As Estonia prepares to review its gambling act next year, data has revealed that the country’s self-exclusion list has grown over the past three years by almost 4,000 people.
According to local outlet ERR News, nearly 21,000 people are now on the self-imposed gambling restriction list, up from 2023’s count of 17,203 people. The data further split the restrictions in place by game product, but it is important to note that one person may restrict themselves from multiple verticals.
A person’s written application will determine if they’re added to the self-exclusion list indefinitely, and they must specify a period, six months to three years, after which they may submit a new application to be removed from the list.
20,628 people are restricted in Estonia from games of chance, while 9,767 people have self-imposed sports betting restrictions, which is up by 348 people since the beginning of the year. For lottery products, 5,968 people have restrictions in place.
Measures must be implemented by operators to ensure people on the list can’t play the products from which they are restricted.
Jekaterina Nikitina, Head of the Excise Department at the Tax and Customs Board, commented: “In our view, the fact that the number of people who have set restrictions for themselves has increased over the years shows that people are increasingly aware of the player protection mechanisms we have.
“These mechanisms work very well; otherwise, players would not use them.”
However, the rules for compiling the restriction list will be reviewed, including how concerned family members can add their loved ones with a gambling addiction to the list, something which currently isn’t available in Estonia.
Rainer Osanik, Head of the Financial Information Policy Department at the Ministry of Finance, noted: “No one else can currently add them to the list, but family members of a gambling addict often suffer.
“The system should allow a person to be added to the list on certain additional grounds, either at the initiative of a family member or by court order. Estonian law does not currently allow this. We will now begin analysing how this could be done.”
Other components of Estonia’s gambling laws are under review, including tax. The country is currently in the process of reducing its remote gambling tax from 6% to 4% over four years, making it one of the lowest tax frameworks in Europe.
Advertising rules could also be analysed, as recent data from the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (TTJA) stated that 104 of the 230 advertisements inspected failed to meet acceptable standards.
Diana Lints from the TTJA said: “Those breaches varied considerably. They included misleading advertising, warning text in gambling advertisements that did not meet the legal requirements, and games of chance advertisements which, under the law, are prohibited altogether.”
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