Iceland gambling licence: no online licence

A lottery for money or money’s worth can be run only under a special statute (Lottery Act art. 2(2)), and each statute names its holder. As of 7 November 2026 no company outside those six holds a licence to run money lotteries, betting or gaming in Iceland.

• Two statutes make the exclusivity explicit: while HHÍ operates, it is forbidden to set up any other money lottery in Iceland (Act 13/1973 art. 2), and nobody but Íslenskar getraunir may run sports pools or betting on sports (Act 59/1972 art. 10).
• The ministry states that the same applies to online lotteries that are money lotteries and to gambling. There is no licensing of domains or brands and no register of them.
• No bill on lotteries, gambling, online betting or blocking is before Althingi as of 7 November 2026. The Minister of Justice said on 25 September 2025 that the options are to allow, ban, license or keep the market closed, and that no bill was being announced.

Laws that apply

• Lög um happdrætti nr. 38/2005 (Lottery Act), arts 2-3 and 11
• Lög nr. 26/1986 (Íslensk getspá), nr. 59/1972 (Íslenskar getraunir), nr. 13/1973 (Happdrætti Háskóla Íslands), nr. 73/1994 (collection boxes), nr. 16/1973 (DAS) and nr. 18/1959 (SÍBS)
• Almenn hegningarlög nr. 19/1940 (Penal Code), arts 183-184
• Lög um fjölmiðla nr. 38/2011 (Media Act), art. 37
• Lög um aðgerðir gegn peningaþvætti og fjármögnun hryðjuverka nr. 140/2018 (AML Act)
• Lög um aukatekjur ríkissjóðs nr. 88/1991 (Act on state fees)

The one licence an applicant can ask for is a Lottery Act licence for a public-benefit lottery. It cannot cover a casino, betting, poker or a money lottery, online or offline.

• Who can hold it: an association, organisation or institution established in the EEA whose purpose is to raise money for public benefit in Iceland (art. 3). A body outside the EEA cannot hold one.
• Issuing body: the sýslumaður. Since 1 January 2015 the licences are issued by the sýslumaður on Suðurland, and the service page says local lotteries with ticket sales up to 2,000,000 kr. are licensed by each sýslumaður.
• Limits: one licence per lottery, at most three licences a calendar year for the same body, a sales period of at most three months, and a draw that can be postponed by up to two months. A licence states the number of tickets, price, prizes and draw date (Reg. 530/2006).
• The licence does not renew. A new licence is applied for for each lottery.
• The authorisations of Íslensk getspá, HHÍ, DAS and SÍBS run to 1 January 2034, set by L. 126/2015. The statutes of Íslenskar getraunir and the collection boxes print no end date. No renewal procedure exists: an authorisation continues only if Althingi amends the statute.
• There is no licence register as such. The Ministry of Justice page names the six statutory lotteries, and the tax authority publishes each year the list of lotteries authorised to pay tax-free winnings (twelve for tax year 2022). No public list of Lottery Act licences is published.
• A decision of the sýslumaður can be appealed to the ministry.

Foreign-licensed sites serve Icelandic players, and the Minister of Justice estimated on 25 September 2025 that 10-12 billion kr. a year is gambled on foreign sites. She said there is no specialised supervision of it.

• How it is sold: as of 7 November 2026, from an Icelandic connection, foreign brands sell sport, casino, live casino and poker to Icelandic players in Icelandic. Coolbet’s Icelandic site names Polar Limited and a Maltese licence the Malta register prints to that company as Licensed. Rizk’s Icelandic casino lists winnings in ISK and names a Maltese licence number that the register as read prints to a different company, so the claimed licence is not confirmed.
• Criminal law: running a lottery or betting in Iceland without a licence, or advertising, promoting or relaying information on an unlicensed lottery whether run here or abroad, carries a fine or up to six months (Lottery Act art. 11(1)), and up to one year where the activity is extensive or repeated. The Penal Code punishes gambling as a trade or recruiting players (art. 183) and earning from gambling in premises one controls (art. 184). Directors and employees who run or promote an unlicensed lottery or betting are liable, and a legal person can be fined.
• Advertising: Media Act art. 37 bans commercial communications for lottery and betting activity not licensed in Iceland, and the Media Authority (Fjölmiðlanefnd) fines the media provider, up to 10 million kr. It fined Sýn hf. 1,000,000 kr. on 24 August 2022 (podcast advertising) and Síminn hf. 1,000,000 kr. on 14 August 2025 (Rizk advertising). It treated a free-play site and a clothing-line podcast sponsorship as advertising for the real-money brands. These fines bind the broadcaster, not the foreign operator, and block nothing.
• No operator has been fined or prosecuted. The National Police Commissioner recorded three Lottery Act offences (two in 2018, one in 2021) and no fine under the Act from 2015 to September 2026, and no case about the foreign sites had been investigated as reported in October 2025. No court judgment on an online operator is published as of 7 November 2026.
• Blocking: no statute gives any authority its own power to block a gambling website, domain, app or payment. The one route is a court injunction (lögbann) the Media Authority can seek under Media Act art. 52 c, which can require a telecom company to restrict access, a provider to remove the interface and a domain registrar to close or lock the domain. No use of it against a gambling site is on record as of 7 November 2026.
• Players: no Act or regulation penalises a player for taking part with an unlicensed operator. Winnings from foreign operators are taxable income of the player.
• The Minister said on 26 July 2026 in a radio interview that she favours a licence system on the Finnish model, under which sites ignoring the minimum age could be blocked. This is a statement of intent, not a bill.

Iceland licenses no B2B gambling suppliers. No supplier, platform or software licence exists, and no fee, application or processing time applies.

• The law names none of the supplier roles (game developer, aggregator, platform, hosting, live studio, odds feed, KYC vendor, affiliate). Suppliers act for the six statutory bodies under contract, and the body stays the operator and carries the regulatory duties.
• A payment provider needs the Financial Supervisory Authority’s licence under the Payment Services Act 114/2021 art. 4.
• The checks fall on the licensed bodies: for HHÍ’s gaming machines a certificate on the central system and software from a laboratory with international recognition and confirmation by the lottery council (Reg. 455/1993 art. 9), for Íslensk getspá an audit firm approved by the ministry that supervises the computer system (Reg. 1170/2012 art. 16), and for collection boxes an inspector appointed by the minister (Reg. 320/2008 art. 10).
• No named technical standard applies. HHÍ machine software must give an average payout of at least 89% and record per machine, in time and immutably, the amount played and paid (Reg. 455/1993 art. 8).
• A supplier licence or certificate from another jurisdiction has no standing. White-label and turnkey arrangements are not provided for.
• No instrument says whether a supplier may supply operators who serve Iceland without a licence, or requires a supplier to check an operator’s licence. What the law reaches is the operator’s activity and its promotion (Lottery Act art. 11(1)).

There is no general gambling tax, gross-gaming-revenue tax or turnover duty, and no guarantee or capital requirement. The costs below fall on the six holders and on public-benefit lotteries.

• Corporate income tax is 20% of the taxable income of limited-liability companies (Income Tax Act art. 71(1), edition of 1 October 2026). None of the six special Acts exempts the operator; they exempt only the winnings.
• Lotteries and betting are exempt from VAT (VAT Act art. 2, item 11).
• The operators bear the cost of supervision and audit as the ministry decides, with no amounts set. A Lottery Act licence may be made conditional on a contribution to research and measures against gambling addiction, with no amount set.
• Winnings paid by the six holders are exempt from all public charges. Winnings from other sources, including foreign online operators, are taxed as ordinary income at the progressive state rates of art. 66 plus municipal income tax, and the player declares them in the annual return. The Income Tax Act contains no rule making a foreign operator or payment provider withhold tax.
• No advertising or sponsorship tax applies to gambling.
• The AML Act treats lottery licensees and the six holders as obliged entities, supervised by the tax authority, with customer due diligence when winnings of 2,000 euro or more are paid out (art. 8(e)).

No commercial route exists. These are the steps for the one licence that does, and for the bodies that supply the six holders.

1. 01

   Check the route you mean

   Lottery Act arts 2-3

   A money lottery, casino, betting or poker needs a special statute, and none grants one to a new operator. Only a public-benefit lottery with non-money prizes can be licensed.

2. 02

   Establish the applicant in the EEA

   Lottery Act art. 3

   The applicant must be an association, organisation or institution established in the EEA whose purpose is to raise money for public benefit in Iceland.

3. 03

   Apply to the sýslumaður for each lottery

   no fee; up to three licences a year

   Apply through the island.is service. The licence states the number of tickets, price, prizes and draw date.

4. 04

   Pay the draw fee and run the lottery

   12,000 kr. per draw; sales up to three months

   Deliver reports or accounts of the operation within six months after the lottery ends (Reg. 530/2006 art. 7).

5. 05

   Suppliers: deal with the licensed body

   no supplier licence

   There is no supplier application. The body must be able to show the checks its regulation requires of its systems.

Tier-ordered: official government first, then practitioner, then trade media. Every primary figure was read from the in-force text on 7 Nov 2026.