EGBA blasts Austria’s “outdated gambling monopoly framework”
The industry lobby group argues that the monopoly for online gambling has led to a thriving black market.
Belgium.- The industry lobby group the European Betting and Gaming Association (EGBA) has repeated its call for Austria to open its online gambling market to regulated competition. In a letter to Chancellor Karl Nehammer and National Council chairman Andreas Babler and chairwoman Beate Meinl-Reisinger (NEOS), it said the monopoly system was losing the country tax revenue and harming players.
The EGBA said that with competitive online gambling in Finland now on the horizon for 2026, Austria and Poland had become anomalies in the European Union due to their continuation of monopoly models for online gambling. It says that in Austria, this has led to a “thriving black market where thousands of Austrian players gamble on unregulated websites”.
The group said: “The country’s outdated gambling monopoly framework not only falls behind contemporary European standards but actively undermines consumer protection, regulatory oversight, and tax generation.”
It said a competitive regulated market would improve player protection by reducing the number of players using unregulated sites and boosting the use of safer gambling tools while also giving authorities more control. It also estimated a regulated licensing system could generate €1bn in tax revenue by 2030.
Maarten Haijer, secretary general of EGBA, said: “The evidence from across Europe is clear and compelling: multi-licensing works. It brings gambling activity into the regulated market, protects consumers, and generates significant tax revenue.
“With government negotiations underway, Austria has a golden opportunity to modernise its approach to online casino regulation and benefit from the proven regulatory approaches elsewhere. The time to act is now.”
The call echoes the view of the Austrian Association for Betting and Gambling (OVWG), which has also called for reforms on gambling in Austria.
