Lithuania’s legislature passes gambling bill

The legislature from Lithuania has passed a bill that establishes that gambling ad warnings are now mandatory.

Lithuania.- Lithuania is moving towards a new gambling bill, after the Seimas, the local legislature, passed a bill this week establishing that all gambling advertisements must include a warning about gambling-related harms. The bill will come into force on July 1.

This new amendment, part of Article 10 of the local gambling laws in Lithuania, was proposed by Homeland Union Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party leader Mykolas Majauskas. It gained general consensus and no objections at its first reading.

Majauskas said that gambling is not evil, but the sector needs to be able to control the risks involved with it as it develops and minimise negative consequences. He said that there is no need to hurdle the industry, but controls are necessary.

He also said that the local gambling authority, Lošimų Priežiūros Tarnyba, willbe in charge of setting which content has to be displayed in the warning. It will also set rules and notes about changes and a sensible approach to how they must be applied.

“Other European Union countries have similar problems,” he said and explained that education must come first, then help those who have problems and lastly help those who have loved ones with gambling problems. “One of the basic tools for solving problems is public education, education through social advertising.”