Latvian online casinos for Real Money

When it comes to online gambling, the Republic of Latvia adopts a similar policy to other Baltic and Northern European countries – at least in terms of licensing. When it comes to penalising players who break the rules – they are far tougher than their neighbouring nations.

The main piece of legislation covering gambling (in general) is the Law on Gambling and Lotteries, which comes from 1998. It established that it was legal to offer land-based gambling games assuming a business could obtain a gambling license from the Lotteries and Gambling Supervision Inspection company.

Online gambling has been legal in Latvia since 2006. However, it comes with strict terms and conditions that Latvians would do well to avoid breaking. For starters, only casinos that have obtained a license from the aforementioned licensing and regulatory body can offer their services to the population. Latvia goes out of its way to block access to all non-licensed betting sites that they come across.

Ordinarily, casino players simply use VPNs or IP masks to access blocked online casinos. However, this isn’t advised in Latvia. Internet service providers are obliged to hand over your personal details to the gambling authorities if you process financial transactions at offshore casinos through the use of a VPN. This can see penalties of up to €350 (per event) handed down. Similarly, penalties for tax avoidance (if you win) are also in store. Latvia takes one of the hardest lines of any EU country when it comes to punishing its own nationals for betting at offshore casinos.

Gambling in Latvia is regulated and run by the Lotteries and Gambling Supervision Inspection body. This regulatory body has the authority to issue gambling licenses to operators and businesses and checks games to ensure that Latvians have a fair chance of success. The body also authorises the Baltic nation’s ISPs (internet service providers) to block access to any gambling site that hasn’t obtained a license from them. As you can imagine, with a population as small as Latvia’s, there aren’t many takers for a license, so the blocks apply to most sites.

To date, apart from the state-owned Latvija Loto, there are less than ten operators that have seen it worthwhile obtaining a gambling license in Latvia. Latvija Loto has full jurisdiction over lottery, keno, and bingo gambling games, with the other operators covering sports betting, casino gambling and more.

Given the nature of potential punishments, players in Latvia are advised to sign up for only those casinos that are licensed in the EU country. However, despite the penalties, there are still Latvians who have no qualms about signing up at offshore sites that will cater to them. Many of these are cryptocurrency casinos.

Latvians love poker and sports betting, seemingly more so than most other forms of gambling. That doesn’t mean to say that you can’t find those other games at casinos, though. In fact, Latvian licensed betting sites do well to offer nationals and residents a broad selection of games to play. There is plenty up for grabs.

If you’ve played live dealer casino games from the likes of Evolution Gaming before, you will know that many of their most successful titles are streamed out of Riga, Latvia’s capital. Most games can’t be played in Latvian, though, with those streamed games being intended for an international audience. Apart from this goliath of the business, there are smaller competitors. DLV, for instance, is a Latvian online gambling software provider. It is not really known outside of its homeland, though.

An online casino, sportsbook or another form of gambling site that is licensed out of Latvia is only open to residents and nationals of that country. There are requirements (such as ID verification) that you’ll need to complete to prove you’re eligible to play there. Furthermore, Latvian-licensed sites also offer gameplay in Latvian, although some do provide English action. Note that the euro is the currency of Latvia, so this can be expected at all legal casinos.

Outside of those sites, we’re looking at offshore venues. These “may” offer gameplay in Latvian, but this is unlikely. Instead, most Latvians who frequent these casinos choose to play in English, albeit still using the euro as their currency of choice. These types of sites wouldn’t survive if they only catered to Latvians, so they also accept players from elsewhere.