Lithuania is set to reform its gambling sector next July, introducing a one-off license fee and different share capital requirements for businesses, and allowing remote gambling operators not to have a physical chain.

The Gaming Control Authority will only issue or renew an operating license if the company has the approval of the respective municipal council.

The Seimas passed on Thursday amendments to the Gaming Law in a vote of 94 to five with 23 abstentions.

The parliament also amended the Law on Gaming Tax with 104 votes in favor, one against and 11 abstentions. Mykolas Majauskas, the Committee on Budget and Finance’s chairman who initiated the amendments, says that the new regulation would eliminate conditions distorting competition on the market and would generate 8 million euros in extra budget revenue for the state.

The amendments set a license fee of 0.5 million euros for remote gambling, 0.3 million euros each for casinos, table games and category A and B gaming machines, and 0.1 million euros each for bingo and betting shops as of July 2022. A license for all the activities will cost 1 million euros.

Remote table game or category A gaming machine operators will have to have an authorized share capital of at least 1.158 million euros. The minimum capital requirement will be set at 289,000 euros for remote betting, category B machine and bingo operators, and at 144,000 euros for remote horse-racing betting operators.

Currently, organizers of all types of remote gambling are required to have a capital of at least 1.158 million euros.

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