Online gambling, specifically sports betting, is now legal in Albania, following the 2018 ban lift.
Albania Lifts Gambling Ban, Allows Online Sports Betting
After a five-year ban, the Albanian parliament has reinstated online sports betting in the country. The new law, passed in February 2024, will allow up to 10 sports betting sites to operate online in Albania. However, the specific names of these authorized betting providers have not been publicly disclosed.
The gambling market in Albania has been a contentious issue for several years. In 2013, the parliament attempted to curb the illegal gambling market with the campaign End of Madness. Despite this, the Albanian government faced problems with illegal gambling in the country before the sports betting ban was implemented in 2018.
Prime Minister Edi Rama expressed regret that illegal gambling activities in Albania are carried out by lawbreakers and high-ranking elements of organized crime. The parliament was united in the opinion that criminal organizations had a great influence on the gambling industry in the country. In 2015, a new law was passed to further restrict the betting market and protect players from illegal gambling providers.
The gambling ban, initiated by the ruling Socialist Party in 2018, was implemented on January 1, 2019. However, the operation of a casino was still permitted during the ban. In 2022, Prime Minister Edi Rama announced the intention to regulate gambling in Albania due to the impossibility of completely removing illegal gambling.
Under the new law, online sports betting will be permitted exclusively, with physical betting shops remaining illegal in the country. Betting slips in betting shops will remain prohibited. A licensing commission will decide which betting providers will receive a license in Albania.
Illegal gambling was punishable by severe fines in Albania at the time. With the lifting of the ban, it is hoped that the regulation of online sports betting will provide a safer and more controlled environment for bettors.
The Gambling Supervisory Authority in Albania regulates the market, overseeing licensing and compliance. Popular betting providers like 22Bet and MegaPari are known to be available and accessible in Albania, suggesting they might be among the licensed operators or at least widely used by Albanian bettors. However, it is not explicitly stated they are among the licensed entities.
Rigels Xhemollari of the Tirana-based organization Qendresa Qytetare criticized the lifting of the betting ban, calling it a "resumption of stupidity" and a law that restores "death" in 2015, the influence of criminality on sports betting, and the social drama of people with addiction problems.
As the Albanian government has not yet announced which online betting providers will receive an official gambling license in the country, bettors will have to wait and see which providers they will be able to legally bet with in the future.
Online casinos from Germany, such as casino-and-gambling, might consider expanding their services to Albania, given the new law allowing up to 10 sports betting sites to operate online. Interested parties could potentially include sports-betting providers, keen on tapping into the regulated sports betting market in Albania.
