How Do Casino Regulations Vary Across Europe?

The growth of the gambling and betting industry in Europe has been immense in the last few years. Reasons? Almost every person on this continent has a mobile phone, predominantly a smartphone. This gadget, as we all know, can run various types of mobile apps. Many of these apps are iGaming apps, i.e., the ones where you can bet or gamble.

As a rule of thumb, Scandinavian governments are usually among the most proactive country authorities in the world in many fields. Norway, for instance, even though probably the most progressive state in Europe, isn’t that open-minded towards gambling and betting. Monitored by the Norsk Tipping and Norsk Rikstoto companies (both owned by the Norwegian state), providers of commercial casinos don’t even bother applying for licenses issued by the domestic authorities. Of course, avid players can search for big bonuses and enticing offers on iGaming platforms available for Norwegian punters (source: https://norskecasinoeronline.com/).

Sweden has even more stringent casino rules, with the state-owned supervisor Svenska Spel controlling all such operations and activities from Malmo to Cairn. Through this body, the Swedish government keeps a close eye on betting, gambling, lottery games, bingo contests, and all other related options. On the one hand, this monopoly helps the authorities allow only the gambling and betting operations they think should be practiced. On the other hand, such state-infused hegemony in one branch of the economy isn’t typical for a democratic country. Nevertheless, offshore casinos are still available to Swedish players, even though it’s necessary to check out in advance whether money can be withdrawn in Sweden.

Finland and Denmark have a more laid-back but still people-caring approach to the casino and wagering industry.

Italy, one of the two most populous and well-off Mediterranean countries, has more relaxed laws related to gambling and betting than European countries in the north. This hasn’t always been the case, though.

A home country of baccarat and bingo, this country has been changing the relevant legislation several times recently, due to the fast-occurring changes in the digital world. The pivotal year was 2007, when the Finance Act was adopted, which regulated the gambling and betting industry in Italy. It strictly separated the games of skill from the games of luck and prescribed how and when casinos could operate on the territory of the Republic of Italy. According to that law, video poker games were banned before they were defined as games of luck. Some other forms of Texas poker were legalized through that law. When it comes to brick-and-mortar casinos, they’re heavily regulated and it’s extremely complicated to get a state license and open a commercial casino. For the time being, a handful of offline casinos are situated around Lake Lugano, with a few extra venues in Venice, Liguria, and the southern regions.

On the other hand, online betting is allowed, freely advertised, and happily enjoyed by many Italians. This phenomenon is closely related to another curiosity typical for the Apennine Peninsula: calcio, i.e., football. The passion for this game results in many wagers placed weekly on various betting options and games. Based on the above, it’s no wonder that Lottomatica is the predominant iGaming operator in Italy - with an abundance of gambling and betting games. SISAL, and which organizes and supervises the national lottery games - is the second most relevant company. Foreign operators are allowed to offer their iGaming services and even apply for local licenses in Italy, but the requirements they need to meet are becoming highly strict and difficult to meet.

Most West Balkan countries are inversely proportional to the aforementioned Nordic countries: Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Macedonia all have highly liberal gambling laws. In this region, the legal framework is pretty flexible, and all sorts of gambling activities are available, from numerous brick-and-mortar casinos and betting parlors (often within the same facility) to many online games. With slight differences in every respective country, the general rule is that licensed operators are allowed to run both offline and online gambling and betting outposts.

These laws also allow local people to try their luck on crypto betting sites without any special restrictions, with one major exception: they will be asked to enter their income made online on foreign websites and pay the taxes in question.

However, this lack of regulation by the aforementioned states has started to raise concerns among some relevant stakeholders. Even pundits from within the casino industry claim that responsible gambling initiatives would enhance this field more than such liberal legal solutions.