Government supports guidelines restricting gambling activities

On Tuesday, 29 June, the Cabinet of Ministers revisited and supported the Guidelines for Gambling and Lottery Policy for 2021–2027 (the Guidelines), developed by the Ministry of Finance (MoF). The Guidelines are the first policy-planning document regulating these fields, and they concern the competences of many ministries. The aim of the Guidelines is to promote the protection of the public interest by providing for the development of a set of measures, thereby reducing the risks associated with gambling and lotteries and ensuring a controlled, transparent, legal and socially responsible environment for organising gambling and lotteries that does not create risks of addiction.

The Guidelines include action areas for protecting the public, controlling advertising restrictions, regulating the visual design of gambling halls (making it as neutral as possible and appropriate to the overall cultural and historical urban environment), reducing illegal and unlicensed gambling and lotteries, restricting access to gambling, and supervising the industry. The document provides for age restrictions on participation in gambling and lotteries, stipulating that persons aged 21 and over may participate in gambling, while participation in lotteries is permitted from the age of 18. At the same time, it is planned to restrict the operating hours of gambling venues from 6:00 to 9:00, except at locations accepting totalisator and betting wagers.

The Guidelines address the issue of monitoring the ban on gambling advertising by designating the Lotteries and Gambling Supervisory Inspection as the responsible authority and granting it the right to block or restrict access to a specific website containing gambling advertising. The document also includes a set of measures to reduce the public’s motivation to participate in gambling, and plans to implement nationwide public information campaigns on the risks of process addictions.

To achieve the objectives set, it is planned to involve municipalities and instruct them to develop proposals for integrating alternative leisure activities in areas where a gambling hall is more readily accessible than other leisure opportunities, including through the use of infrastructure at the municipalities’ disposal.

At the same time, it has been proposed to expand the list of places where gambling is prohibited. It is planned to prohibit the organisation of gambling in buildings housing pre-school education institutions, primary and secondary education institutions, and within 250 metres of or around their entrances. Gambling is also to be prohibited in public playgrounds and recreational areas, as well as within 250 metres of or around their entrances. Gambling is also planned to be prohibited in residential buildings outside central Riga and its protection zone, as well as in residential buildings in other Latvian cities.

The Guidelines also give rise to a proposal to prohibit smoking in gambling halls and casinos that, at the time the regulation is adopted, are not equipped with special enhanced-ventilation rooms, and to eliminate the possibility of offering free alcohol while gambling.

It has also been proposed to create an analytical tool for monitoring addiction levels and behaviour, based on conclusions drawn from studies of the risks of process addictions and trends and patterns in the use of addictive processes in the country, as well as to introduce a common register for the Baltic States of persons who have self-excluded from gambling and interactive lotteries.

The draft Guidelines can be viewed on the website of the Cabinet of Ministers.

Author:

Ministry of Finance

fm.gov.lv