Latvia intensifies the fight against illegal casinos

Latvian authorities have thrown all their efforts into the fight against illegal online casinos that do not have a license to provide gambling services to residents of this country. New decrees and amendments to the legislation regulating gambling were adopted in April 2019.

The main efforts of the authorities are now aimed at ensuring that residents of the country do not have access to unlicensed casinos and betting shops. As part of this, all financial institutions in the country through which players' transactions are conducted must disclose all information about users of illegal online casinos to representatives of relevant organizations. Also, these institutions are ordered to block the accounts of citizens who make monetary transactions related to clubs that do not have licenses from the relevant organization of the state. In addition, users who play at illegal online casinos will be issued a fine of 350 euros.

In case of tax evasion on winnings received in licensed establishments, players are also expected to be charged fines. Their amount will be 23% of winnings that exceed €3,000.

Internet providers in Latvia should now monitor users' visits to illegal online casinos more strictly and block access to them. As of today, more than 1,500 such sites have been registered in the country, but so far no more than 500 are actually blocked.

Land-based gambling establishments have also fallen under the hot hand of the authorities. In the near future it is planned to revoke the licenses of a large number of casinos located around Riga and in the capital itself. According to some sources, there will be at least 200 of them. The authorities explain such measures care about the citizens of the country. According to the authorities, the state should not receive a significant income by "destroying the lives of a huge number of gambling residents of the country.