Online Casinos in Latvia

How Online Casino Play Is Licensed in Latvia

Latvia licenses online casino play. The Azartspēļu un izložu likums (Gambling and Lotteries Law) was adopted by the Saeima on 17 November 2005 and came into force on 1 January 2006. It provides that gambling and lotteries may be organised in Latvia only after the relevant licence has been received, and that only the games of chance, lotteries and auxiliary games named in the Law itself are permitted.

The online category is interaktīvā azartspēle, interactive gambling, defined as a game of chance in which the player can take part using electronic communications services. The Law allows slot machine games, roulette, card games, dice games, bingo, totalisator, betting and telephone games of luck to be organised through those services, and provides that organising interactive gambling and accepting stakes is permitted only once the relevant licence issued by the Valsts ieņēmumu dienests has been received. The service decides on an application within 60 days of receiving it, and a licence cannot be issued without a certification body's opinion on the testing of the operator's interactive gambling organisation system.

The Regulator Changed

Supervision no longer sits with the Izložu un azartspēļu uzraudzības inspekcija. The Law's transitional provisions move the regime to the Valsts ieņēmumu dienests (State Revenue Service): licences issued by the Inspection remain valid until their re-registration deadline, applications pending with the Inspection on 31 March 2026 are decided by the State Revenue Service, self-exclusion applications held by the Inspection were transferred to the service, and the service is where the Inspection's administrative acts are now challenged. The operative sections of the Law as consolidated name the State Revenue Service throughout.

The service publishes the list of licensed gambling operators, giving each licensee's name, registration number, website, legal address, licence number and the games its licence covers, including interactive gambling. It also publishes blocking decisions: one barring credit institutions and payment institutions from co-operating with named traders acting as interactive gambling operators not licensed in Latvia, and one restricting access to those operators' websites.

Players and Unlicensed Sites

Latvia is unusual in directing the prohibition at the player as well as the operator. A person is not permitted to take part in interactive gambling or interactive lotteries organised in Latvia without a licence issued by the State Revenue Service, and information about licensed interactive operators is published on the service's website. Taking part anyway is an administrative offence carrying a fine on a natural person of fourteen to seventy fine units. Organising interactive gambling without a licence carries four hundred fine units for a natural person and three thousand for a legal person.

Age Limits and Help With Gambling Problems

An operator must not run games of chance in which people who have not reached 18 years of age take part, and a licensed interactive gambling site must display the prohibition on under-18s taking part along with a warning that a person may become addicted to gambling. Admitting a minor to a gambling venue, or allowing one to play, carries a fine of one thousand four hundred fine units on a legal person.

The Law also provides a self-exclusion register. A person may ask in writing to be barred from playing games of chance in Latvia, including interactive gambling, and to be entered in the pašatteikušos personu reģistrs; the minimum bar is 12 months from entry; the register is held by the State Revenue Service; and a licensed interactive operator must ensure that people in the register cannot play on its site. A specialist telephone support line for people affected by gambling and for those around them answers on +371 293 232 02.