Estonian regulator flags widespread non-compliance in gambling ad sweep
2026-07-28
Source: Focus Gaming News
Estonia's consumer protection authority found 45% of 230 gambling ads inspected in 2025 violated the Advertising Act, prompting the government to signal possible regulatory reforms while still in early stages and maintaining a parallel tax reduction plan to attract international iGaming operators.
Estonia’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications has voiced growing unease over the proliferation of gambling advertisements, signaling that regulatory reforms are under consideration while emphasising the need to balance commercial freedoms with consumer protection.
Public broadcaster ERR reported that the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (TTJA) identified significant compliance shortcomings during a targeted supervision project in 2025. The TTJA reviewed a total of 230 gambling advertisements, finding 104 of them — 45 per cent — to be in breach of the Advertising Act, according to TTJA representative Diana Lints.
Lints explained that the violations covered a wide spectrum, including misleading advertisements, warning texts that did not meet statutory requirements, and promotions for games of chance that Estonian law bans entirely.
The current legal framework, outlined by ministry consumer protection adviser Mari-Liis Aas, largely prohibits advertising for games of chance such as poker, roulette and slot machines, except within licensed gambling venues. Advertising for lotteries and sports betting is permitted more broadly, though subject to specific restrictions.
Aas stressed that the reform process remains at a very early stage, making it impossible to predict the final scope of changes to gambling advertising regulation.
Estonia has meanwhile pursued efforts to attract international iGaming operators. A scheduled phased reduction of the online gambling tax is set to lower the rate to as low as 4 per cent by 2029, with a half-percentage-point cut applied annually.