Czech Gambling Law 2024

Regulatory system and administrative supervision in the Czech Republic

The Czech gambling market is not a free marketplace; rather, it is strictly regulated by the state through several institutions with clearly defined competences. The primary regulator is the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic, which issues basic licences to operate gambling games and administers key agendas. A central role in supervising compliance with the law is then played by the Customs Administration of the Czech Republic, which carries out thousands of inspections each year and identifies a significant number of breaches.

In addition, municipal authorities issue permits for the placement of gaming premises, and the Financial Analytical Office monitors compliance with obligations in the area of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing.

This segmentation of responsibilities means that a business is not dealing with just one institution, but must simultaneously meet the requirements of several administrative authorities. Each has its own agenda, its own interpretation of the law, and its own sanctioning powers. In practice, this means that a breach of the rules may trigger parallel proceedings by multiple authorities, which can lead to an accumulation of fines and far more serious consequences than the business might have assumed at the outset.

Definition of a gambling game and types of games under Czech law

For a business to understand in general what the law applies to, it is essential to know its basic definition. A gambling game means a game, bet or lottery in which the bettor places a stake whose return is not guaranteed, and in which winning or losing is determined wholly or partly by chance or an unknown circumstance. This seemingly simple definition has major practical implications—for example, it also matters when assessing whether a particular business activity or marketing campaign involving a draw or betting element is subject to the law at all. If you are unsure whether a specific product or promotional campaign already meets the characteristics of a gambling game, a legal assessment within the gambling and lotteries practice can help.

The Act distinguishes several types of gambling games, some of which require specific requirements to be taken into account. A lottery means a game in which the player stakes a certain sum of money and tries to guess the numbers that will be drawn. Typical lotteries in the Czech Republic include, for example, Sportka or EuroMillions. For a comparison of licensing approaches across Europe, it may also be useful to follow the update How to obtain a licence to operate gambling in the European Union: Comparison of individual states.

Fixed-odds betting is a game in which the player predicts the outcome of a particular event and bets on different options with different odds. A totalisator game is similar to fixed-odds betting, but differs in that the operator sets in advance the volume of funds allocated for winnings. Bingo is played in gaming premises where the prize is either predetermined or set as a percentage of the game stake.

A technical game, to which the Act pays special attention, means a game operated through a technical device directly operated by the bettor—i.e., for example, a reel game, electromechanical roulette or electromechanical dice. The Act definitively abolished the possibility of placing slot machines in restaurants or at petrol stations; a technical game may be operated only in a legally defined gaming premises.

A live game is then a game operated without technical devices, typically with a group of people around a gaming table in a casino, and the last category is a raffle—a lottery organised by a legal entity.

In practice, this means that if a business is considering whether a particular activity constitutes a gambling game, it should first answer three questions: (1) is it a game, bet or lottery, (2) are money or other assets staked with a risk of loss, (3) is the outcome determined wholly or partly by chance. If the answer to all three questions is yes, it is a gambling game and is subject to regulation.

Conditions for operators and the licensing requirement

Czech law imposes high requirements on gambling operators already at the stage when they seek to become an authorised entity. The central principle is that only a legal entity may become an operator of gambling games—i.e., not a natural person without a corporate form.

At the same time, this legal entity must cumulatively meet the following conditions: it must have its registered office in the Czech Republic, or in another Member State of the European Union or in a contracting state to the Agreement on the European Economic Area. It must also have a transparent organisational and ownership structure and establish a supervisory body—typically a supervisory board or board of directors, or another similar body.

One of the most fundamental conditions is proving financial capacity, whereby the amount of equity or registered capital must, depending on the type of gambling game, reach CZK 10, 20 or 50 million, and its source must be transparent and legitimate.

This means that the authority will verify where the business obtained the funds, whether they originate from criminal activity or, for example, from a simply questionable source. In practice, the business must therefore submit bank statements, documents evidencing the origin of the capital, and often also an explanation of how it obtained these funds.

In addition to these general conditions, the business must also meet specific personal requirements—above all, it must be of good repute and debt-free (it must not be in arrears with taxes or social security contributions) and must not have been in insolvency or liquidation in the last three years. This is supplemented by administratively demanding obligations such as attaching a certificate of good repute not older than three months and posting a security deposit for each type of gambling game it intends to operate.

The amount of the security deposit varies depending on the type of game. For fixed-odds and totalisator betting on animal races, it is CZK 1 million. For other fixed-odds and totalisator betting that is not operated predominantly online, the security deposit is CZK 10 million. For lotteries, technical games, live games and bingo (if operated predominantly online), the security deposit is CZK 50 million.

These amounts are not trivial—they are a binding security that is returned only if the operator duly fulfils its obligations and gradually terminates operations.

In practice, this means that the decision to enter the gambling business is financially very demanding. A business needs not only its own capital for the operation itself, but also substantial financial resources tied up in security deposits. This results in the market typically being entered by larger financial players or groups, which increases market stability but also creates a high barrier to entry for smaller entities.

Process for granting the basic authorisation

The procedure that an entrepreneur must go through to obtain authorisation to operate a gambling game is complex and has several stages. Since 2022, this process has been reformed – instead of a single-stage procedure, the process is now divided into two parts: the so-called initial authorisation and the basic authorisation.

The initial authorisation is the first stage and represents the prerequisites by which the entrepreneur demonstrates competence in terms of financial stability and legal integrity. The entrepreneur must therefore first prove that they have sufficient capital, that they are not insolvent, that they have a clean criminal record, and that their ownership structure is transparent. This stage should take a reasonable amount of time – our attorneys in Prague can assess whether your prerequisites are sufficient and prepare the complete documentation.

The second stage, the basic authorisation, is the final step for granting the licence. Here, the applicant must meet new requirements to ensure the safe operation of the business, both from a staffing perspective (employee qualifications) and from a technical perspective (security of gaming systems). In practice, this means that the entrepreneur must submit a detailed game plan, have certified technical equipment, employees trained in legal compliance, and additional documentation.

The Ministry of Finance now places increased emphasis on precise definition of the subject matter of the application – i.e., a detailed description of each game, bet, or lottery that the company intends to operate. A weak point of many applications is an unclear or incomplete definition, which leads to delays or even rejection.

The Ministry of Finance has also issued an annex with specifications for individual types of gambling games, which applicants should use. This means that the entrepreneur must carefully state whether it is, for example, a technical game, a live game, a fixed-odds bet, etc., in line with the terminology of the Act.

The cost of insufficient preparation is high – if the Ministry of Finance rejects the application, the entrepreneur must repeat everything and faces a long delay in obtaining the licence, during which competitors enter the market. Our attorneys in Prague are well-versed in these matters and can ensure that your application is prepared as thoroughly as possible on the first attempt.

Gaming premises and physical requirements

If an entrepreneur plans to operate technical games or live games in a gaming hall or casino, they must take into account requirements for physical equipment and location. Gaming premises means a separate, structurally separated area in which gambling games may be operated, and only by one operator as its main activity. This means that if the entrepreneur rents a room, it must not be used for office work or a restaurant open to the public, unless it is part of an integrated casino.

The gaming premises must have a separate entrance either from the street or from a publicly accessible internal part of the building, for example from the corridor of an existing building. This is an important requirement, as it prevents a gaming hall or casino from becoming part of an ordinary shopping centre or restaurant. The municipal authority within whose territorial jurisdiction the location where the gaming premises is to be situated falls issues the permit for its placement.

The obligation that attracts the greatest attention in business circles is the obligation to monitor the gaming premises with a camera system. The operator must ensure that the entire gaming premises is monitored for the purpose of: (1) checking that unauthorised technical games are not being operated, (2) protecting players in the event of a complaint about unpaid winnings, (3) monitoring cash flows, (4) monitoring compliance with the ban on entry for persons under 18.

In addition, in a casino all gaming tables, cashier desks for topping up chips, cash desks for banknotes and coins, and areas where operations with banknotes and coins take place must be monitored. The requirements for the quality of the camera system are also very strict. The operator must ensure recording of the gaming premises at a minimum quality of 2 Mpix, and in the case of a live game table at a quality of at least 5 Mpix.

Monitoring must take place in real time throughout the entire operating period in an un-slowed and uninterrupted recording that allows later playback. The recording must be retained for 2 years, including its backup.

In practical terms, this means that the entrepreneur will invest in a professional camera system, which is not inexpensive. In addition, they must ensure secure storage of recordings and their protection against unauthorised access. All these aspects must be considered when planning the business.

There are also restrictions on advertising promotion in the premises. There must be no advertising, messages, symbols typical of gambling games, or any other form of promotion drawing attention to the operation of gambling games or the obtaining of winnings on the building or in the corridor in front of the entrance to the gaming premises.

The entrance to the premises must be marked only with the words GAMING HALL or CASINO and this marking may be placed only at the entrance; it must not appear on windows or walls.

Register of excluded persons and protection of minors

One of the pillars of the legal framework is the protection of persons who must not participate in gambling. On the one hand, the law prohibits participation by persons under 18 years of age. This is the basic rule—no one under 18 may gamble, whether in a gaming venue, a casino, or online. Although this is a ban that is simple on paper, its practical implementation is more complex.

The second protection mechanism is the Register of Persons Excluded from Participation in Gambling (RVO), administered by the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic. A person may be entered in the register for three reasons: (1) ex officio—if they receive certain subsistence assistance benefits, are in insolvency, or fail to meet a maintenance obligation (as of 2024, child support non-payers were added), (2) voluntarily—the person applies for entry themselves because they want to protect themselves from gambling, (3) via an online gaming user account—as of January 2024, a player can apply for entry directly online.

A person entered in the register must not be admitted by the operator to the gaming area and must not be allowed to create or use a user account. Responsibility for ensuring compliance with this prohibition lies with the operator. This is a key point—the law delegates to the operator the duty to monitor the register and holds the operator liable if they allow an excluded person to participate in gambling.

In practice, this means that the operator must be connected to the information system of the Ministry of Finance and must check in real time whether a person entering the gaming venue or logging into an online game is not listed in the register. As of 2024, this is a real-time obligation—technical failure of the connection is not an excuse. For online games, this means that the player’s status is verified at each login.

As of 1 January 2022, a tool for immediate prevention of participation in an online game was introduced, the so-called “panic button”. When a player presses this button, they are prevented from participating in the game for 48 hours. This measure primarily concerns online games, where pressing the button gives the player an immediate 48-hour break. The aim is to provide the player with an emergency brake in case gambling has gotten out of hand.

There are also mandatory betting limits. For example, in a technical game in a gaming venue, the maximum bet is CZK 100, while in a casino and online it is CZK 1,000. There is also a mandatory 15-minute break after 2 hours of playing technical games.

Tax obligations and financial reporting

The gambling operator is also a taxpayer for gambling tax, which is part of the Czech tax system. The tax is calculated as a percentage of the tax base, which is determined as the difference between accepted stakes and paid-out winnings. The tax rate for all types of gambling, except for a raffle with a gaming deposit not exceeding CZK 100,000, is 35 percent.

An exception is a raffle with a gaming deposit of up to CZK 100,000, which is exempt from gambling tax. The operator of a raffle with a gaming deposit above CZK 100,000 is subject to gambling tax at a rate of 35%.

The tax period is a calendar quarter. This means that the operator must file a gambling tax return and pay the relevant tax each quarter. The return for the first quarter must be filed by 25 April of the given year.

Calculating the tax base is not difficult, but errors occur in practice. The formula is: stakes minus winnings minus refunded stakes equals the tax base. So if players staked CZK 2 million and the operator paid out CZK 1.3 million in winnings, the tax base is CZK 700,000. At a tax rate of 35 percent, the tax is CZK 245,000.

Given the increased reporting requirements, Decree No. 10/2019 Coll. on the method of notification and data transmission was also issued. Operators must submit data on their activities to the central information system of the Ministry of Finance, in a precisely specified format and within certain deadlines. A technical failure in data reporting is not an excuse.

Money laundering and anti-money laundering obligations

Recently, regulation in the area of money laundering and terrorist financing has increased. Gambling operators are classified as obliged entities under Act No. 253/2008 Coll. (the AML Act) under Czech law. This means they are subject to very strict obligations regarding client identification, monitoring suspicious transactions, and reporting such transactions to the Financial Analytical Office (Finanční analytický úřad).

The obligation to identify and verify the client (Know Your Customer, KYC) means that the operator must know its player, know where their money comes from, and monitor whether their behaviour appears suspicious. In the gambling context, a typical suspicious transaction is depositing a high amount of cash without subsequent play, or depositing and immediately withdrawing without participating in the game. Behaviour that does not match the player’s profile is also considered suspicious—for example, when a user who usually plays for tens of crowns suddenly deposits a million.

If the operator detects a suspicious transaction, it must report it to the Financial Analytical Office without undue delay, usually within 5 calendar days. The report is submitted in encrypted form electronically, and it is strictly prohibited to inform the client or any third party that a report has been filed (so-called tipping-off). If the operator fails to report a suspicious transaction and the authority later uncovers it, the operator faces potentially crippling sanctions for inaction.

Obligations under the AML Act already applied to gambling operators in the past. As of 1 January 2022, the options for conducting remote client identification were further specified, including for clients from countries outside the EU, for example via verification micro-payments (so-called penny drop verification).

GDPR and protection of players’ personal data

Gambling operators process sensitive personal data of players—information about their behaviour, potential addiction, financial stability, and other aspects of their lives. Under the EU Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR), businesses are responsible for the security of this data and for compliance with data subjects’ rights.

The fine for a GDPR breach can reach up to EUR 20 million or 4 percent of the company’s worldwide annual turnover, which is significantly more than the fines under the Gambling Act. The Office for Personal Data Protection (ÚOOÚ) systematically sanctions GDPR breaches. In the gambling context, this typically involves insufficient data security, unauthorised sharing of data with third parties, incorrect handling of data subjects’ access requests, or failures in reporting security incidents.

A key obligation is reporting a security incident to the Office for Personal Data Protection. You have a strict 72-hour deadline from becoming aware of the incident to notify it. If the risk is high (e.g., a leak of passwords or financial data), you must also inform the players themselves.

In practice, this means that the operator must have an in-house data team or an external provider to secure players’ data, carry out security audits, and have processes in place in case of a security incident. These are not tasks that can be improvised—this is an ongoing responsibility.

Sanctions for breaches of the law and risks for operators

The Czech legal system provides regulators with very powerful tools to sanction breaches of the Gambling Act. The most serious breach is operating a gambling game without a permit, especially without an online permit. For unauthorised offering of online gambling, the Ministry of Finance may impose a fine of up to CZK 50 million per breach. In practice, since the Act was adopted in 2017, a number of exemplary fines have indeed been imposed on foreign entities that attempted to target Czech players without a licence.

Less serious breaches, such as failure to check the Register of Excluded Persons or technical deficiencies in the CCTV system, are penalised with fines ranging from tens to hundreds of thousands of Czech crowns. In the most serious cases—such as repeatedly allowing an excluded person to gamble or manipulating game results—the Ministry of Finance may proceed as far as revoking the basic licence, which effectively means the end of gambling operations.

In addition to administrative fines, criminal liability may also apply. Unauthorised operation of a gambling game is a criminal offence under Section 252a of the Criminal Code (Unauthorised Operation of a Gambling Game). Offenders—i.e., specific individuals such as managing directors or members of the board of directors—face imprisonment of up to three years. The sentence increases to up to ten years if the offence is committed by an organised group or if a benefit of a large scale is obtained.

Gambling advertising and marketing regulation

Regulation of advertising and marketing in the gambling sector is also very strict. The basic rules are set out in Act No. 40/1995 Coll., on Advertising Regulation, and in the Gambling Act. Every advertisement for a gambling game must, without exception, include two key pieces of information: (1) a statement prohibiting participation by persons under 18 years of age in the relevant gambling game, (2) a warning in the exact wording: “The Ministry of Finance warns: Participation in gambling may lead to addiction!”

This information must be visible and clear to consumers. This is not a formal add-on that can be hidden in barely visible small print—lawyers monitoring compliance will verify that the information is genuinely legible.

Furthermore, advertising must not target persons under 18, even indirectly—for example by using visual elements, personalities, or music that primarily appeal to a young audience. It is also prohibited to promote an operator that does not hold a valid basic licence issued by the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic. Advertising must also not present participation in gambling as a source of income comparable to regular employment or business activity.

Several parties bear responsibility for advertising: (1) the advertiser—the party that ordered the advertisement (typically the gambling operator), (2) the producer—the party that created the advertisement (e.g., a marketing agency, an influencer), (3) the publisher/distributor—the party that published the advertisement (e.g., a website operator, a TV broadcaster, a social network). All three may be fined.

The fine for breaching the rules on gambling advertising can reach up to CZK 5 million. In cases involving operation of an illegal game or related serious misconduct, sanctions can rise to as much as CZK 50 million. In practice, this means that everyone involved in the chain of creating and disseminating advertising must be aware of their obligations.

Current changes and regulatory developments in 2026

In 2026, Act No. 186/2016 Coll., on Gambling, did not undergo any major amendment beyond the changes already adopted. The legal framework therefore remains the same as in previous years; however, certain legislative changes approved in prior years are now being fully reflected in practice.

One such change is the automatic cancellation of long-term inactive accounts in online casinos. Operators of licensed online casinos are required to cancel accounts in which no activity has been recorded for a period of 24 months. This obligation has been in effect since 1 January 2022, which means that operators have been actively cancelling inactive accounts for several years. In practice, this means that the operator must have technical processes in place that automatically monitor account activity and carry out cancellations without manual intervention.

Given these ongoing changes and the complexity of the legal framework, it is recommended that gambling operators have a high-quality external legal adviser available. The attorneys at ARROWS, a Prague-based law firm, are experienced in gambling law and can provide clients with long-term legal advice.

Final summary

Gambling regulation in the Czech Republic is among the strictest across business sectors. Key obligations that an entrepreneur must comply with include meeting high financial and organisational requirements to obtain a licence, building physical infrastructure (gaming premises with a camera system), complying with betting limits and mandatory breaks, administering the register of excluded persons, fulfilling tax obligations and reporting, GDPR and AML compliance, and respecting advertising rules.

The reality is that mistakes happen easily and their cost is high. The fine for unauthorised operation can be up to CZK 50 million. Loss of a licence means the end of the business. A security incident involving players’ data may lead to a GDPR fine calculated as a percentage of worldwide turnover. Improper advertising leads to sanctions.

The attorneys at ARROWS, a Prague-based law firm, understand these interconnected obligations and their practical impacts. They can help you prepare an application for a permit to operate gambling, set up internal compliance processes, support you during inspections, defend you in the event of fines, and provide ongoing legal advice. If you want to avoid costly mistakes and ensure safe operations, contact consultation@arws.cz.

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