The Slovakian Gambling Regulatory Authority (URHH) said it expects revenue from land-based gaming to decline in 2025 as online gambling revenue jumped 30% to almost €476 million in 2024. 
URHH posted its annual report yesterday (11 March) outlining revenue, sales and tax income from the gambling industry for 2024. Last year, legal gambling in Slovakia reached a total player spend of €24.2 billion, up 11% from the previous year.
Total gambling revenue for the region across all verticals came in at €1.45 billion, an increase of 9.6% from 2023. When broken down further, online gambling revenue jumped 30% to almost €476 million in 2024.
This was based on an online player spend of €12.18 billion during 2024, of which €11.7 billion was paid back in winnings.
“The largest market share is still held by online casinos,” said Martin Bohoš, director general of the Gambling Regulatory Authority.
“Their significant growth is related to innovations in digital services, changes in consumer behaviour and effective regulation by the state.”
Source: URHH
Overall land-based revenue in Slovakia was €480 million, which includes €340 million in revenue from gambling rooms and €140 million in casino revenue. But the regulator said it expected this to decline into 2025.
“The Gambling Regulatory Authority expects that revenues from land-based gaming and casinos may decline in 2025, as a result of stricter regulations at the local government level,” the report said.
“At the same time, the authority stressed that this situation may lead to a shift of players to the illegal market, which will require stricter supervision and the introduction of more effective mechanisms to eliminate illegal activities,” it said in a statement.
Slovakian players lost €481 million in land-based gambling premises, €5 million more than via online sites.
Gambling tax increases 15%
The Slovakian state took in €347.3 million in gambling taxes in 2024, an increase of 15% year-on-year. However, gambling room state revenue fell by 5% to €58.95 million.
Casino gambling tax contribution was up by 26% to €16.40 million, while state revenue from online casino grew by 35% to €126.10 million in 2024.
Source: URHH (Rast = Growth)
Numerical lotteries also took in €47.6 million in taxes in 2024, up 9% on the previous year.
Gambling laws and regulations
Online gambling laws in Slovakia came into force on 1 March 2019. These gave provisions for operators from outside of Slovakia to apply for sports betting and casino licences.
Tackling illegal websites, the URHH said that it had added 89 more sites to its list of prohibited websites in 2024, a list that now stands at 820.
URHH established a specialised online gaming department in November 2022 that aimed to target illegal site operators in the country.
The regulator said it would continue to focus on the development of modern regulatory mechanisms “that will ensure the protection of players, the elimination of illegal practices and the stable development of the licensed gambling market in Slovakia”.
In 2023, roughly 80% of the licensed operators in the country signed up to a Code of Responsible Advertising, which has been developed by the URHH.
Operators agreed that under the code they would encourage responsible gaming and draw attention to the financial and addiction risks that gambling holds.
