Austria changes gambling laws

After two years of heated political discussions about a new gambling law in Austria, the Austrian legislature approved a new gambling law. The law was approved despite strong opposition from lawmakers who say the law inadequately protects players and fails to regulate online gambling casino.

The Green Party, the only party that voted against the legislation, said the new casino gambling law only protects interests of gambling operators, and do not protect players enough. The legislation was also criticized by the Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ) for failure to regulate online casino gambling. It was expected that the legislation would open the casino gambling market for gambling machines in the country, instead of just the current four provinces. But that would be accompanied by strict rules for the number of licenses and other restrictions on where and how many machines are exploited. The result will be a disaster for independent casino operators and a free for all for big business.

Under the rules of the new law, Austria will increase the number of casino licenses from 12 to 15, one of the casinos is to become a poker casino. The market gets limited bets and prices, up to a maximum bet of € 10 and a maximum price of € 10,000. But the number of arcades will depend on population density, there will be one arcade license for every 1200 citizens, in Vienna 1 for every 600 citizens. There must be a minimum distance between arcades and casinos of 15 km, in the case of Vienna, 2 km. Slots also can not have a auto start button, and every machine must be connected to the Ministry of Finance.

Despite the new gambling legislation, expectations are that the casino industry will weaken because of the restrictions on the population and proximity to casinos.

Click the banner and sign up for Betway to receive £ 1,000 Welcome Bonus.

Visit our online casino forum to discuss this news.