Open licensing, split by function
Alderney
A Channel Island jurisdiction whose licence separates the customer relationship from the platform operation.
Licensed online casino
Czechia
A licensed market with a mandatory central exclusion register that covers more than self-exclusion.
| Product | Position | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Online casino | Licensed | Commercial operators can be licensed to offer this product to local customers. |
| Sports betting | Licensed | Commercial operators can be licensed to offer this product to local customers. |
| Online poker | Licensed | Commercial operators can be licensed to offer this product to local customers. |
| Lottery | Licensed | Commercial operators can be licensed to offer this product to local customers. |
How the market works
Czechia opened online licensing from 2017 under the Gambling Act 186/2016, with licences granted per game type and reporting delivered into the ministry's information system. Operators established anywhere in the European Economic Area may apply.
The register of excluded persons is the defining element. Beyond voluntary self-exclusion, people in insolvency proceedings, in receipt of certain social benefits or subject to particular court measures are entered automatically, and an operator must check the register before allowing play. Blocking of unlicensed sites and of payments to them is written into the Act itself rather than left to separate instruments.
Municipalities control land-based gambling and a number have prohibited venues outright, which has moved a larger share of Czech play online than in comparable central European markets.
Who regulates it
Ministry of Finance, State Supervision of Gambling (MF ČR), based in Prague and operating under Gambling Act 186/2016. The Czech ministry that licenses online gambling and operates a central exclusion register.
Licence types issued
- Basic licence per game type
- Technical game permits
Questions about Czechia
Other markets in Europe
Online licence tied to a land-based licence
Belgium
Online licences exist only as supplements to land-based licences, and advertising is prohibited.
Tied to land-based online casino
Open licensing
Denmark
An early licensing regime whose certification programme and exclusion register were widely copied.
Licensed online casino
Monopoly, with licensing legislated for 2027
Finland
One of Europe's last gambling monopolies, legislated to open to licensed competition from 2027.
State monopoly online casino
Open licensing, three verticals only
France
The largest European economy with no legal online casino: only betting, horse racing and poker can be licensed.
Prohibited online casino
Open licensing, with online table games excluded
Germany
Europe's largest economy licenses online slots and poker but not online table games, and taxes stakes rather than revenue.
Partly restricted online casino
Background reading
Legal and compliance
What a gaming licence actually covers
A licence is not a badge of quality and it is not valid everywhere. What it authorises, who it binds, and why one company often holds a dozen.
Legal and compliance
How gambling is taxed, and why the base matters
A tax on stakes and a tax on gross gaming revenue can carry the same headline number and produce completely different businesses.
Legal and compliance
How a company enters a new market
The sequence from legal assessment to launch, and the parts that routinely take longer than anyone plans for.
Legal and compliance
What grey and black markets actually mean
The industry uses three words for the legal status of a market and rarely defines them. Here is what each one means in practice.