Austrian iGaming market, ruled by foreigners

International operators continue to reveal Austria’s need to properly regulate the online gaming market as it continues to grow.

Austria.- The Austrian gaming market grew four per cent year-on-year and hit the €1.675 billion mark in 2017. The figures would’ve been celebrated over if it wasn’t for the lack of proper iGaming regulation in the country as internationally licensed operators took away 65 per cent of the segment’s revenue.

According to Andreas Kreutzer, of the Kreutzer Fischer & Partner consultancy, (interviewed by local media) online gambling took the smallest cut of the total share at €283 million but grew 11 per cent anyway, more than any other. However, international sites were responsible for 85 per cent of said growth, over the Win2Day brand, the only locally approved online operator.

Not only does the government need to update laws to get proper taxation out of the segment but it also owns a 30 per cent stake in Casino Austria Group (parent company of Win2Day), which is losing ground to foreign companies.

Nonetheless, the Ministry of the Interior announced plans to change legislation in order to get ISPs to block unauthorised online operators. The Ministry of Finance later introduced a draft with amendments to the Gambling Act but it was withdrawn over alleged “technical oversight” issues. So far, no further proposals have been submitted nor announced.