Is Online Gambling Legal in Iceland? The Law Explained (2026)

Short answer: Iceland has no licence for online casinos, and none of the foreign casino sites Icelanders use is licensed here. Money gambling is only allowed under a special act of parliament, and just six domestic operators have one. Even so, no Icelandic law makes it a crime for a player to gamble on a foreign site, and we found no case of a player being prosecuted. Winnings from foreign commercial casinos count as taxable income.

This page sets out what the law actually says, quoting the Lotteries Act (lög um happdrætti nr. 38/2005) and the Penal Code (almenn hegningarlög nr. 19/1940) from the consolidated texts on althingi.is, version 158a of 1 October 2026. It then covers the advertising ban, tax, enforcement and the reform debate. All facts were checked on 8 October 2026.

The position at a glance

The Lotteries Act, lög um happdrætti nr. 38/2005

The act is the backbone of Icelandic gambling law. Its scope in 1. gr. is wide: it applies to “hvers konar happdrætti með þátttöku almennings, með eða án framlags, þar sem vinningur er valinn að nokkru eða öllu leyti með tilviljunarkenndum hætti eða vinningur ræðst af úrslitum keppni eða atburðar”. In English: any lottery open to the public, with or without a stake, where the prize is decided wholly or partly by chance or by the result of a competition or event. That wording covers casino games and sports betting as well as raffles.

Two rules in 2. gr. do most of the work. The first paragraph says that, to keep public order and limit harm, “óheimilt [er] að reka happdrætti nema með leyfi sýslumanns” (no lottery may be run without a licence from the district commissioner). The second paragraph is the one that matters for casinos:

“Happdrætti þar sem spilað er um peninga eða peningaígildi er óheimilt að reka nema samkvæmt sérstakri lagaheimild.”

Translated: a lottery played for money or money’s worth may only be run under a specific statutory authorisation. No such statute exists for online casinos, so there is no licence a casino company could apply for. Article 3 closes the door further. Ordinary lottery licences may only go to an association or institution based in the EEA that raises money “til almannaheilla hér á landi” (for public-benefit causes in Iceland), which rules out commercial operators.

Under 6. gr. the district commissioner may set a minimum age for a lottery, and it may not be lower than 18. Supervision sits with the sýslumaður under 10. gr., while the ministry supervises the six money-game operators. The act has not been amended since 2011 (acts 61/2010 and 126/2011). One administrative change is coming: the government plans to merge the nine district commissioner offices into a single office from 1 January 2027, which will change who issues charity raffle licences but not the rules for money games.

Who is allowed to offer gambling in Iceland

Each of the six licensed operators runs under its own act. Only Íslensk getspá and Íslenskar getraunir sell games online, on a shared platform at lotto.is. None of the six offers online slots or casino tables.

The Getspá, HHÍ, DAS and SÍBS authorisations run to 1 January 2034. If you want to know where the gaming machines are, our page on casinos and gaming halls in Reykjavík explains why there is no casino in the capital and what exists instead.

The government’s view of foreign sites is plain. Justice Minister Þorbjörg Sigríður Gunnlaugsdóttir told Alþingi on 25 September 2025 that foreign betting aimed at Icelanders “fer í bága við lög” (breaches the law) and that “Á Íslandi er ekki sérhæft eftirlit með erlendri veðmálastarfsemi” (there is no specialised supervision of foreign betting in Iceland). She described the market as formally closed, the model Norway uses.

The Penal Code, article 183

The general Penal Code adds a second layer. Article 183 reads:

“Sá, sem gerir sér fjárhættuspil eða veðmál að atvinnu eða það að koma öðrum til þátttöku í þeim, skal sæta sektum … eða fangelsi allt að 1 ári, ef miklar sakir eru. Ákveða skal með dómi, hvort vinningi af fjárhættuspili eða veðmáli skuli skilað aftur eða hvort hann skuli gerður upptækur.”

In English: anyone who makes gambling or betting their business, or makes a business of getting others to take part in it, faces fines, or up to one year in prison in serious cases, and a court decides whether gambling winnings are returned or confiscated. Article 184 punishes earning income from gambling held on premises a person controls, also with up to one year. Both articles aim at organisers and recruiters. Neither targets someone who simply places a bet.

The advertising ban

Article 11 of the Lotteries Act sets the penalties. It is an offence, punishable by fines or up to six months in prison, to intentionally or through gross negligence run lottery or betting activity in Iceland without a licence (point a), or to:

“auglýs[a], kynn[a] eða miðl[a] hvers konar upplýsingum um happdrætti sem ekki hefur verið veitt leyfi fyrir samkvæmt lögum þessum eða uppfyllir ekki skilyrði laganna, óháð því hvort starfsemi þess er rekin hérlendis eða erlendis.”

That is point b: advertising, promoting or spreading any information about an unlicensed lottery, whether it is run in Iceland or abroad. The “abroad” clause was added in 2010. Extensive or repeated breaches carry up to one year, and companies can be fined.

Media law adds an administrative ban. The Media Act, lög um fjölmiðla nr. 38/2011, 37. gr. 4. mgr., bars registered media from carrying commercial communications for lottery and betting activity “sem ekki hefur leyfi lögum samkvæmt hér á landi”. Under 54. gr. the media committee, fjölmiðlanefnd, can fine media providers up to ISK 10 million.

In practice, sanctions so far have been modest and aimed at Icelandic media companies:

• August 2022: fjölmiðlanefnd fined Sýn hf. ISK 1,000,000 over alcohol and Coolbet commercial communications in the Vísir podcast Þungavigtin (decision 5/2022). Our Coolbet review covers the background.
• August 2025: Síminn hf. was fined ISK 1,000,000 for Rizk ads shown on Síminn Sport between December 2023 and March 2024 (decision 2/2025).
• October 2021: two podcasts were found to have breached the registration duty and the betting-ad ban, with no fine (opinions 1/2021 and 2/2021).

We found no criminal conviction of a website, influencer or club under article 11. That is why we describe the law carefully and never present any foreign casino as licensed in Iceland.

What this means for players

Here is the practical reading for someone in Reykjavík or Akureyri who opens an account at a foreign casino. You are not breaking a criminal provision by playing. The law aims at operators, advertisers and those who recruit players as a business. According to the National Police Commissioner, quoted by RÚV on 21 October 2025, 14 matters about gambling and betting law reached the police in five years and none led to an investigation.

That does not make the sites safe or protected. The casino has no Icelandic licence, no Icelandic authority supervises it, and an Icelandic court or regulator cannot help you in a dispute. Your protection comes from the foreign licence, the casino’s own terms and your own limits. A Malta (MGA) or other EEA licence is still a foreign licence: it does not change the Icelandic position. The casinos in our lists hold licences from Anjouan, which we state on every card.

Three more points are worth knowing before you deposit:

• No foreign casino we know of offers ISK accounts, so you play in euros and your bank adds a currency fee. Our guide to euro casinos works through the cost, using the Central Bank of Iceland rate of 137.0 kr. per euro on 8 October 2026.
• Withdrawal caps, ID checks and bonus rules are set by the casino. Read them first; our casino bonus guide explains wagering.
• Some banks block cards for minors (see below), and a card payment can be declined without notice.

Tax on gambling winnings

The Income Tax Act, lög um tekjuskatt nr. 90/2003, lists taxable income in 7. gr. Point A, item 4, includes “Verðlaun og heiðurslaun, vinningar í happdrætti, veðmáli eða keppni” (prizes and winnings from lotteries, bets or competitions). Only low-value prizes in general lotteries are left out.

The exemption is narrow. Under 30. gr. A-liður 3. tölul., winnings are exempt if a special act makes them so, or if the lottery is licensed (in Iceland, elsewhere in the EEA or EFTA, or in the Faroe Islands) and all of its profit goes to cultural, humanitarian or church purposes. Each of the six Icelandic special acts exempts its own winnings from public charges, so a Lottó or HHÍ win is not taxed.

Commercial casinos abroad, whether licensed in Malta, Curaçao or Anjouan, do not give all their profit to good causes. Their winnings therefore fall under the general rule and are taxable income. Skatturinn put it this way to RÚV: income “sama hvaða nafni þær nefnast” (whatever it is called) is taxable, and that applies to income from betting too. We have not found a published Skatturinn rule on offsetting losses against winnings, so ask Skatturinn directly before you file.

A simple worked example: if you withdraw €2,000 more than you deposited at a foreign casino in a year, that is about 274,000 kr. at 137.0 kr. per euro. Treat that as income to declare, and keep your deposit and withdrawal records. Several competitor sites tell Icelanders the opposite, which is wrong.

Blocking, payments and banks

Iceland does not block gambling websites and has no law stopping banks from processing payments to them. A government bill that would have done so, þingskjal 615 in the 141st session (2012–2013), proposed a state gambling authority and a ban on payment services to unlicensed lotteries “hvort sem starfsemi þess er rekin á Íslandi eða erlendis”. It was never passed.

Some banks act on their own. The Justice Minister told Alþingi that Íslandsbanki had, according to media reports, blocked payment cards of customers under 18 at betting sites. Landsbankinn’s prepaid children’s card, Vasapeningar, blocks merchants such as casinos by merchant category code. Card spending tells you the scale: Icelandic cards spent about ISK 18 billion at foreign betting sites in 2024, according to Statistics Iceland figures reported by RÚV.

Reform: what has been proposed and where it stands

• 2021–2023: a ministry working group studied the gambling laws. Its report, published 13 January 2023, records that the group could not agree. The chair’s proposals included player cards, measures against illegal online gambling and letting the existing licensees go online.
• 2024: a private members’ bill to ban slot machines and a resolution on betting on youth sport were tabled in the 155th session. Neither was passed.
• 25 September 2025: Alþingi held a special debate, “Ólögleg veðmálastarfsemi á Íslandi”. The minister spoke of “einhvers konar umgjörð samhliða eftirliti” (some framework together with supervision) but tabled no bill.
• October 2026: the government’s legislative agenda for the 158th session has no item on lotteries, betting or gambling.

So as of 8 October 2026 there is no licensing regime in sight, no blocking and no change to the advertising rules. We will update this page when a bill appears.

How big is offshore gambling in Iceland?

The minister cited a working-group estimate of ISK 10–12 billion a year spent on foreign sites. Newer data is higher. A 2025 study by Yield Sec, commissioned by HHÍ and reported by RÚV, put the 2025 total at about ISK 36 billion, with around 80% of Icelanders’ betting going offshore and 561 foreign sites used in the first quarter of 2025. Surveys by Daníel Þór Ólason, cited in Alþingi, found that the share of Icelanders playing on foreign websites rose from about 0.5% in 2007 to about 7% in 2023, and about 0.7% of adults show signs of probable gambling disorder.

How Iceland Casino handles this

We do not claim that any foreign casino is licensed or approved in Iceland. Every casino card on our Iceland Casino home page and in our online casino guide names the foreign licence and says “Not licensed in Iceland”. We show euro amounts with a krónur equivalent, never describe winnings as untaxed, and keep 18+ and help numbers on every page. This page has no casino list on purpose. Our rating method and editorial policy explain how we check facts.

Free help in Iceland

Gambling is for adults (18+) only. If it has stopped being fun, these services are free:

• SÁÁ: 530-7600, [email protected] (free gambling-addiction programme)
• Hjálparsími Rauða krossins: 1717, open 24/7, free and anonymous, also web chat
• GA samtökin (Gamblers Anonymous): 698-3888
• Heilsuvera: 513-1700, or 112 in an emergency

Our responsible gambling guide covers limits, self-exclusion and bank tools in more detail.

How we checked this page

We read the consolidated texts of lög 38/2005, the Penal Code 19/1940, the Income Tax Act 90/2003 and the Media Act 38/2011 on althingi.is (version 158a, 1 October 2026), plus the six special acts. We read the minister’s speeches of 25 September 2025 in the Alþingi record, fjölmiðlanefnd decisions 5/2022 and 2/2025 on its website, the government’s 158th-session legislative agenda on stjornarradid.is, and RÚV’s report of 21 October 2025. Helga Björnsdóttir wrote the page and Kristín Óskarsdóttir checked every quotation against the source. This is general information, not legal advice.

Related guides

• our ranked casino list
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Frequently asked questions

Is online gambling legal in Iceland?

Not in the licensed sense. Money gambling needs a special act of parliament (lög 38/2005, 2. gr.), only six domestic operators have one, and none offers online casino games. Foreign casinos have no Icelandic licence. Playing on them is not a criminal offence for the player, and no player prosecutions have been reported.

Can I be prosecuted for playing at a foreign online casino?

No Icelandic law makes it an offence for a player to gamble on a foreign site. The Lotteries Act and Penal Code 183. gr. target operators, promoters and people who recruit players as a business. Police received 14 gambling-law matters in five years and investigated none (RÚV, 21 October 2025).

Do I pay tax on winnings from foreign casinos in Iceland?

Yes. Winnings from lotteries, bets and competitions are taxable income under lög 90/2003, 7. gr. A-liður 4. tölul. The exemption covers only the six Icelandic licensed operators and lotteries whose whole profit goes to good causes, which commercial casinos do not meet.

Is there an online casino licence in Iceland?

No. Iceland has no licensing system for online casinos or for foreign operators. The only online money games come from Íslensk getspá and Íslenskar getraunir (Lottó, EuroJackpot, Lengjan) on lotto.is.

Does Iceland block gambling sites or card payments?

No law blocks gambling websites or payments as of October 2026. A 2012–2013 bill to ban payment services to unlicensed lotteries was never passed. Some banks restrict cards for under-18s on their own initiative.

What is the minimum gambling age in Iceland?

18. The Lotteries Act does not allow a lower limit than 18, and Getspá, Getraunir, HHÍ and Íslandsspil all apply 18. Some HHÍ machine venues set 20.

Is an MGA or Curaçao licence valid in Iceland?

No foreign licence is recognised in Iceland. A Malta, Curaçao or Anjouan licence lets the operator run under that regulator’s rules, but it does not give it permission to offer gambling to Icelanders under Icelandic law.