🇱🇻Latvia Gambling Licence: Requirements, Costs and Tax

Latvian licence fees (state duties) are set in the Law on Lotteries and Gambling Fee and Tax and are paid to the state budget when the licence is issued and at each annual re-registration.

• Interactive gambling licence (online only): €200,000 to issue, then €45,000 for each annual re-registration.
• General gambling organiser licence (land-based, optionally with online): €427,000 to issue. Separate premises licences apply to casinos and gambling halls.
• Gambling services provider licence (live studios and content providers): €400,000 a year where more than 25 tables or units are used, €120,000 a year with 25 or fewer, payable on issue and at each annual re-registration.

Operators must be Latvian capital companies with paid-up share capital of at least €1.4 million. The State Revenue Service (VID) took over licensing and supervision from the Lotteries and Gambling Supervisory Inspection on 1 April 2026.

Sources (checked 20 September 2026): Law on Lotteries and Gambling Fee and Tax (likumi.lv) · Ministry of Finance: gambling and lotteries tax and fee

Latvia taxes gambling by product. For online operators the relevant rate is the tax on gambling organised via telecommunications: 15 per cent of revenue from organising the game (stakes less winnings), regardless of game type, from 1 January 2026 (12 per cent until the end of 2025). Betting and telephone games are taxed at 18 per cent, bingo at 12 per cent, and land-based tables and machines at fixed annual amounts (€40,440 per roulette or card table, €7,440 per gaming machine seat). Tax is declared monthly to the State Revenue Service, 75 per cent goes to the state budget and 25 per cent to the municipality.

Live dealer studios and B2B suppliers. Latvia is one of the few countries with a dedicated regime for studios. A company that creates, maintains or broadcasts gambling content from Latvia for operators licensed elsewhere holds a gambling services provider licence (€400,000 or €120,000 a year, see costs). The provider pays the licence fee but no gambling tax: tax falls on the operator that takes the bets. Evolution, Amber Studios and other Riga studios hold this licence.

Sources (checked 20 September 2026): Law on Lotteries and Gambling Fee and Tax, sections 2.1 and 3 · State Revenue Service notice on the 2026 rate changes · State Revenue Service: licensed gambling services providers

The Gambling and Lotteries Law sets decision deadlines. The regulator decides on an interactive gambling licence within 60 days of a complete application (30 days for a licence to accept bets via electronic communications), and on a gambling services provider licence within 30 days. Requests for additional documents restart the clock. Licences are issued for an indefinite period but must be re-registered every year, with the re-registration application filed two months before the anniversary.

Sources (checked 20 September 2026): Gambling and Lotteries Law (English translation)

Gambling may be operated in Latvia only under a licence from the State Revenue Service (VID), which took over from the Lotteries and Gambling Supervisory Inspection on 1 April 2026. Foreign licences give no rights in Latvia.

• The operator must be a capital company registered in Latvia with paid-up share capital of at least €1,400,000. Non-EU, non-EEA and non-OECD investors may hold no more than 49 per cent.
• General licence application: financial statements, debt obligations, documented origin of the share capital, a development plan for the coming year with planned games, revenue and expenditure, and confirmation that board members and the auditor meet the law’s reputation requirements.
• Interactive gambling licence (on top of the general licence): rules of each game, a Latvian bank account used for settlements with players, a description of the gaming system and software, and an opinion from a certification body on the system’s security, integrity of outcomes and personal-data protection.
• Player registration: players are registered in the operator’s register with identity verification and a Latvian-bank payment account, and the register is accessible to the regulator.
• Live studios serving foreign operators apply instead for the gambling services provider licence (see the section below).

Sources (checked 20 September 2026): Gambling and Lotteries Law (English translation), sections 8, 11, 47–49 · Ministry of Finance: policy on lotteries and gambling

Licences are indefinite but re-registered every year, with the re-registration file (including a new development plan) due two months before the anniversary and the re-registration fee paid within 10 working days of the decision.

• Tax reporting: gambling tax declared monthly to the State Revenue Service through its electronic declaration system, plus quarterly statements of bets and prizes and a credit-institution statement of the player-settlement account.
• Self-exclusion register: operators check the national register, accept self-exclusion requests after identity verification and pass them to the regulator for entry.
• Records: every payment in and out of each player’s game account is kept in the system’s audit trail and retained for five years after the last change.
• Player protection and marketing: deposit, loss and time limits, addiction warnings and the licence number in all advertising, no targeting of minors.
• Enforcement: since March 2026 VID can order the blocking of domains and IP addresses of unlicensed operators.

Sources (checked 20 September 2026): Gambling and Lotteries Law (English translation) · State Revenue Service: lottery and gambling tax · Ministry of Finance: policy on lotteries and gambling (2026 blocking regulation)

A Latvian operator is a capital company, in practice a SIA (private limited company) or AS, registered with the Register of Enterprises, with €1,400,000 of paid-up share capital whose origin is documented in the licence application. The 49 per cent cap on non-EU/EEA/OECD ownership shapes the shareholder structure for operators from other regions.

• Corporate income tax: 20 per cent charged only when profits are distributed (the base is divided by 0.8, so the effective rate on a net dividend is 25 per cent). Retained and reinvested profits are not taxed. From 2026 companies owned only by individuals can opt for an alternative 15 per cent rate with 6 per cent withholding on dividends.
• Bank account: settlements with players must run through an account at a credit institution registered in Latvia.
• Studio companies: a live-dealer studio needs only the gambling services provider licence (€400,000 or €120,000 a year), not the €1.4 million operator capital.

Sources (checked 20 September 2026): State Revenue Service: corporate income tax · Ministry of Finance: corporate income tax · Gambling and Lotteries Law, section 8 (capital and ownership)

Latvia licenses live casino studios separately from operators. Under Chapter X¹ of the Gambling and Lotteries Law, a merchant that creates, maintains, gives access to or broadcasts gambling content from Latvia for operators licensed outside Latvia is a gambling services provider and needs a gambling services provider licence from the State Revenue Service.

• Fee: €400,000 for issue and for each annual re-registration where more than 25 gambling units (card, dice and roulette tables, lottery drawing machines) are used during the year, €120,000 where 25 or fewer are used. A provider that exceeds 25 units mid-year pays the €280,000 difference within 10 working days.
• Process: decision within 30 days of the application, which includes the company details, a development plan for the coming year (activities, staff, game types, number of units) and the studio address. The licence is indefinite but re-registered every year.
• Tax: none on the provider. Latvian gambling tax is charged on operators for the games they offer, so a studio streaming to foreign-licensed operators pays the licence fee and normal corporate taxes only.

The public register of licensed providers lists Evolution, Amber Studios and other Riga-based studios. This regime is a large part of why Riga became a live-dealer production hub.

• 1 January 2026 — Gambling tax rates rose: online gambling from 12 to 15 per cent of revenue, betting from 15 to 18 per cent, bingo from 10 to 12 per cent, tables from €33,696 to €40,440 and machine seats from €6,204 to €7,440 a year.
• 1 April 2026 — The State Revenue Service (VID) took over licensing, supervision and the self-exclusion register from the Lotteries and Gambling Supervisory Inspection (IAUI).