Estonia has approved a vital change in legislature to fix the error which removed taxes for online gambling providers.
Back in December, the Riigikogu (Parliament) voted in favour of amendments to the Gambling Tax Act, which was brought in by Eesti 200 MP Tanel Tein.
However, a mistake in the document left remote games out of the legislature, meaning that online gambling providers were not included in the 5.5% tax bracket for 2026.
This posed significant risks to the Treasury, potentially starving it of around €4m intended to fund various social initiatives, sports and culture programmes.
With the new Gambling Tax Act in force since 1 January, policymakers and the regulator quickly mobilised to iron out the mistake. Legislators voted on the changes yesterday (11 February) with an effective implementation date of 1 March.
Gambling providers will rest easy, as the changes are not retrospective and the government will not pursue owed tax for the months of January and February.
Finance Minister blasts ‘unpleasant compromise’
Estonian PM Kristen Michal came out with a statement earlier in January, calling for a quick resolution to the awkward situation as government funding from gambling tax remained largely in a stalemate at the time.
“My position is that culture and sports should not go without funding because of this,” he said to the ERR news outlet. “If needed, we will look at other priorities and adjust our activities. If need be, we’ll do some things more sparingly, but culture and sports shouldn’t suffer because of this.”
Jürgen Ligi, Estonia’s Minister of Finance, was more harsh with his comments, calling the hiccup “easily the worst” during the Riigikogu’s current mandate.
“I accept political compromises as such, but this is the most unpleasant compromise I’ve encountered during this Riigikogu term, and easily the worst one of this government’s term…If there was one [mistake], it certainly wasn’t made by the finance minister.”
Now that the dust has settled after this short-lived turbulence, gambling providers in Estonia have a much more positive future to look forward to, given the country’s ambitions of becoming a prominent iGaming hub in Europe.
The bill that was voted in December officially initiated the process of gradually reducing gambling tax 0.5% per year until 2028, essentially bringing it down to 4% to become one of the lowest tax rates on the continent.
This is 1% lower than Malta’s tax rate of 5%. Malta has established itself as one of the largest iGaming hubs in Europe – Estonia looks to be chasing a similar status as it seeks to benefit from the gaming industry’s economic contributions.
Estonia has approved a vital change in legislature to fix the error which removed taxes for online gambling providers. Back in December, the Riigikogu (Parliament) voted in favour of amendments to the Gambling Tax Act, which was brought in by Eesti 200 MP Tanel Tein. However, a mistake in the document left remote games out