Lithuania’s Finance Ministry has blocked a Farmers and Greens Union proposal that would have raised the gambling license tax from 22% to 30% and the lottery tax from 18% to 25%, with Deputy Januš Kizenevič calling the increase disproportionate to operators already funding the country’s regulatory overhaul.
Kizenevič declined to forward the proposal to the Seimas for review. He said licensed operators are already absorbing the costs of Lithuania’s extensive overhaul of its gambling regime, and he added that the Farmers and Greens Union did not consult the ministry before submitting the tax increase. A sharp additional tax during the current transition period would place, in his words, an “excessive additional burden on licensed businesses.”
The Farmers and Greens Union had proposed the increase on the grounds that new revenue from gambling would fund a network of public services for mental health, addiction prevention and general wellbeing.
Current rates and revenue base
Lithuania applies a 22% duty to gross gaming revenue generated from betting, totalisators, bingo, table games, gaming machines and online gambling. The tax applies across eight land-based casinos, 50 arcade halls and 10 online licenses.
Lottery operator Olifėja currently pays an 18% tax calculated against the nominal value of tickets distributed.
Rather than raise the lottery tax rate, the ministry has proposed restructuring how the existing 18% duty is distributed.
Under its draft, 10 percentage points would continue to go to the state budget, and the remaining 8 points would go to non-governmental organizations and other eligible recipients.
“The new draft does not envisage changing the total tax burden on lottery organisers,” Kizenevič told ELTA. “They would continue to pay the same 18% of the nominal value of distributed lottery tickets.”
Based on the previous year’s lottery results, the reallocation would cut Lithuania’s annual state-budget income by approximately €11.9 million.
Wider regulatory transition continues
The rejected tax proposal comes as Lithuania works through a phased overhaul of its gambling market. Remote gambling operators have been required since November 2025 to install centralized platforms for customer identification and activity tracking, and since May 2026 they have had to connect their platforms to Lithuania’s unified regulatory control system.
Lithuania began moving toward a comprehensive advertising ban in July 2025. Current rules restrict the content, placement and frequency of gambling advertisements, and sponsorship of public events, organizations and individuals will be prohibited from January 1, 2028.
The government has also raised the minimum gambling age from 18 to 21 and introduced stronger obligations for operators to identify risky patterns of play and intervene when customers display signs of gambling harm.
Additional measures under consideration include a universal player card spanning land-based and online gambling, along with the removal of cash payments from gambling venues. These changes are scheduled to take effect from 2029, subject to final approval by the Seimas.