Latvia merges gambling regulator into State Revenue Service

Latvia has merged the Gambling and Lottery Supervision Inspection (IAUI) into the State Revenue Service (VID) following legislative changes designed to improve administrative efficiency and strengthen industry oversight. This was announced earlier

Supervision and control functions are now carried out by two units within the VID Non-Financial Sector Supervision Department. The Gambling and Lottery Supervision Unit will handle licensing, compliance and legal matters. Meanwhile, the Gambling and Lottery Control Unit will conduct on-site, remote, technical and financial inspections.

Previously, the sector was overseen by two institutions under the Ministry of Finance. The IAUI was tasked with ensuring compliance with gambling regulations and managing licensing, while the VID focused on administering and enforcing tax regulations for gambling operators.

Although this system was effective, it created an additional workload for both parties, as each had to manage its own control and administrative processes. This required significant resources, coordination and information sharing to ensure comprehensive sector oversight.

In recent years, Latvia’s gambling sector has undergone notable change. Traditional land-based gambling has declined while online gambling has grown rapidly.

This shift has also changed the demands placed on regulators. Online gaming is more technologically complex and requires high-level cybersecurity risk management, data exchange controls and the ability to handle large volumes of digital information. In the previous model, where the IAUI operated as an independent institution, these challenges limited the effectiveness of supervision.

At the start of this year, Latvia increased gambling taxes. The general gambling tax rate rose from 15% to 18%. Taxes on interactive gambling revenue were raised from 12% to 15%, while telephone-based gambling taxes also increased from 15% to 18%.

In a similar move, Belgium is set to move gambling oversight to the Ministry of Economy. From 1 June, the Belgian Gambling Commission (KSC) will come under the authority of the Federal Public Service (FPS) Economy and be supervised by the Minister of Economy following approval by the Chamber of Representatives. The change shifts oversight from the FPS Justice and reflects the view that gambling is now a significant economic sector.