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

VID issues every licence. An online operator needs the organising licence (art. 10) and, on top of it, the interactive licence (art. 46(2)). Suppliers have one licence of their own.

• One organising licence and one interactive licence cover all the games named in them: slots, roulette, card and dice games, bingo, betting and totalizator. Each game still needs its rules approved by VID, which decides within 15 days (art. 6).
• The interactive licence is received only after the organising licence is held, so the two decisions run one after the other (VID interactive-licence page).
• No numerical cap on organising, interactive or service-provider licences is set. VID refuses only on the grounds in art. 15 and art. 49(2).
• Interactive lotteries are reserved to the state company Latvijas Loto (art. 75(1)). Land-based licences (casino, gaming hall, bingo hall, betting point) are premises licences and give no online right.
• Prediction markets, betting exchanges, skill or fantasy products and social or sweepstakes games have no licence category: the Law allows only the games it names (art. 3(2)).
• A licence cannot pass to another person.

Laws that apply

• Azartspēļu un izložu likums (Gambling and Lotteries Law)
• Par izložu un azartspēļu nodevu un nodokli (Lotteries and Gambling Duty and Tax Law)
• Cabinet Regulations No. 188 and No. 189 of 27 March 2018 (game-programme compliance report; interactive gambling system), No. 715 (player registration), No. 333 (self-exclusion register), No. 337 (quarterly notice)
• Noziedzīgi iegūtu līdzekļu legalizācijas un terorisma un proliferācijas finansēšanas novēršanas likums (AML/CTF Law)

The applicant must itself be a capital company registered in Latvia with EUR 1,400,000 of paid-up capital (art. 8). A foreign company applies through a Latvian company it owns.

• A branch of a foreign company cannot apply for the organising licence. The Law gives no route for a branch.
• Shareholders from outside the EU, the EEA and the OECD may together hold at most 49% of the capital, unless a treaty approved by the Saeima provides otherwise. Investors from EU, EEA and OECD states are outside the cap (art. 8 pt 2).
• At least half of the management board, and of the supervisory board if there is one, must be tax residents of an EU, EEA or OECD state. Latvian residence is not required (art. 9(1)).
• Board members, supervisory board members and the auditor must have an impeccable reputation. A person convicted of an intentional criminal offence cannot hold the post (art. 9(2)-(3)).
• The company names a responsible person for interactive gambling, approved by VID within 30 days. Interactive organising is banned without that approval (art. 51).
• A Latvian credit-institution account is required for interactive gambling. Settlements with players run through it, and winnings go only to the account the stake came from (art. 47(1) pt 2, art. 53(3)-(4)).
• A supplier needs a service-provider licence if it creates, maintains or provides gambling content from Latvian territory, unless its service is a component of a game run by a Latvian-licensed organiser (art. 1 pts 3.1-3.2).

There is no application fee and no guarantee. The up-front cost is the state duty paid after the decision and the paid-up capital; the recurring cost is the yearly re-registration duty and the gambling tax on revenue.

• The duty is EUR 427,000 where gambling is organised also by other means than electronic communications. The duty is paid within 10 working days of the decision, before the licence is issued (art. 19).
• Re-registration starts the year after issue: EUR 45,000 a year for the organising licence, paid within 10 working days of the re-registration decision. Organising may continue only after payment (art. 19(3)).
• Not counted: the certification body's charges for the system opinion and the game-programme compliance reports, and the audit costs. No tariff is set; the bodies price them.
• A service provider pays EUR 120,000 (25 devices or fewer) or EUR 400,000 (more than 25) at issue and again each year. A provider that paid the lower duty and then uses more than 25 devices pays the EUR 280,000 difference.
• Gambling tax: 15% of gambling revenue (stakes less winnings) on all online gambling from 1 January 2026. The rate was 12% in 2024 and 2025. It carries no minimum and is paid monthly: the return is due within 15 days after the month ends and payment by the 23rd.
• Gambling is exempt from VAT. Corporate income tax is 20%. No advertising or sponsorship tax exists. Duty income goes to the state budget.
• Player winnings are exempt from income tax up to EUR 3,000 in the tax year; the part above is taxable income.

VID receives the organising application (art. 11), then the interactive application (art. 47(1)). Applications are accepted at any time; no window, round or tender is set.

• Organising licence file: quarterly financial statements for the current year, credit-liability information, documents on the origin of the money and property in the share capital, the next year's development plan (games, expected income and expenses, profit and its use) and an affirmation that the boards and the auditor meet art. 9.
• Interactive licence file: the rules of each game, the Latvian bank-account certificate, the system description with the programs, a certification body's opinion on the system, the equipment place and security measures, data-protection measures, the internet address and the responsible person's details. VID's page adds the MK 188 compliance report.
• Decision periods run from receipt, or from receipt of additional documents where VID asks for more: organising licence 90 days, interactive licence 60 days; each period starts again when VID asks for more documents. Acceptance of bets by electronic means is decided within 30 days.
• VID notifies the decision within 10 days (art. 14(3)). Applications lodged with the Inspectorate and not yet decided on 1 April 2026 are decided by VID.
• VID refuses where, among other grounds, the funds came from unusual or suspicious transactions, taxes are owed, false information was given, or the development plan is economically unfounded (art. 15). For interactive licences it also refuses where the rules do not meet the Law or the security measures are insufficient (art. 49).
• A decision of a VID official is contested by application to the VID Director General, whose decision can be appealed to a court.
• The Law says only that the application is filed with VID. The filing channel is not stated; ask VID ([email protected]) whether the Electronic Declaration System, the latvija.gov.lv e-address or a signed e-document is accepted.

The interactive system must be certified before use, and each game programme needs its own compliance report. Any certification body accredited in Latvia or in another EU, EEA or EFTA state may certify (art. 4(4)).

• No named external standard (ISO, GLI or similar) is prescribed. The rules are in MK 189 (results by chance, game-account protection, recovery after total failure, five-year game records) and MK 188 (compliance report).
• Each interactive game programme's report confirms the random number generator, a payout of at least 80% of stakes and a checksum of the programme. A certificate from another market's standard does not meet this unless it covers those points.
• Minimum payouts: at least 80% for slots, roulette, card and dice games; 50% for bingo and betting; 45% for telephone games (art. 41(1) pt 7, art. 45). No maximum is set.
• A change that affects the certification opinion needs VID's written permission first (MK 189 pts 9-10, as amended from 1 April 2026).
• No server location is prescribed and no .lv domain is required. The licence names the internet address, and the organiser tells VID the country and exact address of its equipment (art. 53(5)). Cloud hosting is neither permitted nor forbidden by name.
• No real-time link to VID is required. The operator checks each connecting player against the self-exclusion register and files a quarterly notice of stakes and winnings within 15 days of quarter-end.
• Player-facing rules: each player sets a personal maximum stake per game or per 24 hours, payouts up to EUR 720 are immediate, and the site shows the licence number, the over-18 rule and an addiction warning (MK 715; art. 36(3), art. 53(2)). Game and player records are kept five years.

A gambling organiser is an obliged entity under the AML/CTF Law, and VID supervises it. Reporting to VID is periodic, not real-time.

• Monthly gambling tax return; a quarterly report on organising gambling within 20 days of quarter-end; a quarterly notice of stakes and winnings with a credit-institution statement within 15 days; yearly re-registration.
• A change in the documents on which the licence was issued, or in the capital or shareholders, is reported in writing within five working days (art. 36(4)).
• Customer due diligence applies to any transaction of EUR 2,000 or more, including when the customer wins. Suspicious transactions go to the Financial Intelligence Unit without delay, through goAML.
• The AML responsible person is notified to the supervisor within 30 days. No residence rule is stated.
• AML records are kept five years after the end of the relationship, and the FIU or VID may extend that by up to five years.

The route to a live online operation, in filing order.

1. 01

   Form the Latvian company

   Art. 8 · EUR 1,400,000

   A Latvian capital company with paid-up capital and a board that meets the residency and reputation rules. Foreign shareholders outside the EU, EEA and OECD stay at 49% or less together.

2. 02

   Open a Latvian bank account

   Art. 47(1) pt 2

   An account at a credit institution registered in Latvia, to be used for settlements with players.

3. 03

   File the organising application

   Art. 11 · 90 days

   Quarterly statements, credit-liability data, proof of the origin of the capital, the development plan and the art. 9 affirmation.

4. 04

   Pay the duty

   Tax Law art. 2 · EUR 200,000

   Within 10 working days of the decision, before the licence is issued. EUR 427,000 if land-based gambling is also organised.

5. 05

   Certify the system and get the rules approved

   MK 188 · MK 189 · art. 6

   A certification body's opinion on the system and a compliance report for each game programme. VID approves the rules of each game within 15 days.

6. 06

   File the interactive application

   Art. 47 · 60 days

   Game rules, the bank certificate, the system description, the equipment place, data-protection measures, the internet address and the responsible person.

7. 07

   Go live and re-register yearly

   Art. 17 · EUR 45,000

   Connect to the self-exclusion register, file the monthly tax return and the quarterly notices, and re-register every year from the year after issue.

For a supplier that creates, maintains or provides gambling content from Latvian territory.

1. 01

   Check whether the licence applies

   Art. 1 pts 3.1-3.2

   The test is territorial: content created or maintained in Latvia, or provided from Latvia. A service that is a component of a Latvian-licensed organiser's own game is outside the definition.

2. 02

   File with VID

   Art. 80.2 · 30 days

   Name, registration number and legal address, the next year's development plan and the actual address where the services are created. VID decides within 30 days.

3. 03

   Pay the duty

   Tax Law art. 2.1

   EUR 120,000 for 25 gambling devices or fewer, EUR 400,000 for more than 25. The same amount is due at each yearly re-registration.

4. 04

   Re-register each year

   Art. 80.4

   File the next year's plan and any changes within two months before the date in the licence decision.

Tier-ordered: official government first, then practitioner, then trade media. Every primary figure was read from the in-force text on 6 Nov 2026.