this happens, then the new regulations could potentially be put in place by summer.

Priglinger-Simader added:

I would say [we’re] much closer to online gambling reform than we’ve ever been in Austria – or at least in the past five or 10 years, and for us as an industry, that’s a hugely positive sign.

Austria’s gambling industry is in a state of flux right now

Boosting Public Finances

One of the main reasons to consider a liberalisation of the Austrian gambling industry is the fact that the country’s public finances are not in a good position.

Arthur Stadler, an Austrian attorney who holds a specialism in betting and gaming law, explained that six out of 12 licences that are in place for offline casinos here will expire in 2030.

This means that the timing could be ideal to roll out changes to the Austrian gambling industry, especially if funds could be raised as a result. The coalition government formed earlier in the year has already increased online gambling taxes from 40% to 45%.

Stadler said:

Austria’s fiscal situation is deeply concerning. It is an open secret that new licensing fees and taxation models in the gambling sector, as so often in history, will be leveraged to help plug gaps in the national budget. Whether this creates an attractive consumer offering and channelisation is an entirely different story.

Gambling companies will be keeping a close eye on headlines from Austria to see whether liberalisation of the market provides opportunities for them to explore in the coming years.