🇭🇷For operators · Tax, marketing & compliance
Operating in Croatia: ad limits and compliance
Licensed-only: online play is an add-on to a Croatian land-based right won in a Government tender, with annual online fees of EUR 600,000 (casino) and EUR 400,000 (betting) since May 2025, a 10-30% tax on lottery and betting winnings, and a 06:00-23:00 advertising ban.
Product by product
Every applicant must be a company seated in Croatia holding a 15-year right, and online play needs a further Ministry of Finance approval.| Product | Status | Licensed by | Tax | Key restriction | Advertising |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sports betting | Limited | Ministry of Finance (right by Government decision, plus approval for online play) | 5% of stakes monthly; EUR 400,000 a year for online betting, plus EUR 200,000 for shop betting (cumulative) | Online betting only for a betting right-holder with at least 100 employees and 50 open betting points; no bets on elections, against the law or morals, or by a club-linked operator on its club's competition | Banned on the internet, TV and radio from 06:00 to 23:00 except on the operator's own website; no celebrities or influencers |
| Online casino | Limited | Ministry of Finance (casino right by Government decision, plus approval for online play) | 15% of casino results monthly; EUR 600,000 a year for online casino, plus EUR 100,000 per casino | Only for a right-holder keeping at least one casino open in Croatia, connected live to the Ministry's system; EUR 398,168.43 bank guarantee for online play | As for Sports betting |
| Slots and live casino | Limited | Same casino right and online approval | 15% of casino results monthly | An online slot must behave exactly like the physical machine; live tables only for Ministry-approved games; the system and each game must be certified | Same casino advertising limits; bonus and free-spin ads only on the operator's own website |
| Poker | Limited | Same casino right and online approval | 15% of the share of stakes the operator keeps (25% on tournaments) | Offered as a casino game under the casino right; online games are simulations of table games | Same casino advertising limits |
| Lottery and bingo | State monopoly | Hrvatska Lutrija d.o.o. only | 10% of ticket sales or stakes monthly (Hrvatska Lutrija only) | Reserved by statute to Hrvatska Lutrija; online sales need Ministry approval. No workaround found: foreign games are banned (Art. 68) and the Tax Administration lists 1,443 blocked gambling addresses, from bet365.com in 2019 onward | Low-risk lottery games (daily-result, instant, express paper-ticket) may be advertised without the 06:00 to 23:00 ban |
Decided30 Jun 2026Self-exclusion register deadline
Do operators have to connect to the national self-exclusion register?
The Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ) keeps the Register of Excluded Players, which the Act required to be set up by 30 June 2026. The Minister of Health's rulebook on it was published in NN 80/26. Operators must send exclusion data to the register at once and within 24 hours of receiving a request, and make sure an excluded player does not play; failing to do so is a misdemeanour. They connect through the state service bus with an HZJZ API key and see only a yes or no answer.
Regulator and player protection in Croatia
Regulator
Application authority and enforcement body
Self-exclusion scheme
National Self-Exclusion Register
How players exclude themselves; what it covers is in the player guide
Mandatory RG controls
No limit imposed on players
Deposit limits or reality checks the law requires operators to offer
Which casinos & betting sites are licensed in Croatia?
See the full official list of licensed operators and their authorised domains.
Heads-up for operators
2 items · last change 8 Oct 2026
In October 2025 the European Gambling and Amusement Federation (EUROMAT) filed a complaint with the European Commission alleging that Croatia did not notify the technical rules in its 2025-2026 gambling law reforms under the TRIS Directive (reported by the trade outlet iGaming Business; the complaint itself is not public). The Commission publishes such cases only when it opens infringement proceedings, and the complaint's outcome is not known.
EUROMAT complaint to the European Commission
Industry body EUROMAT alleges Croatia did not notify its 2025 reforms under the TRIS Directive (reported by the trade outlet iGaming Business; the complaint itself is not public); the EU TRIS database shows no gambling notification from Croatia for 2024, 2025 or 2026. The outcome is not known.
Source: 1
Not yet in force: drafts, laws adopted without a start date, and sections of the law still to be commenced. An item moves to the timeline below on the day it takes effect.
Getting licensed: apply to the MFIN
The licence, its cost and the steps are in the licence guide
6 licence types: Online casino approval; Online betting approval; Casino right; and others. Year-1 budget From €1,794,505. Fees, requirements, documents, certification and the step-by-step route are set out there.Read the licence guide
Gambling tax and fees in Croatia
Detail
- Monthly fee
- 15% of the daily results of casino tables and machines (25% on tournaments; for poker, of the share of stakes the operator keeps) and 5% of total betting stakes, paid by the 15th for the previous month.
- Annual fees since 1 May 2025 (NN 72/25): online casino EUR 600,000 plus EUR 100,000 per casino; online betting EUR 400,000 plus EUR 200,000 for shop betting.
- The EUR 398,168.43 often quoted as the online fee is the online-casino bank guarantee (Art. 37(3)) and the pre-2025 fee; the Tax Administration's fee pages still print the old amounts.
- Corporate income tax 10% up to EUR 1,000,000 and 18% above; gambling is VAT exempt.
Which foreign licences Croatia accepts
Croatia recognises none of these 8 foreign licences.
BlockedNot recognised
Malta (MGA) · United Kingdom (UKGC) · Alderney (AGCC) · Kahnawake (KGCB) · Anjouan · Isle of Man (GSC) · Gibraltar (GRA)
Only a company seated in Croatia holding a Croatian right and the Ministry of Finance's approval may offer games online; foreign games of chance are banned (Art. 68).
Curaçao (CGB)
Foreign games of chance are banned (Art. 68), and the Tax Administration has ordered access to 1,443 gambling addresses blocked.
Bonus rules: welcome bonuses allowed
Inducement ads: Channel-restricted
Bonuses are allowed as a product: operators may award bonuses, free games and VIP or frequency-based bonuses in virtual points. What NN 72/25 restricts is advertising them: an advertisement that invites people to play with bonuses, free spins or similar benefits is banned everywhere except on the operator's own website. No rule caps wagering requirements.
What the player can claim
- Welcome bonus
- Allowed
- VIP schemes
- Allowed
- Loyalty schemes
- Allowed
The online-casino rulebook lets operators grant bonuses in virtual points by play frequency, deposit and VIP status; only winnings may be paid out from the virtual account. No rule on cashback was found.
What the operator can advertise
- Channels off-limits
- Internet, TV, radio and electronic publications from 06:00 to 23:00
- Print media
- Publicly visible surfaces
- Bonus and free-spin offers anywhere except the operator's own website
- Messages ads may not give
- Bonus, free-spin or similar offers outside the operator's own website
- Claims that gambling carries no risk of financial loss (audiovisual)
- Famous persons, persons of media influence and social-network content creators
- Mandatory disclaimer
Every gambling advertisement must warn that games of chance can cause addiction and that minors may not take part (Art. 67.b(9)).
- Placement rule
- In internet advertising the addiction warning must be part of the advertisement itself, not a link, unless the publisher keeps minors from seeing it (AEM rulebook Art. 13(4)).
- Penalties
Advertising breaches are misdemeanours: legal persons EUR 6,630 to 66,360, the responsible person EUR 660 to 6,630, and natural persons who advertise or content creators EUR 3,980 to 6,630.
The Government may withdraw a right for breaching the Act's social-responsibility provisions (Art. 32(1) point 16, added by NN 72/25).
Advertising had to comply by 1 January 2026. Low-risk lottery games are exempt from the time ban.
Advertising: limited
Since NN 72/25 (in force 1 May 2025; operators had to comply by 1 January 2026) Croatia bans gambling advertising on the internet and in TV, radio and electronic publications from 06:00 to 23:00, in print and on all publicly visible surfaces, bans famous persons and content creators, and limits sponsorship to the name, logo and service mark. The operator's own website and low-risk lottery games are exempt.
| Channel | Status | Vertical & Platform Split (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Google Search Ads | Licensed operators only | Internet gambling advertising is banned from 06:00 to 23:00 (Art. 67.b(1)); bonus and free-spin offers may not be advertised off the operator's own website; every ad carries the addiction and minors warnings (Art. 67.b(9)). Google's gambling certification also applies.25 |
| App Store Publishing | Allowed | The Act has no app-specific rule; only operators with the Ministry of Finance's approval for online play (12 on 12 October 2026) may offer real-money games. Apple's and Google's gambling policies apply.678 |
| Google/Apple App Store Ads | Restricted | Treated as internet advertising: banned from 06:00 to 23:00, no bonus offers, both warnings required (Arts. 67.b(1), (8), (9)). Each platform's gambling ad policy also applies.2910 |
| Meta (FB/IG) | Restricted | Internet advertising falls under the 06:00 to 23:00 ban, and social-network content creators may not promote gambling or live-stream it (Art. 67.d(3)). Whether an operator's own social-media account counts as its website is not stated. Meta's own gambling permission also applies.211 |
| TV & Radio | Restricted | Banned from 06:00 to 23:00 (Art. 67.b(1)); outside that window ads need both warnings, may not offer bonuses or use famous persons, and may not run in children's programmes. Low-risk lottery games are exempt from the time ban.24 |
| Sponsorships | Restricted | Sponsorship may show only the company name, logo and service mark, with nothing that calls for or refers to games of chance (Art. 67.d(1)); the rule binds the operator and the sponsored party.2 |
| Digital OOH | Banned | Gambling advertising is banned on all publicly visible surfaces (Art. 67.c(1)). The only exception is the outside of gambling premises (land-based), limited by the Government decree to 5% of the exterior at the main entrance, with no lit signs or screens.212 |
Channel rules for Croatia reflect each platform's published policy and the sources numbered in each row (listed under Methodology & sources). Verify with the local regulator and your ad-platform account manager before launching.
How Croatia enforces against unlicensed operators
Enforcement against unlicensed sites is ISP blocking: under the General Tax Act (Art. 44) the Tax Administration issues ban-on-work orders that access providers execute by blocking the site, within 15 days of the order by its own account. No payment-blocking power exists in the Act or the General Tax Act. Breaches of the Act are misdemeanours (legal persons EUR 6,630 to 66,360), and the Government may withdraw a right on 16 grounds.
- The Tax Administration's list of gambling addresses under ban-on-work orders (file dated 9 October 2026) holds 1,443 entries, from www.bet365.com on 27 May 2019 to 2 October 2026; 317 are dated 2026.
- The Competition Agency (AZTN) fined five betting operators HRK 9.7 million in total for agreeing how to charge the handling cost at an association meeting on 26 March 2014.
- Operators must feed and check the national exclusion register kept by the Croatian Institute of Public Health; failing to do so is a misdemeanour (Art. 72(1) point 42).
Enforcement cases in Croatia: 3 recent
Material regulator actions, court rulings, and high-profile fines from 2016–2026 against operators serving Croatia. Each entry includes the technical failure and a one-line read-across for other operators in the market.
- October 2026
Unlicensed gambling sites
Licensing1,443 gambling addresses under ban-on-work orders, from www.bet365.com (27 May 2019) to 2 October 2026; 317 dated 2026The Tax Administration orders access providers to block sites that offer games without a Ministry of Finance approval (General Tax Act Art. 44).
Read-across: Offshore brands serving Croatia are blocked at ISP level; there is no payment-blocking power in the Act or the General Tax Act.
- January 2026
All licensed operators
AdvertisingCompliance deadline for the advertising bans of Arts. 67.b-67.dNN 72/25 bans gambling advertising on the internet, TV and radio from 06:00 to 23:00, in print and on public surfaces, and bans celebrities and content creators.
Read-across: Acquisition moves to the operator's own website, where bonus offers may still be shown; legal persons face fines of EUR 6,630 to 66,360.
- May 2025
All licensed operators
LicensingAnnual fees raised: online casino EUR 600,000, online betting EUR 400,000NN 72/25 replaced the earlier amounts (EUR 398,168.43 for each online channel).
Read-across: An online betting operator pays EUR 600,000 a year in fixed fees (shop plus online), an online casino operator with one casino EUR 700,000.
Licensed operators: ~12
As of 15 Oct 2026, approximately 12 operators hold an active licence in Croatia. Size your entry against this base before committing capital. Check them yourself on the official Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Croatia (Ministarstvo financija) register, which lists each licensee and its authorised domains.
Notable licensed operators
Hrvatska Lutrija
Germania Sport
Hattrick-PSK
- Visit site
Favorit Sportska Kladionica (favbet.hr)
favbet.hr
Traps operators hit in Croatia
Specific operational risks that have caught new entrants in this market. Each item is country-specific. Generic gambling-ops issues (KYC, RG tools) are not included unless they have a local twist.
Online needs a land-based right first
There is no stand-alone online licence. Online casino is only for a company holding a casino right that keeps at least one casino open in Croatia; online betting only for a betting right-holder with at least 100 employees and 50 open betting points. Rights are granted by the Government after a public tender, for 15 years, to companies seated in Croatia.
Server location: the rulebooks changed, the instruction did not
Since NN 129/25 (in force 16 October 2025) no binding text requires the online system or its servers to be in Croatia, but the application must still state where the equipment is, and the Ministry's 2015 certification instruction U2 still tells laboratories to check that the system and game server are in Croatia. Player transactions must run through an account opened in Croatia.
Advertising is banned in most places
Since NN 72/25 (operators had to comply by 1 January 2026) gambling advertising is banned on the internet, TV and radio from 06:00 to 23:00, in print and on public surfaces; famous persons and social-network content creators are banned; bonus offers may be advertised only on the operator's own website. Legal persons face fines of EUR 6,630 to 66,360.
Sources2
Timeline: rules in force
- June 30, 2026
National exclusion register deadline
Deadline for the Croatian Institute of Public Health to establish the Register of Excluded Players; its rulebook was published in NN 80/26.
Source: 21
- January 1, 2026
Advertising and identification rules binding
Operators had to comply with the advertising bans; betting shops and terminals had to identify players.
Source: 2
- October 16, 2025
Online rulebooks amended (NN 129/25)
The requirement that online equipment be located exclusively in Croatia was deleted; player funds split into play and payout balances.
Source: 3
- May 1, 2025
NN 72/25 amendment in force
Higher annual fees, new 10-30% winnings-tax bands, advertising bans and a national exclusion register.
Source: 2
- January 1, 2010
Act on Games of Chance in force
The 2009 Act (NN 87/09) sets the regime: lottery reserved to Hrvatska Lutrija, casino, betting and machine games by Government right.
Source: 16
- 2010
Online betting and online casino rulebooks
The Ministry of Finance's rulebooks on remote betting (NN 8/10) and on casino games through interactive channels (NN 78/10) set the conditions for online play.
Source: 18
Operator myths vs reality in Croatia
Common assumptions about gambling licensing that turn out to be wrong in practice.
- MythWe can enter the Croatian market with our MGA license.Reality
No. No foreign licence is recognised. Only a company seated in Croatia holding a Government right may operate, and online play is an add-on to that land-based right: at least one open casino in Croatia for online casino, at least 100 employees and 50 open betting points for online betting.
- MythThe online licence fee is EUR 398,168.Reality
That was the annual online fee before 1 May 2025, and it is still the online-casino bank guarantee (Art. 37(3)). Under NN 72/25 the annual fee is EUR 600,000 for online casino (plus EUR 100,000 per casino) and EUR 400,000 for online betting (plus EUR 200,000 for shop betting). The Tax Administration's fee pages still print the old amounts.
- MythWe can use our standard European marketing campaigns in Croatia.Reality
Since NN 72/25 gambling advertising is banned on the internet, TV and radio from 06:00 to 23:00, in print and on public surfaces; famous persons and content creators are banned; affiliate-style links to an operator's site may not appear in electronic publications; bonus offers may be advertised only on the operator's own website.
Sources2
Markets that work like Croatia
Compared on what our records hold for each country: whether online casino, betting, poker and lottery are licensed, state-run or banned, the licensing model, what the operator tax is levied on and its band, how most advertising channels are treated, and how foreign licences are treated. A point we hold for only one of the two countries counts for nothing.
Methodology & sources
The research behind our Croatia coverage
Counted across every Croatia page, not this page alone.
compiled 19 Oct 2026
11
official websites
regulators, legislatures, courts
80
pages cited
specific documents, not homepages
214
sourced data points
each traced to the instrument
Across every Croatia page on this site: players, operators and the licence guide. The research report behind them cites official sources: the law, the regulator, the gazette, the courts and each platform’s own published advertising policy. Page sections not yet rewritten from the report may cite other sources.
The same research as a 58-page Croatia report: every one of the 201 checklist questions, each answer cited to the instrument behind it.
Request the Croatia reportOur Deep AI Scan took Croatia through all 201 questions of our regulatory checklist, from 80 official documents, read on 19 Oct 2026. Our research team then traced every figure on this page to the document and sentence that states it. The full research report is reviewed by a named legal expert (15 Oct 2026). Where a fact rests on a press report or a law-firm summary rather than an official document, the page says so.
Documents cited on this page
- 1iGaming Business
- 2Act amendment NN 72/25 (in force 1 May 2025)
- 3Online-casino rulebook amendment, NN 129/25
- 4AEM rulebook on protecting minors in electronic media, NN 106/22
- 5Google Ads: Gambling and games policy
- 6Apple: App Review Guidelines
- 7Google Play: Real-Money Gambling, Games, and Contests policy
- 8Porezna uprava: approved internet operators and blocked addresses
- 9Apple: Advertising Guidelines
- 10Google Ads: App promotion policies
- 11Meta: Advertising Policy for Gambling
- 12Uredba on socially responsible gambling, NN 129/25
- 13Porezna uprava: list of blocked gambling addresses (9 Oct 2026)
- 14General Tax Act amendment NN 106/18 (Art. 44 blocking orders)
- 15AZTN: betting operators cartel decision
- 16Zakon o igrama na sreću, NN 87/09 (Narodne novine)
- 17Online-casino rulebook, NN 78/10
- 18Online-betting rulebook, NN 8/10
- 19Online-betting rulebook amendment, NN 129/25
- 20Tax Administration instruction U2 (internet casino certification, 2015)
- 21HZJZ: Registar isključenih igrača
- 22Act amendment NN 114/22 (euro amounts)
The 10 documents this page relies on most
- Zakon o igrama na sreću, NN 87/09 (original text)Regulator
- Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o igrama na sreću, NN 72/25Regulator
- Pravilnik o priređivanju igara na sreću u casinima putem interaktivnih prodajnih kanala on-line igranja, NN 78/10Regulator
- Pravilnik o priređivanju igara klađenja na daljinu, NN 8/10Regulator
- Odluka o davanju prava priređivanja igara klađenja, NN 130/25Regulator
- Pravilnik o izmjenama i dopunama Pravilnika ... on-line igranja, NN 129/25Regulator
- Zakon o izmjenama Zakona o igrama na sreću, NN 114/22 (euro conversion)Regulator
- Porezna uprava: Nedozvoljeno obavljanje gospodarske aktivnosti putem InternetaRegulator
- Pravilnik o izmjenama i dopunama Pravilnika o priređivanju igara klađenja na daljinu, NN 129/25Regulator
- Zakon o sprječavanju pranja novca i financiranja terorizma, NN 108/17Regulator
80 documents in all. Request the full research report for every source, answer by answer.
Looking for the player guide?
For consumer-facing information about gambling in Croatia (tax on winnings, where to play legally, self-exclusion options), see the Croatia player guide.
Disclaimer. This page reflects the law as we understood it on 15 Oct 2026. Rules change: always check the current position with Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Croatia (Ministarstvo financija). The Government grants 15-year rights to run casino, betting or machine games after a public tender; the Tax Administration's Games of Chance Service (Služba za igre na sreću) runs the tenders and issues the Ministry's approvals, including approval for online play.. We are not a legal adviser.