G3-247 Report ESTONIA MARKET REPORT


Meanwhile Estonia’s income from foreign tourism in 2013 amounted to €1.35bn and Estonia received some six million visitors last year an increase of 13 percent on 2012 figures. The tourism industry forms over 13 percent of the GDP.


THE GAMBLING MARKET The gambling market in Estonia is fairly new territory.


When it was part of the USSR all types of gambling activities were banned even though illegal casinos still operated despite the prohibition. However the real his- tory of gambling in Estonia began once the country was released from Soviet rule in the early 1990s. At this time the country was so eager to bring in foreign companies that they immediately legalised gambling and dished out licences like sweets at a kids party.


It all began in 1994/95 when the first Lottery Act of 1994 and the first Gambling Act of 1995 came into force and these opened the doors to legal gambling.


Firstly the state lottery was set up in 1991 and by 1995 the Gambling Act was introduced which although brought law and order still offered a very relaxed indus- try.


The gambling act of 1995 introduced four types of gam- bling namely games of chance, games of skill, total-


Gaming boomed during the


1990s and there were some 90 plus casinos in the capital Tallinn by 2008 and over 170 gaming houses and casinos in total in


01 In Estonia’s capital city of Tallinn, free public transportation if offered to anyone who is a registered resident of the city. Despite the costs to the city for providing the initial transport, it means more people register as residents. This, in turn, means more tax revenue for Tallinn’s administration. Not only that, but— because people can move freely and cheaply around the city—it appears the program, at least initially, is actually improving the business of local shop owners. Due to the program, more people are using public transport and there fewer cars are on the road, so the environment wins too.


02 Estonia is a very tech-savvy country, with most classrooms and homes having an Internet connection. For the sake of convenience, Estonians decided to automate electoral voting in 2005.


the country. However when the global crisis hit, Estonia also suffered.


its rapid growth and in 2011 Estonia adopted the Euro and became the 17th Euro Zone member state.


It has a balanced budget and non existent public debt, flat rate income tax, free trade regime and competitive commercial banking. It is mainly influenced by devel- opments in Finland, Sweden and Germany, which are its three largest trade partners. There has been an emphasis on making Estonia a world leader in technology with talk of an ‘e-economy’.


The country saw an investment boom in the early 2000s but then the global recession saw GDP in Estonia decrease by 1.4 percent in the second quarter of 2008 and by over three percent in the third quarter of that year and nine percent by the fourth quarter of 2008.


By 2010 the economy had stabilised and began to grow based on strong exports. GDP in Estonia increased by 2.2 percent in the second quarter of 2014 compared to the same quarter in 2013. However over half the GDP is cre- ated in Tallinn whilst the unemployment rate is current- ly around 6.9 percent.


isators and betting and according to this act all operators had to obtain an activity licence and an operation per- mit. Licences were issued for 10 years whilst operational permits provided for five years.


Gaming boomed during this period and there were some 90 plus casinos in the capital Tallinn by 2008 and over 170 gaming houses and casinos in total in the country. However when the global crisis hit, Estonia also suf- fered.


Gaming taxes are used to finance various activities but as the number of licensed gambling premises in Estonia reduced during 2010 from about 160 to 100 so did gam- bling revenue which fell to EKK300m leaving some charities struggling with less revenues passed their way.


In 2009 the new Gambling Act 2008 came into place and the main change was that it provided a legal basis for the rapidly developing online gambling industry. It replaced the previous two acts and at a later date there were some minor changes made to this act in 2012 and again in 2014 and there are also rumours that the


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