Latvia's Bill to Raise the Gambling Age to 21 Heads for a First Reading Two Years After It Was Filed

The Saeima's budget committee has sent the government's gambling bill, which would raise the minimum age to 21, shut venues from 6am to 9am and cap online play at 21 hours a day, to a first reading. No date is set, the outgoing parliament's mandate ends on 3 November, and the committee's chair concedes the text is out of date.

• The Saeima's Budget and Finance (Taxation) Committee backed bill No. 705/Lp14, amendments to the Gambling and Lotteries Law, on 21 October and asked for a first reading at the next sitting
• A first reading is a vote in principle, not a law; no date was set by 22 October, and the 15th Saeima, which takes over on 3 November, must decide whether to carry the bill forward
• The bill would raise the gambling age from 18 to 21, close gambling venues between 6am and 9am, cap online play at 21 hours in any 24, require a personalised smartcard to play in venues and lift the minimum machines per hall from 20 to 25
• The Cabinet filed it in September 2024, before the regulator it names was merged into the State Revenue Service, and industry groups want it rewritten
• Meanwhile the Constitutional Court upheld Daugavpils's 150-metre buffer around homes and schools on 16 October, two years after finding Riga's restrictions unjustified

A Two-Year-Old Bill Moves One Step, With the Rewrite Left to the Next Parliament

The committee considered the bill on 21 October and supported it, according to its written opinion to the Saeima Presidium, signed by committee chair Aiva Vīksna. The opinion asks for the bill to go on the agenda of the next regular sitting for its first reading. It was not on the 22 October agenda, and the Saeima's legislative database still lists it as awaiting first reading. A first reading approves a bill in principle; amendments and at least one further vote follow.

Timing is the constraint. Under the Constitution a newly elected Saeima first sits on the first Tuesday in November, when the previous mandate expires: this year, 3 November. Public broadcaster LSM reported that the committee advanced the bill while leaving its reworking to the next parliament, and that whether the 15th Saeima takes it over, and when changes could take effect, is unclear.

The bill is a government measure, drafted by the Finance Ministry, approved by the Cabinet on 13 August 2024 and submitted on 20 September 2024 under a letter from then Prime Minister Evika Siliņa, with a companion Advertising Law amendment (No. 706/Lp14) that is still with committees. It was referred to committees on 26 September 2024 and had not moved since.

What the Bill Would Change

The minimum age for gambling, including online, would rise from 18 to 21; lotteries stay at 18. Venues would close between 6am and 9am, except for tote and betting. Players could start a game on machines, tables, betting or tote only with a personalised smartcard or equivalent app recording their time, deposits and winnings, and operators would have to restrict play when monitoring shows rising addiction risk. CCTV would be kept for 30 days instead of seven, and the minimum machines per hall would rise from 20 to 25.

Online, the bill would ban offering play for more than 21 hours, continuous or cumulative, in any 24-hour period, requires real-time data feeds to a state supervision system, and lets self-excluded players extend their ban to EU states that sign data-sharing agreements. It sets no statutory deposit limit. On advertising, the Cabinet would set uniform rules for venue facades, windows and signage; the bill's provisions on betting brands in sport, like its free alcohol ban, have since been introduced separately, according to the Finance Ministry's Jana Salmiņa, quoted by LSM. The explanatory note, citing industry data, counts 56 sessions over 21 hours in 12 months among 151,635 active online players.

Industry wants a rewrite. The licensed operators' association told the committee the bill does nothing about the illegal market, which it puts at about €62 million against a licensed online market of about €170 million last year, and estimated that the 25-machine rule could close about 30 of 162 halls, cost 240 jobs and €4.46 million a year in tax, according to LSM. The Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry backs individual risk monitoring but opposes the machine minimum and the time cap.

The Bill Is Out of Date Before Its First Vote

The text still gives its duties to the Lotteries and Gambling Supervisory Inspection (IAUI), which a law adopted on 3 December 2025 folded into the State Revenue Service from 1 April 2026, and its commencement dates, 1 November 2024 for the age rise and 1 January 2025 for the machine minimum, have passed. The market has moved too: according to the Finance Ministry's note on the merger law, land-based revenue fell 42% between 2019 and 2024, to €145.5 million, while online revenue rose 181% to €153.9 million. Much of the bill is built around halls and smartcards, the shrinking half of the market. Vīksna conceded the text is dated but said that was no reason to start again from scratch, according to LSM. That means the vote due is on a framework, not on the rules operators will eventually face.

Channelisation Will Decide the Online Measures

The strongest industry argument is about online play, not halls. If, as the industry estimates, unlicensed sites already take roughly 27% of online gambling, a 21 age limit and a hard time cap apply only to the licensed side, where the bill's own data show the cap would touch a few dozen players. The smartcard and risk-monitoring duties are more substantive, and the Chamber of Commerce supports their direction. Latvia has been here before: in June 2022 the 13th Saeima passed an age rise to 21 at first reading and never adopted it, according to LSM. Comparable moves elsewhere, such as Trinidad and Tobago's Senate vote to raise its gambling age to 25, face the same test.

Courts Are Setting the Siting Rules Meanwhile

While the bill sat, municipalities pressed on. In April 2024 the Constitutional Court found Riga had not justified its broad venue ban, according to LSM; on 16 October 2026 it upheld Daugavpils's ban on halls within 150 metres of apartment blocks and schools, finding the distance justified, and a challenge to Riga's newer rules opens on 27 October. As with Romania's councils closing gaming halls, siting is being settled street by street, while across the Baltics policy is in motion, from Estonia's review of its online casino tax cut to Lithuania's block on Polymarket.

The committee has kept a two-year-old bill alive rather than let it lapse with the parliament that received it. Whether it becomes law, and in what form, is now a question for the 15th Saeima.