Austrian lawyers Dr Christian Rapani and Felix Hohenthanner shared their review of the latest draft of Austria’s Gambling Act reform with Global Gaming Insider. Austria has formally submitted the draft to the European Commission for review before it can be adopted.
Dr Christian Rapani and Felix Hohenthanner have now reviewed this notified text against the ministerial draft published for consultation, noting that it contains several changes. They further emphasise that the latest text is stable enough to plan against, but not final.
The revised timeline brings several enforcement measures forward to the end of December 2026, rather than September 2027. These include a self-exclusion register, cross-operator deposit limits and safe-server requirements. Authorities will also gain powers to issue public warning notices, including blackilsts and whitelists, conduct covert test plays and issue blocking orders.
Licences may be issued from 1 January 2027, with legal effect from 1 October 2027. Rapani and Hohenthanner note that the award procedure could be held and concluded during the first three quarters of 2027. Still, they emphasise that they don’t yet know the exact procedure plan.
Under the most recent draft, foreign operators could apply for an Austrian licence through a local branch rather than setting up a separate Austrian company, provided they meet strict licensing and supervision requirements.
Several key elements of the proposed framework remain unchanged. These include the cooling-off and 18- and 24-month blocking periods, the entry requirements, deposit, stake and win limits, as well as the 90-minute cooling-off period for virtual slot machines.
The safe-server and advertising requirements also remain in place, along with the €10m ($11.5m) minimum share capital, the applicable fees, five- and 10-year licence terms, and the 45% concession levy on gross gaming revenue.
Entry conditions also remain the same, with all tax due to be paid and judgments obtained by players before Austrian civil courts must be satisfied. Newly issued judgments must be satisfied within the applicable period up to the grant of the licence.
These conditions apply group-wide, with affiliated entities up to and including the beneficial owner treated as equivalent.
Sports betting would likely continue to be classified as a game of skill rather than gambling, meaning it would remain outside a unified federal framework and continue to be regulated at the state level
