The Seimas of Lithuania increased taxes on gambling operators by 2 percentage points after 72 lawmaker on Tuesday voted in favor of the amendments to the Law on Lottery and Gambling Tax and nine abstained.
From 2025, the tax base for slot machines, table games, bingo, betting and remote gambling will be subject to a gross income tax rate of 22 percent, up from the existing 20 percent.
Finance Minister Gintare Skaiste, who initiated the higher changes, says it will not have a significant impact on the business.
“In principle, it should not have a significant impact on the competitiveness of this sector”, she said before the vote in the Seimas.
The higher tax rate on lotteries and gambling would generate around 4.4 million euros more revenue for the state budget. The extra money will be invested in educating the public about the problem gambling’s potential harm, and some of it will be given to media outlets to compensate for the loss of revenue due to the ban on gambling advertising.
For his part, Liutauras Ulevicius, president of the National Association of Gambling and Gaming Business, said earlier that eight companies would be affected by the higher tariff and would have to decide whether to continue their operations.
According to the data from Lithuania’s Gaming Control Authority, 12 companies organize gambling in Lithuania.
In 2023, gross gambling revenues amounted to 222.2 million euros, up by 13.5 percent from 2022, and gambling operators’ profits rose to 59 million euros.
Source: BNS
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