Czechia

The Gambling Act No. 186/2016 Coll. (in force 1 January 2017), together with gambling-tax Act No. 187/2016 Coll., governs the Czech market. The Ministry of Finance issues the operator-level 'basic permit' for each game type (lotteries, odds betting and totalisator, technical games, live games and bingo), while municipalities separately license land-based venues; only EU/EEA-established operators meeting integrity, ownership-transparency and financial requirements may be authorised. Tax is charged on gross gaming revenue: a 30% general rate (raised from 23% by the 2024 consolidation package) and a 35% rate for technical games (slot machines and online RNG), with a minimum per-position tax on technical games; corporate income tax applies on top. The Ministry runs the national Register of Excluded Persons (RVO). Minimum age is 18.

How the regime works: the basic-permit model under Act 186/2016

Czechia regulates gambling under the 2016 Gambling Act (Act No. 186/2016 Coll.), in force since 1 January 2017, which replaced the old lottery law and opened a licensed online market. The Ministry of Finance (Ministerstvo financí) is the national regulator: it grants a "basic permit" (základní povolení) authorising an operator to run one specified type of gambling game, and it maintains the list of unauthorised sites. Land-based play is governed on two levels — the Ministry's basic permit sets who may operate and how, while each municipality decides, by generally binding ordinance (obecně závazná vyhláška), whether and where technical-game and live-game venues may sit within its territory, so a permit alone does not guarantee a local venue.

Getting and keeping a permit: establishment, per-game permits and a deposit

An operator must be established in Czechia, another EU state, or an EEA country (Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein), and must hold a permit for each game type it offers — lottery, odds betting and totalisator, technical games, live games, bingo, and small-scale tournaments are each licensed separately. The Ministry issues a basic permit only where the applicant is transparent and solvent, has not been insolvent in the recent past, can guarantee orderly operation, technical integrity and public order, and has lodged a financial guarantee (kauce) scaled by game type — up to CZK 50 million for lottery, technical and live games offered online. Permits run for a fixed term and depend on continuing fit-and-proper and technical compliance.

Player protection in practice: the exclusion register and self-limits

Protection is built around the Register of Excluded Persons (rejstřík fyzických osob vyloučených z účasti na hazardních hrách, RVO), a non-public system the Ministry launched in December 2020. A person may self-exclude on request, with removal possible only after at least one year; others are entered automatically (ex officio) — for instance recipients of material-need benefits or people under a court betting ban. Operators must consult the register and refuse listed persons entry, accounts, stakes or deposits. Separately, operators must offer self-limiting measures under §§14–15: daily and monthly stake and net-loss caps and, for technical and online games, login-frequency limits, session-length limits and mandatory breaks, tightened at once but loosened only after a delay.

Charges explained: a split gaming levy on GGR, plus corporate tax

Gambling is taxed under a separate levy, the Gambling Tax Act (Act No. 187/2016 Coll.), charged on gross gaming revenue — total stakes minus winnings paid out. Two rates apply: 35% on technical games (slot-style and online RNG) and on lotteries, and 30% on the remaining categories — odds betting, totalisator, live games, bingo and small tournaments — the lower band having risen from 23% with effect from 1 January 2024. Land-based technical games also carry a minimum tax of CZK 13,400 per machine per quarter. Ordinary corporate income tax (21%) applies on top of the gaming levy, and technical-game receipts are shared between the state and the host municipality.

Enforcement posture and what's changing: blacklist, IP and payment blocking

Enforcement centres on the Ministry's list of unauthorised internet games (Seznam nepovolených internetových her), kept under the Act and published in a public part with blocked sites, accounts and applications. Once a site is listed, internet-access providers must block it within 15 days (§82), and payment-service providers must, within the same window, refuse transactions to and from the listed accounts — a dual IP-address and payment block that the Constitutional Court upheld (Pl. ÚS 28/16). The framework's core has been stable since the major 2024 amendment, which cut maximum stakes, added a mandatory "panic button" and raised taxes; as of 2026 no further material reform is pending, though a 2026 rule requires closure of online accounts inactive for 24 months.

Tax

Key facts

Licence types

Fees

Change-watch

Sources (6)