Albania to block all international egaming sites from 2019
New government aims to curb problem gambling and stop money leaving the country
The Albanian government is preparing legislation to close access to all international sports betting sites and egaming sites from 2019, in an effort to stop money from leaving the country.
Newly-elected Albanian prime minister Edi Rama confirmed the government would look at blocking international sites, on which Albanians spend between €500-700m a year, according to recent estimates.
At a government meeting, Rama said: “Starting December 31, all electronic casinos will cease their operations under the gambling law. Today’s change also involves sports betting as well as any bet for every kind of race involving horses, dogs or any kind of slave of the Albanian fauna.”
In addition, all gambling-related advertising will be banned under new laws. Warning all media outlets that this will be rigorously enforced, Rama added: “I want to warn everyone: Every media should remove and stop broadcasting betting and gambling ads on TV channels, radio, newspapers or portals within the next 24 hours.
“The AMA (Audio-visive Media Authority) should guarantee that TV and radio channels abide by the law, whereas we will forcefully shut down any online websites that continue to promote these betting and gambling ads and violating the existing law of the Republic of Albania after the 24-hour deadline.”
All betting shops and casinos currently operating in Albania will be forced to relocate away from residential areas to stem increasing problem gambling rates.
Albania’s existing gambling regulator, the Gambling Supervisory Authority, has been immediately shut down and as part of the new regime will be “transformed and robotized through digital technology to function as a supervisor.”
According to local media estimates, Albania had more than 3,900 betting shops at a rate of one per 730 local residents this year, the largest concentration of betting shops in any European country. Albanian citizens spent over 16.6bn lek (£116m) on gambling in 2017, the largest amount to date and up 10% on figures from 2016.
Under current Albanian law, all forms of gambling are legal, however, only online sports betting and slots-based gaming are currently licensed by the Albanian Ministry of Finance. Any unlicensed online operators found to be targeting Albanian citizens can be blacklisted with their respective websites being blocked by local internet service providers.