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A leaked draft from the Austrian Finance Ministry shows plans to open the online casino market to multiple licensed operators after months of delays. The proposal would keep lotteries under a monopoly, while online casino games would move into a wider licensing system.
Good to Know
Austria has not published the final reform package yet, but the leaked draft points to a major break from the current single-licence model. At present, Austrian Lotteries brand Win2day holds the 15-year permit for lotteries and online gaming. Austrian Lotteries belongs to Casinos Austria, which also holds all 12 land-based casino licences.
Under the leaked proposal, “several providers will be able to offer online gambling in Austria in future” through a “strictly regulated licensing system”.
The ministry says that kind of system would help move players away from illegal gambling sites and deliver “the highest possible standards of player protection”.
The split in the draft is clear. Lotteries would remain a monopoly, but online casino licences would be available to an uncapped number of operators. Those licences would run for five years at first, with a possible 10-year extension later.
However, wider licensing would come with heavy limits. Players under 26 would face a weekly deposit cap of €250 per operator. Older players would have a €1,680 weekly cap, although that limit could rise if they prove “sufficient liquidity”.
Game rules would tighten as well. Maximum stakes would fall to €2 per spin or game, below the current €5 or €10 thresholds. Maximum winnings would drop to €2,000 from current limits of €5,000 or €10,000. Jackpots would be banned entirely.
The leaked draft also brings land-based player protection rules into the digital market, including speed-of-play controls. The text says: “This ensures that online gambling is subject to the same high standards of player protection as land-based slot machine gambling.”
Online players would also face mandatory cooling-off periods. After 90 minutes of continuous play, customers would need to take a 15-minute break.
Monitoring would become more centralised too. The draft calls for continuous online gambling oversight and a national self-exclusion scheme run through the regulator.