Latvia’s gambling business gets mired in politics, as gambling revenue rises

Latvia’s parliament has decided to ban gambling halls throughout the country. The deputy Juris Jurass of New Conservative Party has stated that amendments are needed and that casinos can only be located in luxury hotels. There are 58 such hotels in Riga and 17 in the regions.

Big investments are needed to start gambling business in the country. The license alone is worth 427 thousand euros, the core capital should be 1.4 million euros, so gambling businesses made big investments in the calculation of future income.

The representative of the Ministry of Finance Yana Salminia said that the streamlining of the gambling business is already underway. Politicians and other interested persons can submit their proposals, the draft consideration was already completed. Meanwhile, the country’s gambling revenue increased by 11.7 per cent compared with 2017 and amounted to 277.701 million euros, according to the Lotteries and Gambling Supervisory Inspection of the Republic of Latvia.There are 15 gambling operators in the country, apart from the state-owned Joint Stock Company named Latvijas Loto. The total turnover of gambling operators in 2018 grew by 10.5 per cent to 293.467 million euros. The total estimated profit of these 16 companies, amounts to 80.998 million euros in 2018, which is 18.5 per cent more than in 2017.

To stay up to date with the latest changes in the Baltic region make sure you register here for the second edition of the Mare Balticum Gaming Summit. The conference will take place on the 9th of May at Radisson Blu Royal Astorija Hotel in Vilnius (Lithuania).