Lithuania’s gambling market generated €65.7m in gross gaming revenue in Q1 2026, up 6% year-on-year, as digital channels extended their lead over a contracting land-based sector.
Online Takes 76% of Market as Land-Based Falls
Data from the Lithuanian Gaming Control Authority shows online GGR reached €50.1m in the quarter, a 13.5% increase from Q1 2025. Land-based revenue fell 11.9% to €15.6m. Digital channels accounted for 76% of total market revenue — up from 73% in full-year 2024 and tracking consistently higher with each reporting period.
The divergence reflects a structural shift that has been building for several years. Europe’s gross gambling revenue reached €123.4bn in 2024, with online accounting for the majority of growth across major markets, and Lithuania’s trajectory follows that pattern at a more compressed scale.
Casino Products Drive Online Growth, Betting Declines
The online split was pronounced. Slot games and table games together generated €41.2m, up 25% year-on-year. Online betting revenue moved in the opposite direction, falling by almost 20% to €8.7m.
The online betting decline follows Lithuania’s phased advertising restrictions introduced from July 2025. Operators can now air gambling ads no more than three times per hour during daytime and two per hour in the evening. Pop-up advertising is banned. Full sponsorship restrictions are scheduled for 2028, and the marketing environment for sports betting in particular is tightening with each phase.
Land-Based: Tables Up, Slots Fall
Within the land-based sector, results split by product. Table game revenue grew 6.5% to €3.8m, the only positive figure in the physical channel. Slot machine revenue fell 13% to €10.1m — a steeper drop than the overall land-based decline of 11.9%, pulling the segment average down.
Lithuania’s land-based decline mirrors patterns seen elsewhere in the region. Latvia’s gambling market reported €299.6m in full-year 2025 revenue, where performance across segments was similarly uneven, with online activity absorbing growth while parts of the physical estate contracted.
Lottery Turnover Grows Modestly
Lottery ticket sales reached €40.9m in Q1, up 3.6% year-on-year. Operator payouts rose at a faster rate — up 11.2% to €23.9m — compressing the effective margin relative to the same quarter in 2025.
Player Card Legislation Moves Forward
The Q1 figures arrive as Lithuania advances a significant regulatory proposal. The Ministry of Finance has put forward legislation requiring all gamblers — online and in person — to hold a player card connected to a central database. The system would log all gambling activity in real time across licensed operators, enabling monitoring of individual spend and triggering risk management interventions when thresholds are reached.
Officials have described the rollout as technically demanding. The provisions are targeted for 1 January 2029, with a transition period built in to allow operators and technology providers to adapt their systems. The proposal also includes measures to block unlicensed gambling websites and plans for future loss limits.
The player card measure sits within a broader regulatory tightening already in motion. Compliance obligations across European markets have intensified, and Lithuania is among the more active jurisdictions building out its supervisory infrastructure. From the start of 2026, all banks licensed by the Bank of Lithuania are required to monitor gambling-related transactions and report suspicious activity to the Gaming Control Authority, with payment blocks on blacklisted operators required within 24 hours of instruction. Remote operators face a separate deadline — connection to the LAKIS central monitoring platform — set for May 2026.
The moderation in Lithuania’s overall growth rate — 6% in Q1 2026 against 13.4% in H1 2025 — will sharpen scrutiny of whether tighter marketing rules are compressing acquisition, particularly in the online betting segment where the Q1 decline was most acute.
Source: Lithuanian Gaming Control Authority
