ESTONIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Karolina Ullman, Triin Kaurson, Linell Raud and Felix Raidmäe, NJORD Law Firm
2. Jurisdictional Overview 2.1 Online Gambling In Estonia, the following sectors are regulated and permitted: • sports betting (defined as toto); • bingo; • casino; • lotteries; and • poker. See 3.2 Definition of Gambling for types of gaming. Social gaming and fantasy sports are not regulated by the law. Fantasy sports are primarily enjoyed within a smaller group of friends for fun. There are no large platforms, such as those in the USA or the UK, where they can be played professionally for money. Organising of gambling is prohibited if the prerequisite for determining the outcome of a game is to achieve a certain number of participants or bets, and the return of the full bet to the player is not guaranteed if the In Estonia, the sectors that are regulated and permit- ted are the same for both land-based and online casi- nos. See 2.1 Online Gambling for further details. 3. Legislative Framework 3.1 Key Legislation In Estonia, the following acts apply to the gambling sector: • the Gambling Act; • the Gambling Tax Act; • the Advertising Act; • the Media Services Act; • the International Sanctions Act; and • the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act. prerequisite is not achieved. 2.2 Land-Based Gambling
EUR1,278.23 to EUR1,406, and for skill game slot machines, from EUR31.95 to EUR32. The Gambling Reform Bill In addition to the already adopted changes, the Riigikogu’s (the Estonian parliament) Finance Com- mittee has advanced a draft to modernise gambling regulation and boost sport and culture funding via gambling tax. The draft proposes cutting the remote gambling and toto tax rate from 6% to 4% in steps of 0.5% per year to keep Estonia competitive and sup- port growth-driven revenues. The drafters point to the Foresight Centre’s projections that remote gambling tax receipts could multiply by 2029 and boost culture and sport funding. The plan combines a competi- tive tax rate and design with stronger licensing and supervision capacity and reflects positive international assessments of Estonia’s regulatory framework. It also foresees a ten-fold increase in maximum fines to bet- ter match the societal impact of violations and cover enforcement costs, although prior enforcement activ- ity and fines have been low. The draft is at plenary first reading as of October 2025 and expected to be voted upon before the end of 2025. It is the most nota- ble gambling framework update in Estonia in over 15 years. Other key measures include: • updated definitions of remote and additional gam- bling; • mandatory audits of annual financial reports; and • stricter AML data requirements for licence applica- tions. Receipt of Gambling Tax The receipt of gambling tax has shown a substantial year-on-year increase over recent years. The increase from 2021 to 2022 was over 40%. In 2023, the gam- bling tax receipts continued to grow by about 2–3%, marking a steady but smaller increase compared to the previous year. In 2024, gambling tax receipts experienced a notable increase of 17% compared to the previous year. This growth, however, can be largely attributed to the raise in the tax rates. Had the tax rates remained the same, the growth in tax receipts would have closely aligned with the steady increase observed in previous years.
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