Iceland: gambling regulation and licensing
Republic of Iceland
- Online casinoProhibited
- Online sports bettingProhibited
- iLotteryMonopoly
- Regulator
- Ministry of Justice
- Headline tax
- Not yet verified
- Licence required
- Yes
- Last verified
- 30 Aug 2026
Summary
Iceland has no online gambling licensing regime, and that is a deliberate structural choice rather than a gap. The Lotteries Act No. 38/2005 lets a district commissioner license lotteries, but only to a society, association or institution established in the European Economic Area, and only to raise money for public benefit in Iceland. Running a lottery for any other purpose cannot be licensed at all, and no applicant may hold more than three licences in a calendar year. Anything that amounts to gambling for money or money equivalents is treated separately and more strictly. Article 2 of the Act provides that it may not be operated except under a specific statutory authorisation, which in practice means a dedicated Act of Parliament naming the operator and setting its terms, as the University of Iceland Lottery has under Act No. 13/1973. There is therefore no application any commercial operator, domestic or foreign, can make. The question of whether to license online gambling is a question for the Althingi rather than for a regulator. The practical consequence for the industry is that Icelandic players are served by offshore sites, and the state has no licensing lever to bring them onshore short of new primary legislation. The Ministry of Justice administers the Act and supervises money lotteries; the district commissioner licenses and supervises everything else. Neither is a gambling regulator in the sense the rest of Europe would recognise, and Iceland publishes nothing comparable to the market data a licensing authority generates.
Common pitfalls
Iceland is often listed as an "unregulated" or "grey" market, which reads as an absence of rules. It is the opposite: the rule is an express statutory bar on money gambling other than by dedicated Act of Parliament, so there is no licence to apply for. It is also frequently described as having a gambling regulator. It does not. Licensing and supervision sit with a district commissioner, with the Ministry of Justice supervising money lotteries.
Key facts
- Regulator
- Ministry of Justice
- Regulator type
- Government ministry
- Headline tax
- Not yet verified
- Licence required
- Yes
- Minimum age
- 18+
- Tax base
- Not yet verified
- Capital
- Reykjavík
- Currency
- ISK
- Official languages
- Icelandic
Legal framework
Primary statutes
Lög um happdrætti nr. 38/2005
- Year
- 2005
- In force
- Yes
- Summary
- Applies to any lottery with public participation, with or without a stake, where the prize is determined wholly or partly by chance or by the outcome of a competition or event, and also to lotteries run commercially even where not open to the public. Operating a lottery without a district commissioner licence is prohibited unless another provision of the Act says otherwise.
Act on the University of Iceland Lottery No. 13/1973
Lög um Happdrætti Háskóla Íslands nr. 13/1973
- Year
- 1973
- In force
- Yes
- Summary
- One of the specific statutory authorisations contemplated by Article 2 of the Lotteries Act, under which a named operator may run gambling for money.
Key amendments
- 1 Jan 2007Amended by Act No. 143/2006.
- 19 Jun 2010Amended by Act No. 61/2010.
- 1 Jan 2011Amended by Act No. 162/2010.
- 30 Sept 2011Amended by Act No. 126/2011.
Licensing
- Licence required
- Yes
- Application window
- Not yet verified
- Local establishment required
- Not yet verified
- Local server required
- Not yet verified
- Barriers to entry
- Structural rather than procedural. A lottery licence may be granted only to a society, association or institution established in the European Economic Area, and only for the purpose of raising funds for public benefit in Iceland. It may not be granted to a party intending to run a lottery for any other purpose, and the same party may not be licensed more than three times in a calendar year. Anything amounting to gambling for money needs its own Act of Parliament, so there is no commercial application route at all.
Compliance
- Minimum age
- 18+
- National self-exclusion
- Not yet verified
- KYC requirements
- Not yet verified
- Stake limits
- Not yet verified
- Reporting obligations
- A licensee must ensure the Act and its regulations are complied with and must file reports or accounts on its operations as the minister determines. Where the supervisor incurs special cost in engaging experts to review a licensee’s reports, software or equipment, that cost may be recovered from the licensee.
- Game content restrictions
- A lottery licence is normally conditional on there being no more than one draw, with a sales period of at most three months from the date stated in the licence. Regulations set the minimum ratio of prize value to total ticket sales, which may not fall below 16.67%.
Advertising
- Advertising permitted
- No
- Penalties for breach
- There is no gambling advertising regulator. Supervision of the permitted lotteries sits with a district commissioner, with the Ministry of Justice overseeing money lotteries.
Restrictions
- Iceland has no gambling licensing regime for commercial operators, so there is no licensed product to advertise.
- Lotteries may be licensed only to a society, association or institution established in the European Economic Area, and only to raise money for public benefit in Iceland.
- Gambling for money that falls outside the statutory permissions cannot be licensed at all, which means it also cannot lawfully be promoted.
- Online casino and online sports betting are prohibited, so promotion of offshore operators has no lawful basis.
Enforcement
- ISP blocking
- Not yet verified
- DNS blocking
- Not yet verified
- Payment blocking
- Not yet verified
- App store takedowns
- Not yet verified
- Operator liability
- Operating a lottery without a licence is prohibited by the Lotteries Act. Supervision sits with the district commissioner, except for money lotteries under Article 2(2), which the ministry supervises. No current enforcement figures could be traced to a source we fetched, so none are recorded.
Timeline
1 Jul 2005
The Lotteries Act No. 38/2005 enters into force.
Sources
- Tier 1Accessed 27 Aug 2026Published 1 Jul 2005
- Tier 1Accessed 27 Aug 2026
- Dómsmálaráðuneytið (Ministry of Justice)
Stjórnarráð Íslands
Tier 1Accessed 27 Aug 2026