Austria Moves Toward Online Gambling Liberalisation as Leaked Draft Law Signals End of Monopoly

Austria appears to be moving closer to a major transformation of its gambling market after a leaked draft law revealed plans to dismantle the country’s longstanding online casino monopoly and introduce a multi-licence regulatory framework for the first time.

Following months of political delays, uncertainty and repeated setbacks, Austria’s Finance Ministry has now finalized a draft proposal outlining the future structure of the country’s gambling industry. At the center of the reforms is a long-anticipated shift away from the current monopoly model, opening the online casino market to multiple operators under a tightly controlled licensing system.

According to the leaked document, “several providers will be able to offer online gambling in Austria in future” through what the ministry describes as a “strictly regulated licensing system”.

The Finance Ministry argues that liberalising the online casino market would help redirect players away from illegal operators while simultaneously establishing “the highest possible standards of player protection”.

Austria currently operates under one of Europe’s most restrictive gambling systems. Only a single licence exists for lotteries and online gaming products, a 15-year concession currently held by Win2day, the online brand owned by Austrian Lotteries. Austrian Lotteries itself is a subsidiary of Casinos Austria, which also controls all 12 land-based casino licences in the country.

Under the new draft framework, lotteries would continue to operate as a monopoly, while the online casino sector would be opened to an unlimited number of licensees.

The proposed online licences would initially be valid for five years, with operators later given the possibility of extending them for an additional ten years.

Although the move toward market liberalisation is expected to be welcomed by international gambling operators that have long pushed for access to Austria, the conditions attached to obtaining a licence may prove highly demanding.

“Operators may only qualify for a licence by settling outstanding Austrian court rulings and paying Austrian taxes – including for the past,” explained Arthur Stadler, a Vienna-based lawyer specialising in gambling law.

The draft would require operators to resolve outstanding player claim rulings and ensure that all taxes connected to previous operations in Austria have been fully paid, even for periods before the market becomes formally liberalised.

According to Stadler, the financial burden associated with these requirements could be enormous.

He warned that the “incredibly high sums” involved may effectively exclude smaller operators from entering the market, creating what could function as an unofficial cap on the number of companies capable of securing licences.

Even so, Stadler described the absence of a formal numerical limit on licences as an extremely positive development for the industry.

Alongside market liberalisation, the draft law also proposes a sweeping expansion of player protection rules that would introduce some of Europe’s strictest online gambling controls.

Under the proposed framework, players under the age of 26 would face a weekly deposit limit of €250 per operator. Older players would be restricted to a maximum weekly deposit of €1,680 unless they could demonstrate “sufficient liquidity” to justify higher spending limits.

The reforms would also impose significantly tighter wagering restrictions. Maximum stakes would be limited to €2 per spin or per game, sharply lower than the current thresholds of €5 or €10.

In addition, the draft proposes reducing maximum winnings to €2,000, replacing the current limits of €5,000 or €10,000. Jackpot features would also be completely prohibited.

Mandatory cooling-off periods are another central element of the reforms. Under the proposal, online players would be required to take a 15-minute break after every 90 minutes of continuous gambling activity.

Perhaps most significantly, the Austrian government intends to extend player protection standards traditionally applied to land-based gambling into the online sector.

“This ensures that online gambling is subject to the same high standards of player protection as land-based slot machine gambling,” the draft states.

The proposed framework would also establish continuous monitoring requirements for online gambling activity, while a nationwide self-exclusion system would be administered directly through the regulator.

Many of the measures contained in the leaked draft were initially introduced earlier this year by the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ), which currently oversees the Finance Ministry. In January, the party released an earlier draft version of the gambling reforms that included plans to extend Austria’s monopoly system.

However, those monopoly extension plans were quickly abandoned following strong opposition from the SPÖ’s coalition partners.

Despite growing optimism within the gambling industry, there remains considerable uncertainty surrounding the timeline for implementation.

Win2day’s current licence is scheduled to expire in 2027, alongside several land-based concessions currently controlled by Casinos Austria. However, the draft law indicates that existing licences could be temporarily extended if the concession process experiences delays, particularly due to potential legal disputes.

The establishment of an independent gambling authority may also take years. According to the proposal, such a regulator may not be operational until “by 2030”, meaning the Finance Ministry itself would oversee the initial licensing process.

Further negotiations between Austria’s three governing coalition parties — the SPÖ, the liberal NEOS party and the centre-right ÖVP — could still result in modifications to the draft legislation before it reaches parliament.

Any final agreement would need to be completed ahead of a parliamentary vote scheduled before the summer recess in early July.

Despite the remaining uncertainty, industry representatives increasingly believe Austria may finally be on the verge of meaningful reform.

Summing up the mood within the sector, Simon Priglinger-Simader, president of the ÖVWG trade association, said he was “feeling more hopeful than ever”.

At the same time, he cautioned that several difficult issues still remain unresolved, adding that some “tricky points” would need to be negotiated in the coming days before the reforms can move forward.

By fLEXI tEAM