The Seimas of Lithuania continues to reform the Gambling Law. The recently proposed amendments involve the introduction of a new type of license for online gambling operators. This is necessary in order for the government of the Baltic Republic to be able to separate the requirements for online gambling operators from those that apply to the management of a land-based gambling business. 

According to the current legislation, in order to obtain licenses to operate gambling on the Internet, companies must first open their land-based representative office in the country, and then obtain permission from the municipal government of the region in which they want to operate. And only after that such a right can be granted to them. 

And a new special license for online operators eliminates the requirement to have a legal address in Lithuania. 

“The organization of gambling on the Internet, unlike land-based establishments, is not related to their conduct in a specific territory. That is, such gambling is carried out online throughout the territory of the Republic of Lithuania, the text of the amendment says. “Therefore, it is inappropriate to require the consent of the municipality when issuing a permit to operate online gambling.” 

Companies operating online under valid licenses have been given a two-year time limit to switch to a special license. 

Parliament also approved a new licensing fee structure that would charge online operators a one-time fee of €500,000; while operators with both a terrestrial and online presence will have to pay a royalty fee of one million euros

Source: https://sbccis.com/obshhie/2022/07/05/v-litve-otmenjat-objazatelnoe-trebovanie-imet-nazemnoe-predstavitelstvo-dlja-operatorov-azartnyh-igr-onlajn/.