Estonian Tax and Customs Board

The Estonian Tax and Customs Board (ETCB), an institution under the Ministry of Finance, issues activity licences and operating permits for gambling and has access to operators' gambling data. A company first obtains an activity licence for a type of game, then an operating permit for each type and gaming location, remote included; permits are entered in the Register of Economic Activities (MTR), and the ETCB lists licensees by subtype. An activity licence from another EEA country does not carry over to Estonia, and vice versa.

Licences are issued separately for games of chance (casino games, poker and tournaments), toto and games of skill, and a separate permit covers an additional game of chance paying a prize from machine or table bets. One permit application can cover several websites, a remote game of skill prize is capped at €50, and online age thresholds are 21 for games of chance and skill, 18 for toto, 16 for lottery. A land-based permit, for an address or a ship, runs for the term of the local government's consent.

The state fee is paid before filing: €47,940 for a games of chance activity licence and €3,200 for each operating permit. An activity licence is decided within four months of receiving all documents (at most six after filing), an operating permit within two (at most four); the licence is indefinite, remote permits run for the term applied for, up to five years, toto up to 20 years. Gambling tax in 2026 is 5.5% of bets less prizes for remote games of skill and toto and 5.5% of tournament and ring game fees; in 2025 remote games of chance and skill, toto, tournaments and ring games paid 6%. Returns and payment are monthly, by the 15th of the following month.

The applicant is a company from Estonia or the EU whose only activity is gambling; a non-resident registers with the ETCB as a taxpayer before applying. Shareholders with 10% or more, beneficial owners and board members with a significant shareholding need no criminal record, no fault in an insolvency and no board seat in a company whose licence was revoked on certain grounds; changes in owners, board or game rules are notified to the ETCB. The application lists websites with IP ranges, payment accounts and banks, the platform and its manufacturer, the games and the server address, and for games of chance the EAKS system is linked to the ETCB's EHMA over X-tee and running before the permit decision. Players are identified before the first bet and checked against the HAMPI restrictions list; bets come only from the player's own account and winnings return to it; with crypto or payment providers the operator proves the payment came from that account. Before the first game the player is offered a weekly or monthly loss limit that bets cannot exceed, cut at once and raised only on confirmation at least 48 hours later; playing time stays on screen, and the operator publishes its name, address, decision numbers, rules, age thresholds, player costs and an addiction warning with help contacts. An ISO/IEC 17025 accredited expert certifies the RNG and an average payout above 80% of bets; the system logs entries and changes, the server keeps player and session data for at least five years, open to supervisors, and a server abroad may need proof that the host country's supervisors can cooperate with the ETCB. The annual report is due within 6 months of the financial year end (non-residents: in Estonian, to the ETCB), and unless equity is at least half of assets, at least one seventh of net profit goes to a reserve of at least one third of share capital.