New draft: Cooling-off rules and tax settlements to raise barriers to Austria market

Esteemed legal experts Dr. Christian Rapani and Felix Hohenthanner have reviewed the current draft amendment to the Austrian Gambling Act that would end the online casino monopoly currently held by state-owned Win2Day. The lawyers shared their analysis with Global Gaming Insider.

Their commentary focuses on operators that have previously offered online gambling services to Austrian players under an EU or EEA licence.

According to their assessment, the draft clarifies that prior activity involving the offering of prohibited games of chance to Austrian players, based on an EU or EEA gambling authorisation, does not, in itself, prevent the granting of a licence, provided that three conditions are met.

These conditions relate to tax compliance, the settlement of relevant civil judgments and adherence to a defined cooling-off and blocking period before a licence can be granted.

The draft sets tax and legal settlement rules

Dr. Rapani and  Hohenthanner explain that all due and not yet time-barred gaming tax must be paid on time. This requirement is also considered satisfied if the applicant, prior to expressing interest, has fully disclosed and settled all outstanding amounts through a voluntary self-disclosure process, submitting all records of stakes, payouts and bonuses in a format that allows electronic verification.

The self-disclosure process must be completed before the expression of interest is submitted and not afterwards.

They also note that all final court judgments previously issued by Austrian civil courts in favour of players against the applicant must be fully satisfied. This mainly concerns player reimbursement claims. In addition, any new judgments of this nature must be complied with within the relevant enforcement period before a licence is granted.

Cooling-off rules to determine eligibility timelines for operators seeking licence

The experts highlight that the draft introduces a structured timeline governing when operators must stop offering prohibited gambling services to Austrian players.

Operators who cease activity by 31 December 2026 would not be subject to a blocking period, with the period from 1 January 2027 until licensing treated as a cooling-off phase.

However, operators that stop after 31 December 2026 would face an 18-month exclusion period from the date of cessation. Those ceasing operations after 31 December 2029 could face a 24-month exclusion from licensing eligibility.

Rapani and Hohenthanner note that there is no finality as of yet. Indeed, the interaction between the cooling-off period and blocking periods may still change in the wording of the final legislation.

€70,000 application fee and window-based licensing process expected

They further point out that the draft sets out the basic framework for the application process. The application fee is €70,000. The licence will be issued for five years on the first grant and for ten years upon renewal. Applications are expected to be submitted within a defined application window rather than on a rolling basis.

Based on preliminary interpretation, this may indicate that licences will not be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. Instead, all applications submitted within the same window could be assessed together with licences granted from a common cut-off date.

However, experts stress that this is a current draft and the exact design of the procedure, including the timing and duration of the application window, has not yet been confirmed and is expected to be set out in further implementing regulations.

They add that the draft also includes requirements directly relevant to operators and B2B providers preparing to enter the Austrian market. These include obligations to implement a secure server system, rules governing permitted advertising, a €10m capital requirement and other licensing conditions.