Estonia’s Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (TTJA) found that 104 of the 230 gambling advertisements it inspected during a 2025 supervisory project breached the country’s Advertising Act, a 45% failure rate recorded among licensed operators.
The finding has put advertising regulation back in scope at the same time Estonia is cutting its remote gambling tax to compete with Malta and Gibraltar for operator registrations. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications has confirmed it is considering changes to the Advertising Act, without saying what those changes would be.
Breaches spread across several categories
Diana Lints, Head of Services Supervision Office at the TTJA, told national public broadcaster ERR that the breaches did not cluster in one area. They covered misleading advertisements, problem gambling warning texts that fell short of the statutory requirement, and marketing that is prohibited outright under Estonian law.
The regulator has not named the operators involved or published a company-level breakdown. The sample matters because it covers licensed firms only, so the 45% figure describes companies already inside the regulated perimeter and already subject to TTJA supervision, not offshore sites reaching Estonian players without a licence.
What the Advertising Act already requires
Estonia’s Advertising Act states that gambling advertising must not encourage people to gamble and must not present gambling as a route to wealth. Problem gambling messaging has to be prominent across a campaign, and TTJA guidance advises operators to avoid the use of influencers.
None of that is new law, and nothing in the 2025 project suggests the statutory text was unclear. The gap sits between what the Act requires and what licensees ran in market.
Estonia would not be the first market in the region to respond by changing the rules rather than the enforcement. Denmark has been moving toward its own advertising restrictions while its online casino segment continues to grow, and advertising was one of the most active areas of European regulatory work through 2025, as set out in our review of the year in European iGaming compliance.
Ministry keeps the option open
Mari-Liis Aas, Consumer Protection Adviser at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, confirmed to ERR that a review is underway but gave no timeline or scope.
“Since the entire process is still at a very early stage, it is unfortunately not yet possible to say whether or to what extent gambling advertising regulation will be changed in the future.”
That leaves operators with an open question rather than a consultation to respond to. The practical read is that the government will watch whether compliance improves before deciding how far to go.
The tax cut running alongside it
The Riigikogu approved a phased reduction of the remote gambling tax by 51 votes to 31 with one abstention. The rate falls by 0.5 percentage points a year from 6% of gross gaming revenue (GGR), moving to 5.5% at the start of 2026 and reaching 4% on 1 January 2029. That would give Estonia one of the lowest headline online gambling tax rates in Europe.
The Ministry of Finance estimated the cut will reduce gambling tax receipts by €6m in 2026, €8m in 2027, €10m in 2028 and €13m in 2029. The policy case for accepting that loss is that a lower rate attracts enough new licensees and economic activity to make it back.
The comparison operators will make is with jurisdictions that are themselves moving on tax. Malta, the benchmark Estonian officials keep citing, is overhauling its gambling VAT and gaming tax treatment from October 2026.
What operators control
A tax rate is a fixed number that a licensee cannot influence. Advertising rules are not fixed, and the 2025 inspection results give the Ministry a documented evidence base for tightening them. Restrictions on channels, creative content or influencer use would raise player acquisition costs for exactly the operators the tax cut is designed to attract.
The TTJA has not announced a follow-up inspection round, and the Ministry has not opened a formal consultation. Whether the next set of compliance figures looks different from 45% is the input the government has said it will be watching.
Source: Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (TTJA)
