Simon’s Guide to Gambling and Online Gambling in Lithuania
Guide to Gambling in Lithuania
Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in northern Europe. One of the 3 Baltic states, it is located at the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea. It shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and Kaliningrad Oblast to the south-west. Lithuania has an estimated population of 3 million. The country’s capital and largest city is Vilnius with a population of almost 550,000 residents. Lithuania’s official language is Lithuanian. A little more than 77% of the population is Roman Catholic.
Lithuania is amongst the fastest growing economies in the EU and ranks very high in the Human Development Index (HDI). In 2015, the country adopted the Euro as the official currency becoming the 19th member of the Eurozone.
Gambling is legal in Lithuania since the Gaming Regulation of 2001.* Online gambling, on the other hand, became illegal without a licence in 2016. What this means is that foreign websites targeting Lithuanians can be blocked if they don’t have the proper licences, a physical office in the country, or a partnership with a local land-based gambling operator. Local licence applications are controlled by the Gaming Control Authority (GCA). The new rules took effect on the 1st of January 2016.*
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*Online Gambling Regulation Problems in Lithuania and the European Union
*Lithuania Tightens Screws on Online Gambling Operators
Summary:
- Casino gambling in Lithuania
- Bingo in Lithuania
- Poker in Lithuania
- Sports betting in Lithuania
- Lottery in Lithuania
- Bitcoin gambling in Lithuania
Casino gambling in Lithuania
Online casino gambling in Lithuania: legal, requires licence
Land-based casino gambling is legal in Lithuania since 2001. There are numerous establishments throughout the country offering the most popular games like roulette, poker, blackjack and slots. Online gambling is legal too, however, a local gambling licence is still required.
The following online casinos accept players from Lithuania:
BGO casino – accepting players from Lithuania
32 Red casino – accepting players from Lithuania
Betsson online casino – accepting players from Lithuania
Betsafe online casino – accepting players from Lithuania
Casino Euro – accepting players from Lithuania
Black lotus casino – accepting players from Lithuania
Lotus Asia casino – accepting players from Lithuania
GT Bets accepts players from Lithuania- accepting Bitcoins as well
Bingo in Lithuania
Online bingo in Lithuania: legal, requires licence
Bingo is legal but not very popular in Lithuania. There aren’t any bingo halls in Lithuania currently. Online bingo is illegal, as long as the provider has a local gambling licence.
The following bingo websites accept players from Lithuania:
BGO bingo – accepting players from Lithuania
Betsson Bingo – accepting registrations from Lithuania
32 Red Bingo – accepting registrations from Lithuania
Poker in Lithuania
Online poker in Lithuania: legal, requires licence
Poker is quite possibly the most popular card game of all time. You can find poker tables in most of the land-based casinos in Lithuania. A recently issued law prohibits online gambling providers from operating without a local licence. This applies to poker websites as well.
The following online poker sites accept players from Lithuania:
Betsson online Poker – accepting players from Lithuania
Betsafe online Poker – accepting players from Lithuania
32 Red online Poker – accepting players from Lithuania
Sports betting in Lithuania
Online sports betting in Lithuania: legal, requires licence
Lithuania’s national sport is basketball. The Lithuania men’s basketball team had significant success in basketball tournaments as they won the EuroBasket in 3 occasions and earned 8 other medals in EuroBasket, World Championships, and the Olympic Games. Lithuania produced a number of NBA players too. Sports betting, betting on basketball is quite popular in the country. Betting on sports is legal in betting shops and online provided the company has a local gambling licence.
The following online sportsbooks accept registrations from Lithuania:
Betsson online sportsbook – accepting registrations from Lithuania
Betsafe online bookmaker – accepting registrations from Lithuania
32 Red sport online sportsbook – accepting players from Lithuania
GT Bets online bookmaker – accepts registrations from the Lithuania, also accepts Bitcoin
Lottery in Lithuania
Online lottery in Lithuania: legal, requires licence
In accordance with the 2003 Law on Lotteries*, lotteries are not a state monopoly in Lithuania. Lithuania’s biggest lottery is issued by Olifeja Inc. The company offers many kinds of lotteries and lottery type games like Teletoto, Keno and scratchcards to name a few. Even tough purchasing lottery tickets is legal in Lithuania, the company does not have an online gaming presence yet. Foreign lotteries and lottery agents are also available to Lithuanian players.
The following websites let people from Lithuania purchase lottery tickets online:
Coming soon!
*Swiss Institute of Comparative Law – 2003 Law on Lotteries
Bitcoin gambling in Lithuania
Bitcoin gambling in Lithuania: illegal domestic, foreign legal, speculative
The Bank of Lithuania issued a statement in 2014 that Bitcoin is not recognized as a legal tender in the country. As of now, there isn’t more information about Bitcoin gambling in Lithuania. No Bitcoin only casino has applied for a license in Lithuania since then. If Bitcoin is not recognized as a legal tender, then online gambling using Bitcoin is not considered gambling at all. If that’s true, even Bitcoin casinos without a license can be legally accessed by Lithuanians. But this is only speculation at this point, as soon as we hear more about this we will update the website.
/The casino below is not a Bitcoin only casino, it’s a casino, which happens to accept Bitcoin as well, if you are from Lithuania I would still suggest not making transactions using Bitcoin, just to be sure./
The following Bitcoin casinos accept players from Lithuania:
GT Bets accepts players from Lithuania, 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: 2016-04-29
Great article. I was intrigued by the fact that Bitcoin was not recognised as a legal tender in the country, and that would make it possible for pure Bitcoin casinos to target Lithuanians, since gambling using bitcoins would not technically fall under the gambling license laws. I would imagine a lot of Bitcoin casinos would take advantage of this loophole. It would also be very hard for any Government to track if Lithuanians gambled at Bitcoin casinos as these casinos don’t require you to provide any personal details upon registrations.
I’m looking forward to see how this develops.