How to get a gambling licence in Croatia: fees and steps

Organising games of chance is a right of the Republic of Croatia (Article 3(1)). The right is exercised on three legal bases: the Act itself, a decision of the Government, and an authorisation (odobrenje) of the Ministry of Finance (Article 3(2)).

• Hrvatska Lutrija d.o.o., the state-founded operator, holds the exclusive right to organise lottery games (Articles 3(3), 9(2)) and is also approved for online casino and betting; only casino, betting and slot games (Article 5(1) points 2, 3, 4) are open to private operators.
• The Government grants the right on the Ministry of Finance proposal (Article 23(3)), the Minister signs the contract (Article 29(1)), and the odobrenje, an administrative act of the Minister, lets operations start (Article 4(4)). Online play is added on top of the right by a further odobrenje.
• The Tax Administration (Porezna uprava) keeps the register of organisers, supervises operators through its area offices and orders unlicensed gambling sites blocked; there is no separate gambling commission. The only published extract of the register is its list of operators approved for internet play (12 on 12 October 2026).
• Chain games are banned (Article 6(1)), and so are foreign games of chance and their advertising (Article 68).

Laws that apply

• Zakon o igrama na sreću (Act on Games of Chance), NN 87/09, amended by NN 35/13, 158/13, 41/14, 143/14, 114/22 and 72/25 (in force 1 May 2025); no official consolidated text is published
• Pravilnik o priređivanju igara klađenja na daljinu (online betting), NN 8/10, 63/10, 22/15, 129/25
• Pravilnik o priređivanju igara na sreću u casinima putem interaktivnih prodajnih kanala on-line igranja (online casino), NN 78/10, 129/25
• Uredba o mjerama društveno odgovornog priređivanja igara na sreću, NN 129/25 · Zakon o sprječavanju pranja novca i financiranja terorizma (AML Act) · Opći porezni zakon (General Tax Act), Art. 44 on blocking orders

The 2025 amendment is the core of the current regime. It targets youth protection, advertising and fees rather than opening the market to new entrants.

• Annual fees raised: online casino EUR 600,000, casino EUR 100,000 per casino, online betting EUR 400,000, shop and terminal betting EUR 200,000, machines EUR 2,000 per machine (Articles 38, 51, 58).
• New winnings-tax bands of 10%, 15%, 20% and 30% on lottery and betting winnings (Articles 18, 52).
• Player identification extended to betting shops and machine clubs, and gambling premises closed on Sundays except 16 working Sundays a year the operator chooses; operators had to comply by 1 January 2026 (Article 19).
• A national self-exclusion register, established and run by the Hrvatski zavod za javno zdravstvo (Croatian Institute of Public Health, HZJZ) (Article 67.e(6)).
• Advertising banned on the internet, TV, radio and electronic publications from 06:00 to 23:00, in print and on public surfaces, plus a ban on celebrities and social-media content creators (Articles 67.a-67.d).
• The Government decree on socially responsible gambling (NN 129/25) adds distances, rules for public places and the outside of premises, and player identification for land-based venues.

Private operators of casino, betting and slot games must be trading companies with a registered seat in Croatia (Article 3(4), Article 23(1)). A branch of a foreign company is not an eligible applicant, but a foreign owner may found the Croatian company. There is no recognition of foreign (Malta, Curacao, etc.) licences.

• The bid file (Article 24) must show registered share capital and the lawful origin of the funds covering it, the founding act, the full ownership chain, the beneficial owner (25% plus one share), proof that no criminal proceedings are being conducted against directors, founders and supervisory-board members, proof of paid taxes, and a three-year business plan; evidence may not be older than 30 days.
• Bids from companies in bankruptcy or liquidation, with unpaid public dues, or raising competition-law concerns are excluded (Article 25).
• Online is not a separate licence class: a company that already holds the casino right may be authorised to run casino games via online interactive channels (Article 35(2)), and a betting-right holder may be authorised for online betting (Article 46(3)).

Each right carries a minimum registered share capital (temeljni kapital) that must be maintained for the whole term, plus a bank guarantee securing player payouts and public dues. Holding two game types means meeting the capital floor for each.

• NN 114/22 converted the former HRK 4,000,000 (casino and betting) and HRK 2,000,000 (machines) into the euro amounts above. The Act says registered (upisan) capital; it does not say paid up.
• A casino company that wants online casino games holds both guarantees, EUR 597,252.64 in all. The EUR 398,168.43 online guarantee (Article 37(3)) is not the annual fee: the online-casino fee is EUR 600,000 (Article 38(2)).
• The betting guarantee for the current year is filed by 31 January; casino and machine guarantees must be renewed at least 30 days before expiry.

A fixed annual fee (godisnja naknada) is due per Article 31 for each right. The 2025 amendment set high online fees to make the online channel a premium add-on to the land-based concession.

• The fees are cumulative: an online betting operator pays EUR 200,000 for shop and terminal betting plus EUR 400,000 for online betting, EUR 600,000 a year; an online casino operator with one casino pays EUR 100,000 plus EUR 600,000, EUR 700,000.
• A widely quoted "EUR 398,168 online gambling licence fee" was the online fee before 1 May 2025 and is still the Article 37(3) online-casino bank guarantee. The Tax Administration fee pages still print the pre-2025 amounts; the Act as amended by NN 72/25 governs.
• The annual fee is paid by the end of December for the following year; in the year a right is granted it is paid pro rata to the months left (NN 130/25). The online approval application must prove the online fee has been paid.

On top of the fixed annual fee, operators pay a variable monthly fee (mjesecna naknada), a public levy under the General Tax Act (Article 4(5)). The base differs by vertical: betting is taxed on turnover, casino and slots on gross win.

• The betting base is turnover, not gross win: 5% is charged on the total amount staked, which is a materially heavier burden than a GGR tax at the same headline rate.
• Half of the annual and monthly fees is earmarked for the social programmes named in Article 8(1), including programmes against addiction, and split each year by Government decree.
• The monthly fee is paid by the 15th of the following month, with the final monthly return filed through ePorezna by the 20th: the monthly records with the final calculation of business results and proof of payment of the monthly fee, on the forms of the rulebook on mandatory records (Form 19 NP-ISC for casino games and tournaments, 21 NP-IK for betting; Articles 39(1) and 51(4)). Bonuses and free spins are not deductible from the base.
• No separate gambling tax applies. Corporate income tax is 10% on income up to EUR 1,000,000 and 18% above; games of chance are exempt from VAT.

Since 1 May 2025 Croatia taxes player winnings from lottery and betting games on a progressive scale, withheld and remitted by the operator at payout (Articles 18 and 52). Casino and slot winnings are not subject to this player tax.

• Lottery winnings up to EUR 100 are tax-free (Article 18(3) taxes only the portion above EUR 100); betting winnings are taxed from the first euro up to EUR 1,500 (Article 52(2)).
• The tax is a withholding: the operator computes and pays it at the moment of payout (Articles 18(4), 52(3)).
• Winnings from casino table games and slot machines fall outside this player tax, which by statute covers only lottery and betting winnings (Article 4(6)).

Operators must give the Ministry of Finance a direct, real-time connection to their information system for continuous, complete supervision (cjeloviti nadzor).

• Betting operators must enable the real-time Ministry connection recording all stakes and payouts in tamper-proof form (Article 53(1)-(2)); the same duty applies to slot operators (Article 62(1)).
• The online system and every game must be certified by a laboratory the Ministry of Finance has approved, and a certificate is valid only once the Ministry confirms it (online-casino rulebook Article 18); RNG games for betting must also be certified. The system may not be changed without prior approval.
• Player registration means capturing and storing player data, verifying identity, issuing a player ID and opening a player account (Article 4(19)); operators verify age and identity through the Tax Administration OIB service, a card check or remote identification under the AML Act. On registration the operator collects the player's OIB and personal data and checks the data and the player's adulthood in real time through the Tax Administration's TS2 web service before the account is opened.
• The technical rules are the online rulebooks and the Ministry documents U1-U3, TS1 and TS2 (version 1.0 of 27 March 2015), published by the Tax Administration; the supervision link runs over a VPN to a protected portal.
• Since NN 129/25 (in force 16 October 2025) no binding text requires the system or its servers to be in Croatia, though the application must state where the equipment is and the 2015 instruction U2 still tells laboratories to check it. Player transactions must run through an account opened in Croatia.

The 2025 reform builds a national exclusion system around the public-health service rather than a gambling regulator, plus universal player identification.

• The Hrvatski zavod za javno zdravstvo (HZJZ) establishes and maintains the register of excluded players (Article 67.e(6)); the Act set 30 June 2026 as the deadline (transitional Article 19(4)), and the Minister of Health's rulebook on the register was published in NN 80/26.
• Operators must send exclusion data to the register at once and within 24 hours of a request, and make sure an excluded player does not play (Article 67.e(4)-(5)); failing to do so is a misdemeanour.
• A registered player asks for exclusion on the exclusion form, to the operator in writing or electronically, or electronically straight to the register; with the player's consent an authorised employee of the Croatian Institute for Social Work, a family-protection institution or a health institution for mental health and addiction may file it directly with the register (betting rulebook Article 19(4)-(5), online-casino rulebook Article 20(4)-(5), both as amended by NN 129/25).
• Exclusion periods: 3 months (irrevocable), 6 months, 1, 3 or 5 years, or permanent. One exclusion covers casino, betting and machine games, online and land-based, and remote lottery games.
• Participation is limited to adults (18+). Players may set their own deposit or loss limit for a period; the law sets no mandatory limit, reality check or session limit. What the player has deposited and what has been paid out in winnings must be available to the player at all times (betting rulebook Article 19(3), online-casino rulebook Article 20(3)). Each operator appoints a person responsible for player protection.
• Operators and staff must keep player data confidential, with carve-outs only for tax and AML duties (Article 66).

The 2025 amendment sharply tightened gambling advertising (Articles 67.a-67.d); operators had to comply by 1 January 2026.

• Advertising gambling on the internet and in all TV, radio and electronic-publication content is prohibited between 06:00 and 23:00 (Article 67.b(1)); it is banned in print media and on all publicly visible surfaces (Article 67.c(1)). The operators' own websites and low-risk lottery games are exempt.
• Advertising that invites people to play with bonuses, free spins or similar benefits is banned except on the operators' own websites (Article 67.b(8)); every advertisement must warn that gambling can cause addiction and that minors may not take part (Article 67.b(9)).
• Celebrities and persons of media influence may not appear in gambling advertising (Article 67.d(2)), social-media content creators are banned from promoting or advertising gambling (Article 67.d(3)), and sponsorship may show only the company name, logo and service mark (Article 67.d(1)).
• Breaches are misdemeanours: EUR 6,630 to EUR 66,360 for a legal person (Article 72(1)), EUR 660 to EUR 6,630 for the responsible person (Article 72(2)), and EUR 3,980 to EUR 6,630 for natural persons who advertise and for content creators (Article 73(3)-(4)).

Gambling operators are obliged entities under the Croatian AML Act, and the Tax Administration polices the illegal online market by ordering sites blocked.

• Under the AML Act (Article 9(2)(16), as replaced by NN 151/22) operators, including online, must carry out customer due diligence at registration and on stakes or winnings of EUR 2,000 or more, appoint an authorised person, monitor the relationship, report suspicious transactions and keep records for ten years. The Tax Administration supervises them.
• Under Article 44 of the General Tax Act (added by NN 106/18) the Tax Administration issues ban-on-work orders that access providers execute by blocking the site. Its published list held 1,443 gambling addresses on 9 October 2026, from www.bet365.com in 2019 onward.
• No payment-blocking power was found in the Act or the General Tax Act; the blocking orders reach web-page content only.
• Winnings may be paid out only to the account the player registered with the operator, and the operator may use only an account opened in Croatia for transactions with players.

The route to a live Croatian online casino or sportsbook, in order. The binding gate is that online is only an add-on to a domestic land-based concession, so the land-based tender comes first and the online odobrenje follows.

1. 01

   Incorporate a Croatia-seated company and fund the share capital

   Articles 3(4), 23(1), 37/50/57

   Set up a company with a registered seat in Croatia (a foreign owner may found it) and register the temeljni kapital: EUR 530,891.23 for casino or for betting, or EUR 265,445.62 for slots, held for each group for the whole term.

2. 02

   Assemble the tender dossier

   Article 24

   Compile the ownership chain and beneficial owner (25% plus one share), founding act, proof of capital and lawful origin of funds, proof that no criminal proceedings are being conducted against directors, founders and supervisory-board members, proof of paid taxes under 30 days old, and a three-year business plan showing revenues, fees and game scope.

3. 03

   Win the Government tender for the right to organise

   Articles 23, 25-26

   Respond to the Minister of Finance tender for the relevant right (casino, betting or slots). Selection turns mainly on the financial effect on the state budget; bids that are incomplete, from insolvent firms, or raising competition concerns are excluded.

4. 04

   Sign the concession contract

   Articles 27-29 · 15-year term

   Execute the right-to-organise contract with the Minister within 60 days of the Government decision. The right runs 15 years from signature and cannot be transferred to another company (Article 28).

5. 05

   Post the bank guarantee

   Articles 37, 50, 57

   Provide the bank guarantee securing payouts and public dues, from a bank seated in Croatia: EUR 199,084.21 per casino plus EUR 398,168.43 for online casino, a stakes-scaled EUR 663,614.04 to EUR 1,990,842.13 for betting, or EUR 39,816.84 to EUR 663,614.04 for slots by machine count.

6. 06

   Certify equipment and build the real-time supervision link

   Online rulebooks · Articles 53, 62

   Have the online system and every game certified by a laboratory the Ministry of Finance has approved (the certificate counts once the Ministry confirms it), open a special-purpose account at a bank registered in Croatia, and build the direct, real-time connection to the Ministry information system in tamper-proof form (cjeloviti nadzor).

7. 07

   Obtain the online authorisation (odobrenje)

   Articles 35(2), 46(3)

   As a holder of the casino or betting right, apply for the odobrenje with proof that the annual online fee is paid, the certificates, game rules, website address and a contract with a communications provider registered in Croatia. Online casino needs at least one casino open in Croatia; online betting at least 100 employees and 50 open betting points.

8. 08

   Pay the annual concession fee

   Articles 31, 38, 51, 58

   Pay the fixed annual fees by the end of December for the following year: EUR 600,000 online casino plus EUR 100,000 per casino; EUR 400,000 online betting plus EUR 200,000 shop betting; EUR 2,000 per slot machine (EUR 8,000 or EUR 10,000 per electronic roulette).

9. 09

   Wire in player registration and Tax Administration ID checks

   Articles 4(19), 43, 60 · 18+

   Build registration that captures player data, issues a player ID and opens a player account, and verify identity and age (18+) against Tax Administration electronic services before any deposit or play.

10. 10

    Connect to the HZJZ self-exclusion register

    Article 67.e · NN 80/26

    Integrate the national exclusion register run by the Hrvatski zavod za javno zdravstvo (deadline 30 June 2026) through the state service bus with an HZJZ API key, send exclusion data within 24 hours of a request, and keep excluded players out.

11. 11

    Stand up AML, responsible-gambling and advertising compliance

    AML Act · Articles 66, 67.b, 67.d, 73

    Implement AML identification, suspicious-transaction reporting and record-keeping, keep player data confidential, and enforce the advertising rules (no 06:00-23:00 online ads, no celebrities/influencers, bonus offers only on your own site) to avoid fines of EUR 6,630 to EUR 66,360 for the company.

12. 12

    Go live and run ongoing tax and reporting duties

    Articles 17, 18, 38, 51, 52, 58

    Launch under the odobrenje. Pay the monthly operator fee (5% of betting stakes, 15% of casino results, 25% of machine results) by the 15th of the following month, withhold player winnings tax (10/15/20/30%) at payout on lottery and betting wins, and keep the real-time supervision feed live.

Tier-ordered: official government first, then practitioner, then trade media. Every primary figure was read from the in-force text on 12 Oct 2026.