Legislation
Lithuania – Government seeks to tighten problem gaming measures and ban advertising
By Lewis - 7 March 2024
Legislative amendments have been drafted by the Lithuanian Finance Ministry aimed at strengthening gambling regulations in the country, chief amongst the amendments is a requirements for operators to monitor problem gambling within their customer base.
Vilija Petronienė, Senior Advisor at the Ministry’s Financial Markets Policy Department, explained that the changes would require gambling operators to embed responsible gambling measures within their practices. The proposal also calls for expanding the powers of gambling market supervision. Once approved by the government, the amendments will be submitted to the parliament during the spring session.
In February, Lithuanian MPs registered amendments to the Gambling Law proposing to further tighten gambling advertising in the country as of 2025. Around 50 MPs, mostly from the ruling majority, signed the amendments proposing to prohibit the dissemination of information of the gambling companies sponsoring any public events, activities, natural or legal persons.
If adopted, the amendments would eliminate the advertising of betting, wagers, and casinos on television, in newspapers, magazines, or news websites, and on street billboards. Neither the names nor the logos of gambling operators could appear on the jerseys of athletes and in arenas during the sporting events.
Companies would only be able to publish information on the types of gambling at the gambling venue or on the company’s website, the address of which is specified in the Gambling Regulation. It is proposed to allow gambling companies to publish information on gambling only in publications aimed at professionals in the business. They could advertise their name and brand on their head office building or gambling venue.
Total revenue of gambling operators amounted to €222m in 2023, up from €103m in 2020. The amount spent on advertising in the gambling business doubled from €6.36 in 2020 to €12.73m in 2023. Gambling operators’ profits increase from €20m in 2020 to more than €53m in 2022.
