North Macedonia introduces new monoply over online gambling in country

North Macedonia abandoed the private participation model in betting and moved to replacing it with fully state control. This mean, the country enters into a full online gambling monopoly.

The new Law on Games of Chance and Entertainment Games started to work on July 14th. This ended such significant timleline for the country, as it was operating under single regulatory framework since 2011.

Under this initial regulatory private operators could operate online gambling platforms only through partnershipsonline casino platforms through partnerships, where the state retained at least a 51% ownership stake and final decision-making authority.

The arrangement attracted investors from abroad to engage in joint ventures with the state lottery and kept gambling within licensed and taxed fields unlike directing players to online platforms.

After the May parliamentary elections of 2024, the new government prioritized the reform of online gaming. By September, the authorities already started revoking licenses from some private companies, such as the NOVO VLT, Mozzart, 77 BITS, Vezuv and 2Win.mk, among others.

The new law does not allow private companies to have any share in online gambling. The government will run the whole industry via a completely state-owned joint-stock company.

Private companies can still operate in the sphere of online gambling as well but only as suppliers of technology or content. The previous B2B licensing system has been removed.

Casinos and slot clubs will be obliged to keep at least 500 meters distance from primary and secondary schools. The operators will be required to demonstrate compliance with technical needs before the slot machine is put into operation.