Simon’s Guide to Gambling and Online Casinos in Austria
Simon’s Guide to Gambling, Online Gambling, Casinos and Online Casinos in Austria
Gambling, including online gambling is legal in Austria, and is heavily regulated by the government. Gambling activity falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance, and is regulated under the Law on Games of Chance (Glücksspielgesetz).*
An interesting aspect of the law on gambling is that it differentiates between two types of gambling:
- gambling in general,
- and “small gambling” (kleines Glücksspiel).
While the former may take place only in licensed casinos, small gambling, with a maximum wager of €0.50 per hand may be operated without license and can take place anywhere.
Small gambling, along with certain betting activities and games of skill falls under the jurisdiction of individual states, which means that regulations may vary even within Austria. In Wien, for example, even small gambling is illegal. Regulations also determine a maximum amount of gambling facilities in correlation with the population: the number of licenses cannot exceed one for every 1200 residents (one per 600 residents in Vienna).
The main reasons for the strict gambling laws are manifold: the government seeks to prevent organised crime and money laundering, protect customers, especially those under the legal age, and maintain market stability.
*Source: Glücksspielgesetz (Jusline, German)
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Summary:
- Casino gambling in Austria
- Bingo in Austria
- Poker in Austria
- Sports betting in Austria
- Lottery in Austria
- Bitcoin gambling in Austria
Casino gambling in Austria
Online casino gambling in Austria: legal, requires license
Casino gambling is legal in Austria and is strictly regulated. At the moment the only company legally allowed to operate casinos is Casinos Austria, which owns all of Austria’s twelve casinos as well as several others abroad. The first modern casino in the country was also founded by Casino Austria, in 1934.*
Austria’s brick and mortar casinos offer several games including blackjack, roulette, poker and slot machines. These casinos are rather posh establishments, with a strict dress code. This serves both to emphasise the elegance of the casinos and to distinguish them from small gambling venues.
Small casino gambling – with wagers not exceeding 50 eurocents may be legally operated without a license. As there is no official registration of such facilities, the exact number of such gambling venues is unknown. Still, this means that anyone looking for small-stake games or slot machines in Austria can easily find a place to participate in casino gambling (except in Wien, where small gambling is illegal).
Online casino gambling in Austria is not restricted by the monopoly that applies to land-based casinos. Online casino gambling operators must acquire a licence prior to offering their services online, which can be a complex, lengthy and expensive process. Also, the online gambling license Austrian gambling companies can acquire will only let them accept Austrian residents. Currently the only license holder is the online gambling website Win2Day.at.
Another option for Austrian players are foreign online casino gambling sites, most of which accept players from Austria and are registered in countries, which grant them international online gambling licenses. Previously such offshore gambling websites were not allowed to advertise in Austria, but this law has since been retracted.
The following online casinos accept players from Austria:
BGO casino – accepting players from Austria
32 Red casino – accepting players from Austria
Betsson online casino – accepting players from Austria
Betsafe online casino – accepting players from Austria
Casino Euro – accepting players from Austria
Black lotus casino – accepting players from Austria
Lotus Asia casino – accepting players from Austria
GT Bets accepts players from Austria – accepting Bitcoins as well
*Source: History (Casino Baden)
Bingo in Austria
Online Bingo in Austria: legal, requires licence
Bingo is legal in Austria, but not as widespread as other forms of gambling are. The 12 large casinos in Austria do not offer bingo at all. Small stakes live bingo games might still be available though, as it falls under the category of small gambling, and can be operated without license.
The Austria-based online gambling supersite, Win2day (operated by the Österreichische Lotterien Gesellschaft and Casinos Austria) offers various bingo games online both with a classic and a guaranteed prize system. Austrian players may also access foreign online bingo platforms, some of which are also available in German.
The following online bingo sites accept players from Austria:
BGO bingo – accepting players from Austria
Betsson Bingo – accepting registrations from Austria
32 Red Bingo – accepting registrations from Austria
Poker in Austria
Online Poker in Austria: licensed
Poker is legal in Austria, and it is perhaps the most popular form of gambling in Austria. Apart from small stakes games (limits of €0.50 or less per hand), poker games are only available in the 12 casinos operated by Casino Austria.
The casinos offer cash games and tournaments as well, including the Casinos Austria Poker Tour. The CAPT is a live poker tour with high stakes events in casinos of Casinos Austria, with the participation of poker pros from several countries.
Online poker is likely the best option for average players who want to avoid both the local micro-stakes games and the high stakes poker in posh Austrian casinos. In 2008 the online poker and gambling platform, Win2day was founded, which is jointly owned by Casinos Austria and Austrian Lottery Company. Players can, and often do also choose international sites for playing online poker (bigger player pool, better promotions, more online tournaments), several of which are available in German.
The following poker websites accept players from Austria:
Betsson online Poker – accepting players from Austria
Betsafe online Poker – accepting players from Austria
32 Red online Poker – accepting players from Austria
Sports betting in Austria
Online sports betting in Austria: legal, requires license
Sports betting is legal and quite popular in Austria. The favorite type of sports wagering in the country is predicting the outcome of football matches, due to the huge popularity of football in Europe. Betting shops are available throughout the country, with the largest sports betting company being Admiral Sportwetten, where horse race wagering is also offered.
Permission to operate mobile and online sports betting platforms is included in the sports betting licences issued by the government. Admiral Sportwetten, for example, has an extensive online sportsbook, where players can bet on ball games, Formula 1 and several other sports. Austrian players can also access foreign sports betting websites.
The following online bookmakers accept players from Austria:
Betsson online sportsbook – accepting registrations from Austria
Betsafe online bookmaker – accepting registrations from Austria
32 Red sport online sportsbook – accepting players from Austria
GT Bets online bookmaker – accepts registrations from the Austria, also accepts Bitcoin
Lottery in Austria
Online lottery in Austria: legal, requires license, currently state monopoly
Lottery is a state monopoly in Austria, with the 15 year operating licence currently owned by Österreichische Lotterien. The company offers a plethora of games including Toto, Joker and 6/49.
The state lottery is also available online, on the Win2day lottery and gambling platform Euromillions can be played on the website as well).
However, not all of the company’s lottery and lottery type games are available online as of yet: players can only participate in 6/45, EuroMillions and ToiToiToi. These games are accessible through several other lottery platforms as well, even for players outside of Austria. Conversely, Austrian players can also participate in foreign lottos.
The following online lottery websites let players from Austria purchase lottery tickets online:
Coming soon.
Bitcoin gambling in Austria
Bitcoin gambling in Austria: unregulated
Bitcoin gambling in Austria is not specifically regulated, and Austrian players may access Bitcoin casinos from all around the world.
Bitcoin is well-known in Austria, which makes it quite simple for Austrian players to participate in Bitcoin gambling online. The country even has a Bitcoin-Automat, a sort of ATM designed to exchange Bitcoin and Euro.
The following Bitcoin casinos accept players from Austria:
GT Bets accepts players from Austria, and also accepts Bitcoin
If you have questions or any feedback don’t hesitate to drop a comment below. Please let me know in the comments section if you think we might have gotten something wrong or if you have additional information, clarification about the legal status of online gambling in this country.
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This page is part of Simon’s List – Legal Status of Online Gambling – a definitive guide to the legal status of all forms of online gambling activities in every country around the world.
Last updated: 2016-03-27
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