ESTONIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Karolina Ullman, Triin Kaurson, Linell Raud and Felix Raidmäe, NJORD Law Firm
• documents certifying the financial status of the person during the last three years (including a full list of the individual’s immovable property, con- struction works and securities belonging to the person, and authenticated copies of the person’s tax returns for the last three years); and • a certificate from the police of the place of resi- dence confirming the absence of penalties. A gambling operator should submit the following infor- mation regarding a person to be appointed to a man- aging body (eg, a director): • their given name and surname, personal identifica- tion code or, in the absence thereof, their date of birth; • their place of residence, full list of places of employment and positions; • documents which prove the trustworthiness and conformity to the requirements of the Gambling Act, which the applicant considers important to submit (proof of the absence of punishments from the police of the place of residence); • documents certifying the financial status of the person during the last three years, including a full list of the immovable property, construction works and securities belonging to the person; and • authenticated copies of the person’s income tax returns for the last three years. There are no fees associated, other than the general state fee paid upon the submission of the application for the activity licence. The regulator must be informed upon a change in the managing bodies of the gam- bling operator, as well as prior to a person acquiring or increasing their qualified holding in the gambling operator. Regulatory bodies can revoke the operator’s licences or impose fines if the notification obligation is not followed.
institutions, schools, and youth organisations. A gam- ing location for games of chance may only be situated in a separate building, a hotel, conference centre, or recreational establishment, or a business building or shopping centre and if there are no residential parts in the same building. The consent for opening a gaming location for a game of skill is granted for up to 20 years, and the consent for opening a gaming location for a game of chance or toto is granted for five to 20 years. A gambling operator is engaged in the organisation of gambling and needs a licence in order to engage in its activities. In practice, it means that Estonia does not regulate B2B licences, only B2C ones. A gambling operator may transfer its activities aimed at organising gambling to another person only upon the written consent of the regulator. The Tax and Cus- toms Board shall decide upon granting the consent or refusing to grant the consent within 30 working days after receipt of an application. 6.2 B2B Licences (Suppliers, Software, Etc) See 6.1 B2C Licences . 6.3 Affiliates See 6.1 B2C Licences . 6.4 White Labels The company that is organising the gambling and offering it to the Estonian market is the one that needs licensing. In the case of white labels operating under the licence of the white-label provider, there is no additional licensing; however, the licensee needs to keep the regulator informed regarding the trade marks and websites used by the operator. 6.5 Technical Measures 6. Online Gambling 6.1 B2C Licences For gambling operators that have no activity licence or operating permit in Estonia, the Estonian Tax and Customs Board implements measures to restrict gam- ing. There is a list of domain names for blocked ille-
5. Land-Based Gambling 5.1 Premises Licensing
For a land-based casino, written consent must be obtained of the local municipality government for opening at a certain location. Such a location may not be situated together with preschools and childcare
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