Live Casino Studio Locations - Latvia

Live casinos and online casinos in general are perfectly legal in Latvia, which is one of the reasons why Riga is a hub of the live dealer gaming market. In fact, the success of live dealer studios in Latvia is closely linked to the country’s robust regulatory framework.

Let’s examine Latvian gambling laws and how they relate to live dealer studios and live gambling in general.

Gambling Laws & Regulations

Gambling in Latvia, whether online or otherwise, is mainly regulated by three distinct laws:

• Gambling and Lotteries Law of 2006
• Law on Lotteries and Gambling tax and fee
• Law On Lotteries of Goods and Services

The regulations themselves are relatively standard for European gambling laws. They outline strict requirements for obtaining a license and operating a gambling business, including customer protection laws, fairness verification, and problem gambling prevention. The laws also prescribe rules and conditions for various gambling services, ranging from roulette and slots to lotteries and sports betting.

One of the main reasons that live dealer studios took off in Riga is the strong legal framework for providing such services. This stands in stark contrast to many other gambling regulations across the world, which were exceedingly slow in addressing modern innovations such as live casino tables.

For starters, the law specifies that operators can only install registered and certified hardware and software. Each slot machine, game table and program must be registered with the Latvian Gambling and Lottery Supervision Inspection. This includes protocols that ensure fairness, transparency, and other protections for players.

Moreover, Latvia’s policies go out of their way to address live casino studio providers. Licenses are required for legally profiting from any gambling activity in the country. This includes “creating, managing, providing access to, or broadcasting online content necessary for gambling”. The part about ‘broadcasting’ specifically refers to live studios, and it’s one of the very few examples of gambling regulations that do so.

Licensing Authorities

The main regulatory body for gambling in Latvia is the Lotteries and Gambling Supervisory Inspection, working under the Ministry of Finance. The Inspection’s authority and jurisdiction are outlined by the law of 2006. However, the organisation itself dates back to 1998 and the first Latvian gambling laws in the post-Soviet era.

According to information available on its site, the Inspection’s main goals are:

• Control over compliance with laws and regulations governing lotteries and gambling, lotteries of goods and services within the territory of the Republic of Latvia
• Supervisory and control over the arrangement of lotteries, gambling, lotteries of goods and services, and participation in lotteries
• Performance and supervision of casinos and relevant taxation
• Aggregation and analysis of information concerning checks, results thereof, as well as violations of laws and regulations governing lotteries and gambling, lotteries of goods and services and reasons thereof.

In other words, the regulator is responsible for granting licenses, enforcing regulations, and monitoring compliance of gambling operators in the country. As previously mentioned, every individual game, casino, and operator has to be licensed, which grants the LGSI broad powers over the live casino vertical. You can find a complete list of licensed operators here, including licenses to operate “gambling services” such as live dealer studios.

Licensing Requirements for Operators and Studios

The key components of Latvia’s regulations are designed to promote fairness, protect customers, and ensure efficient taxation. Here is what the requirements include:

• Proof of financial stability – To obtain a gambling license in Latvia, a company must be a joint stock company registered in the same country. The amount of capital in shares must be at least EUR 1,400,000. Latvian shareholders must hold more than 51% of the company’s shares.
• Background checks – Confirmation that members of the board of directors, as well as auditors, are taxpayers of the EU or the EU economic zone, have an impeccable reputation and have the right to conduct business.
• Complete plan of gambling services – As noted above, individual games and gambling products must also be certified and licensed by the LGSI. In the case of online casinos, all games and live tables must be registered and provided by licensed companies.
• Financial tracking framework – License-holders must adhere to the law’s comprehensive AML (Anti-Money Laundering) policies and KYC (Know Your Customer) protocols that prevent shady financial movements, underage gambling, and other issues.
• Responsible gambling measures – License-holders have to provide tools such as time limits and self-exclusion. In fact, Latvia has its own nationwide self-exclusion scheme, much like Britain’s GamStop. Once players decide to self-exclude, they are prevented from registering in legal online casinos and are protected against aggressive advertisements, among other things.

Live Casino Studio Locations in Latvia

As mentioned previously, live gaming giants Evolution Gaming and Playtech, two of the world’s biggest software providers, make use of Latvia as a location for their studios.

Evolution Gaming was actually established in 2006, and unlike many other developers, they only deal with live products. Due to this, the company focuses all its attention on one area, and in doing so, provides quality products. Holding studios in both Malta and Latvia allows the organisation to offer hundreds of different tables, many of which are registered games with Latvian authorities. Evolution has since become the leading name in the live casino business, and Latvia is home to their flagship English-speaking streams and broadcasts.

Playtech, on the other hand, was formed in 1999 and is headquartered on the Isle of Man. The company operates two live dealer studios, one of which is in the Philippines and the other, of course, in Riga, Latvia. The latter was launched in 2009 and provides the company’s European market-facing games. Because of their two offices, one within and one outside of Europe, Playtech provides a huge range of live games, with in excess of 200 tables available. However, Playtech itself describes its Riga-based studio as “the place where the most spectacular and entertaining products come to Live.”

Lastly, LuckyStreak runs studio facilities in Riga, complete with an academy for croupiers. Although LuckyStreak’s portfolio is not as large and colorful as Evo’s or Playtech’s, the provider focuses on classics like roulette and blackjack, which attract thousands of players every day. This provider has also been known to work as an outsourced studio, allowing other providers to use their streams and equipment.