The new law allowing online gambling in Albania has officially entered into force on Monday. The law provides for the return of sports betting, but now only in online form, to formalize the gambling market for this game category, by licensing entities that have experience in exercising sports betting activity.

According to this law, any subject interested in exercising this activity must apply for a license, in fulfillment of the criteria set forth by the legislation.

Entities seeking to be licensed in the "Online sports betting" category must be joint-stock companies, with headquarters in Albania and registered at the business center (QKB); have a capital amount of not less than Lek 40 million; to declare the source of the capital that will be invested for the exercise of the activity; have experience in the field of gambling in no less than 3 EU/OECD countries and for no less than three years, and the applicant entity or at least one of the shareholders must have generated in the last financial year at least Lek 2 billion turnover from activity in the field of gambling.

The legal changes strengthen the rules for exercising this activity as well as provide more security for players.

Referring to the law, to protect the player and give guarantees to the winner, the law has decided that the organizer of online sports betting must solidify a fund of Lek 120 million but not less than 5% of the sums made available to the game by side of the players within a previous exercise year, in a special bank account, in favor of the Ministry of Finance, which is unlocked only by order of the minister responsible for finance.

The law stipulates that a total of 10 licenses for the exercise of this activity with a lifespan of 10 years will be granted by the Gambling Supervision Authority.

"The ten companies within the 15th of each month must pour into the account of the Special Fund 15% of the gross income from the game, while the players will be taxed based on the income they provide, i.e. with bands from 13-23%. The income obtained from the implementation of this law serves for the creation of the Special Fund that serves to support projects in the field of sports, culture, and innovation technology," according to the report that accompanies this law.

According to the new law, the Ministry of Finance will have under control any information about the amount played, as each player must be registered on the platform through the ID and all transactions between him and the company will be carried out through the banking system. Data on players will be kept for three years in a special register by all gambling organizers, as a measure to control exactly the amounts that can be circulated through this activity.

The opening of online sports betting is expected to bring to the state budget Lek 2 billion of revenue per year.