After Estonian legislation accidentally removed the online casino tax, the unnamed adviser who was responsible for drafting the mistake was dismissed.The online gambling...
Estonia’s iGaming operators voluntarily pay €1.4M in taxes
Estonian remote gambling operators have voluntarily stepped up and paid around €1.4 million in taxes to the Ministry of Finance after Estonian legislation accidentally removed the online casino tax.
The payments were made for the period between February and March 2026, covering the fees operators would have paid had the Gambling Tax Act been correctly imposed. The error has since been reversed, and on February 10, 2026, Estonia’s online casino tax was set at 5.5%.
Ministry spokesperson Siiri Suutre stated:
“Donations received in February, including income tax, totalled approximately €815,000, and so far in March, around €595,000 has been received. The March figure is not final, and additional donations are still expected, to our knowledge.”
The Estonian Association of Gambling offered to create a donation scheme, but only a few of the 41 operators have contributed to the initiative.
Evelyn Liivamägi of the Finance Ministry commented on the issue:
“Life generally shows that everyone is much more enthusiastic about making promises than fulfilling them later.”
It’s estimated that between January and February, the ministry was supposed to collect around €3.5 million in taxes, with previous budget planning measures projecting that remote gambling tax revenues would reach €27 million for the full year.
After Estonian legislation accidentally removed the online casino tax, on February 10, 2026, the Estonian Parliament restored taxation and approved a 5.5% uniform tax rate.
...
