At present, gambling is organized in Latvia by 17 official merchants, of which 10 organize face-to-face gambling in gaming halls and casinos, while 13 are involved with interactive gambling online. The industry employs 2,903 people.
In the first half of 2021, 272 lottery permits were issued by the Lotteries and Gambling Supervision Inspectorate. They offer a total prize fund of 0.732 million euros, whie fees and taxes worth 0.145 million euros have been transferred to the state budget, which is 32% more than in the corresponding period last year.
As of 30 July 2021, 19,931 unique persons were included in the Register of Self-Denied Persons maintained by the Inspectorate, which provides for a voluntary ban on access to gambling and interactive lotteries.
There are currently 15,533 persons who have chosen to ban themselves from gambling.
The Inspectorate said it has also continued to act against unlicensed gambling, and in the first six months of 2021, 584 decisions were made to block 582 domains. In total, since August 1, 2014, the Inspectorate has blocked 2,345 domains online.
The full summary is available to read online (in Latvian only) at: https://www.iaui.gov.lv/images/Statistika/Prese-2021_6m.pdf
