Online Casinos in Lithuania

How Online Casino Play Is Licensed in Lithuania

Lithuania licenses online casino play. The Lietuvos Respublikos azartinių lošimų įstatymas (Law on Gambling) is act No. IX-325, adopted on 17 May 2001 and published in Valstybės žinios on 23 May 2001. The consolidated edition described here is the one the Seimas register marks as in force from 30 June 2026 to 31 December 2026.

The Law defines nuotolinis lošimas, remote gambling, as gambling in which players' stakes are accepted and winnings paid out using means of communication, and states that games on the internet are included. Remote gambling is one of the types of gambling for which a licence may be issued, alongside table games and category A machines, category B machines, bingo, the totalisator and betting; one company may hold licences of all types.

Three things are needed before an online game may run. A company must hold the remote gambling licence, must hold a separate permit to organise remote gambling, and must have its remote gambling organisation rules approved by the regulator. An application for the permit has to state the internet addresses, telephone numbers and other contact details that will be used to provide the service, and the payment account that will be used for settlements between operator and player. An operator organising remote gambling must keep at least 72,400 euros available, invested as the regulator directs, and use it only to pay remote gambling winnings.

The Regulator

Licences are issued, amended, suspended and revoked by the Lošimų priežiūros tarnyba prie Lietuvos Respublikos finansų ministerijos — the Gaming Control Authority under the Ministry of Finance — and the same body issues permits to open venues and to organise remote gambling. A licence decision is entered in the Licences Information System and announced on the regulator's website on the day it is taken.

A company established in another member state and authorised to carry on gambling activity there applies through a branch with a registered office in Lithuania, supplying written confirmation from the authority of that member state that it is entitled to carry on gambling activity there, and a written undertaking that the branch will keep its accounting and activity records at the branch's office.

Illegal Remote Gambling, Payments and Advertising

Where the Supervisory Authority finds after an investigation that an illegal operator is organising remote gambling in Lithuania, it may order a payment service provider to stop all payment operations with that operator within one working day, and may require the information used to run the activity to be removed or made inaccessible. An order to a payment service provider needs permission from a first instance administrative court, which must rule within three working days. The authority then publishes the operator's name, internet domain name and contact details on its own website until the breach ends. Payment service providers may carry out card payments for stakes and winnings only with entities on the authority's list of those entitled to carry on remote gambling activity in Lithuania; an entity joins that list on the day its remote gambling licence or permit is issued and leaves it on the day it is revoked.

Gambling advertising is prohibited in Lithuanian territory apart from a closed list of exceptions, which includes a company's name or trade mark on its own premises or its own website and, for betting companies only, limited broadcast and online advertising subject to time and length caps.

Age Limits and Help With Gambling Problems

The minimum age is 21. It is prohibited to admit people under 21 to casinos, machine and bingo halls and betting and totalisator points, to admit anyone who has not produced an identity document, and to allow people under 21 to take part in remote gambling. An operator organising remote gambling must prevent under-21s from taking part by technical and organisational means, and warning notices about the prohibition must be displayed and brought to the attention of people taking part in remote gambling.

Any person may ask the Supervisory Authority or an operator for a bar on gambling and on taking part in remote gambling. The period chosen cannot be shorter than six months, and the request cannot be withdrawn or shortened until six months have passed; where no period is stated the bar runs two years. Operators must also run a responsible gambling control system, publish information about the risk of addiction and about how to get help, require players to set deposit, stake and session time limits before remote play is allowed, and suspend play for 48 hours once a player is assessed as at high risk of problem gambling. Anoniminiai lošėjai Lietuva, the Gamblers Anonymous fellowship, lists contacts for its meetings by city.