Coalition agrees on new gambling law in Austria with draft law under review

Change in Legislation would be the biggest reform of the Austrian Gambling Act in 26 years

Austria’s governing parties ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS have agreed on a comprehensive reform of the gambling law, marking the biggest reform of the Austrian Gambling Act in 26 years.

The two central issues are: more player protection and a fundamental new regulation for online licenses. The negotiators for their parties were Andreas Ottenschläger for the ÖVP, Jan Krainer for the SPÖ and Christoph Pramhofer for NEOS. The law will bring player protection and the rules for the gambling market up to date. It will create an open licensing system for online gambling will be introduced. Any provider who meets the strict requirements, including a functioning compliance system for money laundering/player protection and share capital of at least €10m, can obtain an online licence.

Andreas Ottenschläger, ÖVP finance spokesman: “With the new regulation of the Gambling Act, we are taking a step towards more competition, legal certainty and fair market conditions. The opening of the online market puts an end to outdated monopoly structures, creates new investment incentives and strengthens Austria as a business location. At the same time, we strengthen player protection through clear and up-to-date protection mechanisms and take consistent action against illegal providers. This will enable legal companies to operate, invest and create value in Austria under fair conditions in the future. In this way, we have succeeded in finding the right balance between effective player protection and a legally secure, functioning market.”

Jan Krainer, SPÖ finance spokesman: “The reform of the gambling law was overdue. It has been possible to reconcile many conflicting interests. The most important of these are that we are improving player protection and bringing order to an online market that has become increasingly grey and blacker in recent years.”

Christoph Pramhofer, NEOS spokesman for health and capital markets: “A gambling offer that takes place in the legal and regulated area is the best player protection. This is exactly why we are opening up the online market – in a controlled manner and with uniform rules for all providers. The previous state monopoly has led to players far too often switching to the grey or black market due to a lack of alternatives. With liberalisation, we are now creating a modern market with healthy competition and high and binding player protection standards. The fact that this long-standing demand is now being implemented is also of crucial importance for me as health spokesperson.”

To safeguard the legal market, the law provides for two blocking provisions. Payment blocking will prevent payment flows to and from illegal payment providers. This goal is achieved through a dual strategy provided for by law. Both national and international payments will be covered by payment blocking.

All banks/payment service providers operating in Austria are obliged to block the IBANs published by the Finanz of illegal gambling providers. Thus, both national and international payments are blocked in Austria in connection with illegal providers.

A central, cross-operator and cross-game blocking register will be introduced, which will be designed to be open to technology and tamper-proof. Thus, in the future, both operator-side blocks and self-locks will be recorded centrally. This measure effectively protects players who are particularly at risk of addiction (in Germany, about 90 percent are self-exclusions by players). The blocking register covers all types of games (casino, slot machines, online) except the lottery.

The number of casinos is set at 13 licences, whereby an objectively justified division of the licences into packages is permissible. Criteria such as the widest possible coverage of the Austrian population, the tourist potential of a region, socio-demographic and socio-economic conditions and the identification of catchment areas must be taken into account for location specifications. In the case of the package structure, a minimisation of competitive pressure between casinos in order to strengthen player protection and the best possible balance of value must be ensured, as well as the prognosis of sufficient economic viability.