Lithuania’s ruling coalition is weighing a progressive gambling tax with rates of 27%, 32% and 37%, a plan that Seimas member Tomas Tomilinas says would bring about €36m into the state budget, the national broadcaster LRT reported on 10 November.
Tomilinas, a member of the Democratic Union “For Lithuania” parliamentary group, submitted the proposal to the Seimas in 2025. According to LRT, he said an agreement had already been reached on his plan, which the governing coalition’s tax working group discussed in the first week of November.
The progressive gambling tax proposal
The three rates would apply to the tax base for lotteries and gambling. The revenue bands at which each rate would start have not been made public, and the €36m estimate is Tomilinas’s own.
Tomilinas said the government should give a positive opinion on the plan together with the budget. He accepted a transition period of six months before any new rates come into force.
Having them take effect after six months is non-negotiable. We are talking about the three-year budget and its needs.
Tomas Tomilinas, Member of the Seimas, Democratic Union “For Lithuania” parliamentary group, to LRT (translated from Lithuanian)
No final deal in the coalition
Other MPs gave a more cautious account. Aušrinė Norkienė, a Seimas member from the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union and Christian Families Alliance group, told LRT on 9 November that the tax working group had reached no final agreements and that “this is still a working process.”
Algirdas Sysas, the Social Democrat chairman of the Seimas Committee on Budget and Finance, called the talks “discussions” and said compromises could perhaps be found. The working group is also looking at higher reduced VAT rates, a heavier personal income tax for the highest earners and an annual vehicle tax.
The search for revenue follows a draft 2027 budget with €37.67bn in revenue and €41.87bn in spending. The Ministry of Finance forecasts a deficit of 3.8% of GDP in 2027, according to LRT.
Lithuania’s wider gambling reforms
Taxes from gambling and lotteries brought in €46.43m in the first half of 2026, up 11.4% year on year, while gambling organisers’ income rose 16.8% to €153.6m, according to the Gaming Control Authority (LPT).
The tax talks run alongside reforms to the Gaming Law. A phased advertising ban started on 1 July 2025: operators may show their name and brands only at their headquarters and venues, betting commercials on TV, radio and online are capped at 15 seconds, and a full advertising ban follows in 2028, according to LRT.
The Ministry of Finance has also proposed mandatory player cards for all gambling venues by January 2029, and Lithuania blocked Polymarket as unlicensed gambling in September.
Next steps
The coalition council is due to meet on 11 November to hear the working group’s final findings. Tomilinas said nothing would be made public before that meeting. If the plan goes ahead on his terms, the new rates would apply six months after the law is adopted.
Source: LRT
