Illegal gambling

1. What steps should be taken and where to apply in case of unfair behavior of a foreign online gambling company by non-payment of winnings?

Taking into account the fact that your request is related to a foreign online gambling company that does not have a license to organize gambling in Lithuania, the Gaming Control Authority does not have the ability to apply any enforcement measures and protect your interests in the matter of non-payment of winnings.

We suggest you contact the institution that issued the license to the foreign online gambling company (contacts are usually indicated at the bottom of the website, in the contact section).

Updated: 19-10-2021

2. Why am I not allowed to connect to foreign betting sites?

We inform you that this problem occurs because the websites you are trying to connect to belong to companies that do not have a license and permission to organize remote gambling in Lithuania issued by the Gaming Control Authority. Pursuant to Point 4 of Paragraph 1 of Article  20⁷ of the Gaming Law of the Republic of Lithuania, the Gaming Control Authority is authorized to give mandatory orders to the network service provider to remove access to information that is used to conduct illegal gambling. For this reason, illegal websites are blocked.

Updated: 19-10-2021

3. Why are blocked some websites that offer remote gambling?

Part 23 of Article 2 of the Gaming Law of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter referred to as Gaming Law) states that "Illegal gaming operator means a person who operates games without a license to operate games and a relevant gaming activity permit or a person in possession of a gaming license who operates games without a relevant gaming activity permit”. Pursuant to Part 1 of Article 207 of the Gaming Law, the Gaming Control Authority, having conducted an investigation and established that an operator of illegal gambling activities in the Republic of Lithuania organizes remote gambling, has the right to give mandatory instructions to the network service provider to remove the possibility of accessing information that is used to conduct illegal gambling. Therefore, some websites are blocked because of illegal remote gambling operations.

The list of illegal gambling operators in the Republic of Lithuania is published in the "Illegal gambling operators" section of the website of the Gaming Control Authority under Illegal gambling | Gaming Control Authority under the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania (lrv.lt)  (the list is regularly updated).

Updated: 19-10-2021