Gambling business in Latvia
The gambling business in Latvia is legalized. As of 2016, there were 14 operators in the country, of which 10 are engaged in land-based gambling establishments. The state holds a monopoly on the lottery.
Gross proceeds from the gambling business in 2016 amounted to over EUR 248 million. Most of the profits come from slot machines - 182 million EUR in the same year. The share of online gambling in gross revenue is about 3%.
There are 6 casinos, 317 gambling halls and 57 betting points in the country. The total number of slot machines is 8,900.
The regulator of the gambling business in Latvia is the Latvian Gambling and Lottery Supervision Inspection (Izložu un azartspēļu uzraudzibas inspekcija). The main law is the Law on Gambling and Lotteries.
Gambling legislation of Latvia
The gambling business in Latvia is regulated by three main laws:
The Law on Gambling and Lotteries was passed in 2006. He prescribes the basic conditions and rules of the games, as well as the issuance of licenses. Two other laws define taxation for various games and the organization of lotteries for goods and services.
In addition to them, there are more than a dozen provisions on specific issues. For example, provision 512 defines a procedure for overseeing games and lotteries. Regulation 701 is the procedure by which a commodity lottery report is filed.
The law specifies that operators can only install registered and certified hardware and software. Each slot machine, game table and program must be registered in the register of the Latvian Gambling and Lottery Supervision Inspection. For a certain fee, the inspectorate assigns a personal number to each of them, which then does not change.
Games can only take place inside certain venues: casinos, gambling halls, bingo halls, in a sweepstakes or sports bookmaker's premises. A casino in Riga must have at least 10 gaming tables. Casinos outside the capital - at least 5 tables. Only in these establishments you can play roulette, cards and dice.
The gambling hall must accommodate at least 20 slot machines. All sites should be separate rooms with their own entrances. Slot machines must be networked so that they can be monitored.
The bookmaker and the sweepstakes do not have to be separate. They can be part of a room.
Gambling regulatory bodies
The gambling business in Latvia is controlled by the Latvian Gambling and Lottery Supervision Inspection (Izložu un azartspēļu uzraudzibas inspekcija). Local authorities issue permission to open a specific site, which is then reviewed by the Inspectorate.
Conditions for obtaining a license in a gambling jurisdiction
To obtain a license in Latvia, a company must be a joint stock company registered in the same country. The amount of capital in shares must be at least EUR 1,400,000. Latvian shareholders must hold more than 51% of the company's shares.
All licenses are issued by the Latvian Gambling and Lottery Supervision Inspection. The permit is issued for an unlimited period, but must be re-confirmed by the Inspectorate annually.
To obtain a general license, a company must submit:
The inspectorate reviews the license within 90 days from the date of the application.
The operator must then obtain permission to open a specific site. To do this, he provides a plan of the future premises, documents confirming ownership of the premises, a development plan for the site, permission from local authorities and other documents. The inspection also approves the managers of a casino or other type of gambling establishment.
The license fee depends on the type of game and the site. In total, the operator pays for two licenses: for the activity in general and for the opening of the site. He also pays for each gambling object installed on the site.
Payouts vary in the following range:
Operators pay tax on each game object annually:
Licensed varieties of gambling
Latvian law defines the following types of games as legal:
The rules of the game are determined by the operator and then submitted for approval to the Inspectorate. The document describes the gameplay and other detailed information: information about the operator, the size of the bets, the conditions for receiving the winnings, etc.
For online operators, the same list of permitted games applies. RTP for online games must be at least 80% of all bets made.
Latvian users prefer slot machines. The proceeds from them in 2016 amounted to 182 million EUR or 83% of the total gross proceeds of the gambling business. Online gambling is in second place, and casino table games are in third place.
Online gambling in the country
Online gambling business in Latvia is licensed in the same manner as land-based. As of 2016, 7 licenses for online platforms have been released. The license is valid only for a year, then it must be renewed for a fee.
Due to the rather high taxes and fees for licenses, online operators chose not to obtain permits, and until 2014 this market was “gray”. Then the Latvian authorities approved the Electronic Communications Law and published the first blacklist, which included world-famous operators. These include:
The list contains more than 980 sites and is constantly growing. Legal online operators include: Olympic Casino, Latvijas Loto, Optibet.
Popular slot machines in the country
The most popular slot machines in Latvia are from Greentube, NetEnt, Microgaming. Here are the five machines that are loved by visitors:
Book of Ra Deluxe is a 5-reel, 10-line slot machine. The player can get free spins with a special expanding symbol. The risk game allows you to increase the prize for a spin by 2 or more times. The maximum payout at the highest stake is 5,000,000 game units for 5 adventurers.
Butterfly Staxx is a slot machine from NetEnt. Contains 5 reels and 40 pay lines. The slot offers respins and free spins. During free spins, special symbols - dolls - appear on the field. Butterflies emerge from them and create winning combinations.
40 Super Hot is a fruit slot from EGT with 5 reels and 40 fixed lines. The maximum payout is 20,000 credits. The slot machine includes 4 progressive jackpots.
Gemix is a slot machine from Play'n GO. Contains a playing field of 7x7 cells. The game is built on the principle of arcade "three in a row". 4 bonuses with multipliers and additional symbols are available. As the game progresses, the user travels to various locations. Each location has special "wild" symbols.
Starburst is a five reel slot machine from NetEnt with 10 lines. The maximum coefficient is 250 for five Bar symbols. There are no bonus games. This is one of the simplest slots from the manufacturer.
Gambling software developers
There are few gambling software manufacturers in Latvia, but many large developers maintain offices in Latvia. For example, BetConstruct and Evolution Gaming have developer studios in Riga.
As far as Latvian manufacturers are concerned, DLV has existed since 1994. It manufactures gambling equipment for land-based casinos and focuses mainly on the local market.
Outcome
The gambling business in Latvia is developing very successfully, and for this small country the income from casinos is quite significant.
But at the same time, online casinos are experiencing certain difficulties and mostly go to the "gray" market. It is known that the remote gambling business takes on an increasing share of the profits over time. If Latvia does not soften the legislation in any way, then it risks losing large profits