Croatia Online Casino Law 2026: Is It Legal?

Published by Casino News Daily editorial teamReviewed byFilip RadulovicOur editorial approach

Croatia regulates gambling through the Games of Chance Act (Zakon o igrama na sreću), adopted in 2009 and amended several times since. The most far-reaching revision was made in 2025. Under the Act the right to organise games of chance belongs to the Republic of Croatia. The state exercises that right through the state-owned company Hrvatska Lutrija, and by granting licences to private companies for casinos, betting and slot machines. Online gambling is not a separate licence category. A company that holds a Croatian licence for a land-based game may also offer that game online, if it meets the technical conditions and pays an additional annual fee. The 2025 amendments raised those fees considerably. They also introduced a national register of excluded players, stricter identification rules and one of the most restrictive gambling advertising regimes in the region.

Key points

Online casino games and online betting are lawful only when offered by a company holding a Croatian licence for the corresponding land-based game, with Ministry of Finance approval.
Since the 2025 amendments, the annual fee for online casino games has been €600,000 and for online betting €400,000. Operators also pay monthly fees based on their revenue or on stakes.
The Act prohibits foreign operators from organising games of chance in Croatia. It also prohibits participation in foreign games where stakes are paid in Croatia. The fines in the Act are aimed at organisers, not at players.
Winnings from betting and lottery games are taxed at progressive rates from 10% to 30%.
A national register of excluded players, kept by the Croatian Institute of Public Health, began operating in August 2025. Gambling advertising is now banned on television, radio and the internet between 06:00 and 23:00.

Last reviewed: 14 October 2026.

Historical development

Croatian coastal architecture and casino tourism on the Adriatic

Croatia’s gambling sector combines a state lottery with private casino, betting and gaming-machine operators. The present legal framework dates from the Games of Chance Act published in the Official Gazette (Narodne novine) no. 87/2009. It was enacted on 21 July 2009 and entered into force on 1 January 2010.

The 2009 Act set out a structure that remains in place today:

a state reserve over all games of chance;
Hrvatska Lutrija as the state’s own operator;
15-year licences for private operators of casinos, betting and slot machines;
permission for licensed operators to offer their games through “interactive online sales channels”.

The Act has since been amended several times. The most recent comprehensive amendment is the Act amending the Games of Chance Act, Narodne novine no. 72/2025. It was adopted on 11 April 2025, published on 23 April 2025, and entered into force eight days after publication. The original 2009 text should be read together with these later amendments, because the Official Gazette publishes amending acts rather than a single updated text.

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Legal framework

Article 2 of the Act defines games of chance as games in which participants pay a stake for the chance of winning money, goods, services or rights, and in which the outcome depends predominantly on chance or on an uncertain event. Article 5 divides them into four groups:

lottery games, including draws, instant lotteries and sports forecasting;
casino games, both table games and machine games played according to international rules;
betting games on sport, horse racing and other events;
slot-machine games played on electronic devices outside casinos.

Under Article 3, the right to organise all games of chance belongs to the Republic of Croatia. The Act transfers that right to Hrvatska Lutrija d.o.o., the state lottery company. Other companies may obtain the right to organise casino games, betting and slot-machine games by decision of the Government, with the approval of the Ministry of Finance. Article 27 sets the duration of these rights at 15 years.

Article 68 contains the key prohibitions concerning foreign gambling. It prohibits:

foreign organisers from organising games of chance in Croatia;
participation in foreign games of chance where the stakes are paid in Croatia;
the collection of stakes in Croatia for games organised abroad;
the sale, possession, transfer, issue, advertising or promotion of foreign games of chance in Croatia.

The advertising prohibition also applies to service providers and publishers. Foreign nationals temporarily staying in Croatia may hold tickets for foreign games for their own participation.

As a member of the European Union, Croatia must apply these rules consistently with EU law. The European Commission notes that there is no sector-specific EU legislation on gambling. Member states may choose how to organise their gambling services, including through state operators and national licences, provided they respect the fundamental freedoms of the EU Treaties.

Regulator and licensing model

Croatia does not have a separate gambling regulator. Under Article 70 of the Act, the Ministry of Finance is responsible for supervising the organisation of games of chance, including day-to-day supervision. Licensing decisions are taken by the Government and the Ministry. Fees and taxes are collected through the Tax Administration (Porezna uprava). Since 2025 the Ministry of Health and the Croatian Institute of Public Health have also had a role, because they are responsible for the register of excluded players.

The licensing model is a hybrid. It combines a state operator, in which the state itself runs games through Hrvatska Lutrija, with a limited licensing system for private companies, granted by government decision for a fixed term. The online rules follow the land-based ones. Article 35(2) of the Act allows a licensed casino operator to organise casino games through interactive online sales channels, if it meets the technical requirements set by the Minister of Finance. Articles 46 and 56 make similar provision for betting and slot-machine games. In practice, therefore, a Croatian online casino licence is an extension of a land-based casino licence rather than a stand-alone online permit.

Online gambling: what is permitted and how it is enforced

Licensed operators may offer online casino games, online betting and online slot games, as may Hrvatska Lutrija, which also runs lottery games. The fees for these activities were raised sharply in 2025:

Activity	Annual fee under the 2009 Act	Annual fee since 2025
Physical casino (per casino)	500,000 kuna	€100,000
Online casino games	3,000,000 kuna	€600,000
Betting shops and self-service terminals	see note	€200,000
Online betting	see note	€400,000
Slot machines (per machine)	see note	€2,000

The 2009 figures are those of Article 38 of the original Act. The 2009 betting and slot-machine fees were not reviewed for this guide. Before the 2025 change, the Tax Administration listed the online casino fee as €398,168.43, which is the 3 million kuna figure converted to euros when Croatia adopted the euro.

In addition to the annual fees, operators pay monthly fees calculated on their activity. According to the Tax Administration:

casinos pay 15% of daily settlement amounts from tables and machines, 15% of the operator’s share in games between players, and 25% of the operator’s share from tournaments;
betting operators pay a monthly fee of 5% of the base, that is, of total stakes.

Enforcement against unlicensed operators rests on the prohibitions in Article 68 and on the fines for unauthorised organisation. In the original 2009 text these were 50,000 to 500,000 kuna for companies (Article 72) and 30,000 to 100,000 kuna for individuals who organise games without authorisation (Article 73). The 2025 amending Act did not add provisions on website or payment blocking. Website blocking instead rests on Article 44(3) of the General Tax Act (Opći porezni zakon), which allows the tax authority to order a ban on further activity carried out online in breach of a specific law. The Tax Administration applies this to unlicensed online gambling: it publishes a list of web addresses of gambling operators subject to such orders, which are to be blocked within 15 days of the order, and lists the operators authorised to offer games of chance online (12 as of October 2026). According to the business daily Lider, the Tax Administration cites more than 1,500 blocked domains (2026). Under Article 68, however, a foreign website that organises games of chance for players in Croatia without a Croatian licence is not authorised under Croatian law.

Position of players

Article 68(1)(2) of the Act prohibits participation in foreign games of chance where the stakes are paid in Croatia. In principle, this reaches players who use foreign online casinos. The penalty provisions of the Act as originally enacted, however, are aimed at organisers and at individuals who run unauthorised games. Our review found no fine set specifically for players. We also found no published record of a player being fined for using a foreign website. The 2025 amendments added fines for individuals, but these are for advertising and promotion. Anyone who advertises games of chance in prohibited media, including on social networks or by live-streaming, faces a fine of €3,980 to €6,630.

Players must be at least 18 years old. The Act requires betting operators to refuse stakes from persons under 18 (Article 49) and restricts casino entry to adults who prove their identity (Article 43). The 2025 amendments tightened identification rules for betting venues and slot-machine clubs, with the new requirements applying from 1 January 2026.

Taxation

Croatia taxes both operators and players. Operators pay the annual and monthly fees described above. Players pay a tax on winnings, which the operator withholds. As amended in 2025, the rates for betting winnings are:

Amount won	Tax rate
Up to €1,500	10%
€1,500 to €4,000	15%
€4,000 to €70,000	20%
Above €70,000	30%

The same brackets apply to lottery winnings, with the 10% band starting at €100. These rates replaced the original 2009 regime. Under that regime, betting winnings were taxed at 15% between 30,000 and 500,000 kuna and at 20% above 500,000 kuna.

Consumer protection and responsible gambling

The 2025 amendments created a national register of excluded players under a new Article 67.e. It is kept by the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ). The transitional provisions of the amending Act required the HZJZ first to set up a contact point for exchanging exclusion data, within 90 days of entry into force, and to establish the full register by 30 June 2026. According to the HZJZ:

The register began operating on 1 August 2025. After a 90-day transition period ending on 1 November 2025, exclusions became visible to all operators.
Individuals can ask to be excluded for a period they choose, by applying online through the e-Građani public-services platform.
Requests can also be submitted by operators, by social welfare and family-protection services, by mental health and addiction services and by courts. Court requests do not need the player’s consent.
Operators must ensure that excluded players do not take part in games.

The amendments also introduced strict advertising rules. Under the transitional provisions, operators had to comply with most of them by 1 January 2026:

Advertising is banned on the internet, television and radio between 06:00 and 23:00.
It is banned in print media and in content aimed at children.
Outdoor advertising is banned, apart from signs on the venue itself.
Celebrities, people with media influence and content creators may not appear in or promote gambling advertising.
Low-risk lottery products, such as daily draws and paper instant games, are partly exempt.
Advertisements offering bonuses or free spins are banned, except on operators’ own websites.
Advertisements must carry warnings about addiction and about the ban on participation by minors.

The amendments also require gaming venues to close on Sundays, with effect from 1 January 2026. Under Article 67 as amended, the exceptions are casinos located in, or forming part of, a hotel, and Hrvatska Lutrija partner outlets that offer only lottery games. Other operators may designate up to 16 working Sundays a year and must notify the Ministry of Finance by the end of December of the preceding year.

A Government Decree on measures for the socially responsible organisation of games of chance (Narodne novine no. 129/2025), adopted on 9 October 2025, implements these rules. It requires casinos and slot-machine clubs to be at least 500 metres, and betting shops at least 200 metres, from kindergartens, schools, student dormitories and religious buildings. Casinos in four- or five-star hotels are treated as meeting the distance requirement. The Decree also bans illuminated signs and screens on venue exteriors and requires a technical identification system on self-service betting terminals and gaming machines, which checks both the player’s age and whether the player is on the register of excluded players. Operators had to comply by 1 January 2026.

Help with gambling problems is available through the public health system. The HZJZ runs a national portal on addictions and a national information line on addictions. General guidance can also be found in our responsible gambling guide.

Recent and upcoming developments

The Government’s bill was put to the Croatian Parliament in September 2024 and adopted on 11 April 2025. Its implementation has been phased: the register of excluded players has operated since August 2025, the Decree on socially responsible organisation took effect in October 2025, and the advertising, Sunday-closing and identification rules have applied since 1 January 2026. The higher annual fees, especially the €600,000 fee for online casino games, raise the fixed cost of offering online gambling in Croatia.

Early effects have been reported in the press. Lider reported in March 2026 that state revenue from gambling taxes and fees rose from €174.6 million in 2020 to €354.2 million in 2024. Comparing January 2025 with January 2026, it reported that the tax base for internet betting rose while that for self-service betting terminals, which were removed from bars and cafés, fell sharply. In September 2026 SBC News reported that Google would stop accepting online gambling advertisers targeting Croatia from 7 October 2026; Google said the change was made independently of the Croatian rules. Readers should check the Official Gazette for any further amendments, as the Act has been changed frequently since 2009.

Casino listings for players in Croatia

The listings below are generated from our casino database. Their inclusion does not by itself show that an operator holds a Croatian licence or may lawfully accept players resident in Croatia. Croatian law reserves online gambling to licensed domestic operators and prohibits the organisation of foreign games of chance in Croatia. Check an operator’s Croatian authorisation, for example with the Tax Administration’s games-of-chance service or the Ministry of Finance, before using any website.

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Key points

Historical development

Top Rated Online Casinos for Croatia

Legal framework

Regulator and licensing model

Online gambling: what is permitted and how it is enforced

Position of players

Taxation

Consumer protection and responsible gambling

Recent and upcoming developments

Casino listings for players in Croatia

Sources and further reading

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