Online gambling revenue in Latvia rose by 132.8% in 2019, according to official figures. These were reported by the Latvian gambling regulator the Lotteries and Gambling Supervisory Inspection (IAUI).
In total, the country’s regulated iGaming market grew to €54.7 million.
Popular verticals
Online casino was the most popular vertical among players. Revenue for online slot games, cards and roulette rose to €39.3 million, which was an increase of 142.5%.
Elsewhere, sports betting revenue also more-than-doubled. A total of €14.9 million was generated through this vertical, which was 112.3% more than in 2018.
Poker tournaments saw the largest overall increase, with revenue going up by 160.8%. However, the final figure was just €423,000 – meagre in comparison to the others.
Revenue in other areas
Land-based gambling in Latvia also went up. Gaming tables in this respect jumped by by 104% to €17.3 million, while retail sports betting generated €3.2 million – a 116.8% increase.
According to the IAUI, other activities – including bars and billiards – were responsible for an extra €17.3 million. Overall, the turnover for licensed operators hit €324.4 million for the entire year.
In November 2019, it was announced that gambling tax reforms would be introduced from January 1st 2020. While land-based operations were subject to these, iGaming was not.
New faces
In the final quarter of last year, William Hill’s Mr. Green brand announced that it would launch in the Latvian market. Its platform is powered by Gaming Innovation Group (GiG). Both GiG and William Hill had already been present in the Baltic nation.
Crackdown
Along with gambling revenue figures, Latvia’s national regulatory body also published the number of illegal sites it banned in 2019. 68 websites were blocked by the IAUI, as were 87 IP addresses.
The IAUI started its crackdown on unregulated operators in 2014. Since then, it has blocked 1,206 domains and 2,478 IP addresses.
And at the beginning of 2020, the organisation also launched its new self-exclusion scheme. As a result, Latvian residents can now ban themselves from gambling for 12 months.
