Albania’s government has published a draft gambling law for public consultation that would reopen online sports betting under a 15% tax on gross gaming revenue, saying the ban adopted in 2018 had failed to stop the activity and instead pushed it into unlicensed channels.
The draft, released for consultation in April 2023, would route the 15% GGR levy into a newly created Special Fund administered by the ministry responsible for sport, culture, innovation and technology. Licensing would be restricted to online sports betting only, with retail betting shops and slot halls remaining barred.
The government’s justification leans heavily on enforcement data compiled by the Gambling Supervisory Authority. According to the published draft, the authority carried out 1,421 controls between 2019 and 2022, resulting in confiscations, criminal proceedings and administrative fines against 135 entities and individuals operating illegally, while the AMLF referred 4,035 illegal betting addresses to AKEP for closure.
Under the draft criteria, applicants must be joint-stock companies headquartered and registered in Albania with the Central Bank, and individual shareholders must be free of criminal convictions or pending criminal proceedings. Licensed operators would be required to post a guarantee of roughly €1.5 million and maintain a player-protection fund of at least ALL 120 million, alongside a separate fund to secure obligations owed to the AMLF, tax authorities and other state bodies.
Article 26 of the draft bars operators from accepting cash directly from players, requiring all transactions to run through an Authorized Financial Agent instead. Players would need to register using verified identity credentials, with operators obliged to retain registration and transaction data for at least three years. The draft’s online-only structure is intended to place betting activity within defined and monitorable frameworks, unlike the retail sector prohibited from 2019.
Later framework details
Later reporting from iGaming Business says the legislation provides for up to 10 online licensees. It also reports a minimum licence fee of ALL 400 million and eligibility requirements including experience in multiple EU or OECD markets, minimum turnover and share-capital thresholds.
Source: Balkanweb
Petra Vanhoof has spent the better part of a decade following the shifting tides of gambling regulation across Europe and beyond. She came up through the compliance side of the industry before pivoting to writing, which gives her a grounded, no-nonsense perspective on the rules, loopholes, and political maneuvering that shape how operators actually do business. She is particularly drawn to the gap between what regulators say and what the market ends up doing in response.