European Gaming and Betting Association Publishes Overview Map of Online Gambling License Models

The online gambling sector is a highly regulated sector. In European countries, gambling operators need to possess many licenses to operate and provide their services.

Ten years ago, most EU member states had either no regulations at all for online gambling or online gambling regulation was based on a monopoly model which only permitted state-owned entities to provide online gambling in that country.

In 2009, 21 of the current EU member states had either monopolies or prohibitions, while only 7 EU member states had multi-license regimes to enable private online gambling companies to obtain a license to provide their services in that country.

Today, the situation has changed dramatically with the overwhelming majority of EU member states now having adopted multi-license regimes. 26 EU member states have a multi-license regime, with only 1 EU member state (Finland) still retaining an exclusive monopoly model and 1 EU member state (Slovenia) having no online gambling regulations at all. You can find more information in the EGBA’s new overview map of licensing models.