Lengjan: Iceland’s Licensed Sports Betting Explained

Lengjan is the fixed-odds sports betting game of Íslenskar getraunir, the only company with statutory authority to run sports betting in Iceland. It sits on the same platform as Lottó at games.lotto.is, takes bets in Icelandic krónur, requires you to be 18 and to sign up with rafræn skilríki, and caps play at 150,000 kr. a day. Its winnings are exempt from tax by law, and its profits go to Icelandic sport. Everything below comes from Getraunir’s own rules and the act behind it, read on 9 October 2026.

We have no commercial relationship with Íslenskar getraunir. This is a factual guide, not a recommendation to bet.

Lengjan at a glance

What Lengjan is, and what else Getraunir sells

Getraunir describe Lengjan as a game where you tip the result of sports matches. It started in 1995 and has run without a break since. Four products sit under the Getraunir name:

• Lengjan: fixed odds on 1 (home win), X (draw) or 2 (away win), plus side markets such as handicap, over/under, both teams to score, correct score and first goalscorer. Sales on a match close five minutes before kick-off.
• Lengjan beint: in-play betting while the match is under way. Odds move with goals, cards and other events, and the odds held in the central computer at the moment you bet are the ones that count.
• Lengjusmiður: Getraunir’ bet builder, which combines markets inside one match. It is offered in selected football leagues for now.
• 1X2 pools: Enski boltinn is a 13-match coupon once a week, on Saturdays. Evrópuboltinn is a 13-match coupon twice a week, usually Sundays and Wednesdays. These are pool bets run with Svenska Spel; Getraunir say 65% of pool sales go to prizes.

On 9 October 2026 the Lengjan page listed football, basketball, ice hockey, tennis, handball, golf, American football, MMA and boxing, Icelandic Besta deild matches included.

Who runs it and where the money goes

Íslenskar getraunir was set up by the government under lög um getraunir nr. 59/1972, which took effect on 9 June 1972. The act gives the company the sole right to run sports pools (2. gr.) and is the only statutory authority for sports betting in Iceland. Its board has one member each from Íþróttanefnd ríkisins, UMFÍ, ÍSÍ, KSÍ and Íþróttabandalag Reykjavíkur (4. gr.). The ministry responsible for lotteries sets the regulation and supervises the games (5. gr.).

Three rules in the act matter most to players:

• 3. gr.: at least 40% of total sales must go to prizes, and winnings are exempt from all public charges in the year they are paid out.
• 9. gr.: once prizes, sales commissions and costs are paid, profit is split 70% to ÍSÍ, 20% to UMFÍ and 10% to the state sports fund. Getraunir name Íþróttanefnd ríkisins as the holder of the 10% share.
• 10. gr.: nobody else may run these pools, and sports betting without a special statutory authority is prohibited.

Íslenskar getraunir is a separate company from Íslensk getspá (Lottó), though they share the games.lotto.is platform. It is one of six domestic operators that may offer money games under a special act. Our guide to whether online gambling is legal in Iceland covers the other five and the wider law.

How to play Lengjan online

1. Register: new accounts can only be opened with rafræn skilríki (electronic ID). You confirm on your phone and pick a username and password; users re-authenticate once a year.
2. Fund the account: online bets are paid from a playing account (spilareikningur) topped up by card. Debit cards issued by Icelandic banks work; corporate cards and cards issued abroad do not.
3. Build the coupon: pick 1, X or 2 on your matches, open the side markets on any match, choose your stake and buy. Getraunir’ help page describes marking three to ten matches on a Lengjan coupon. The regulation allows one to ten.
4. Collect winnings: wins under 200,000 kr. on a single ticket go straight into the playing account. For bigger wins Getraunir contact you. Withdrawals go back to the card you paid with and usually take two working days.

Odds, stakes and payouts: the rules

Lengjan uses decimal odds with two decimals. Your total odds are the odds of every selection multiplied together, and a win pays the stake times the total odds. Getraunir’ own example: home wins at 1.50, 2.45 and 1.95 give total odds of 7.17, so a 1,000 kr. bet returns 7,170 kr. if all three are right. One wrong pick loses the whole stake.

How much margin is built into the fixed odds? Getraunir do not publish a payout percentage for Lengjan. On 9 October 2026 Liverpool v Man. City was priced 2.57, 3.44 and 2.33, and Arsenal v Leeds 1.36, 4.38 and 6.87. In both cases the implied probabilities add up to about 111%, a margin of roughly 10%. That is our one-day snapshot, not an official figure.

Responsible gambling tools

Getspá/Getraunir list these tools on their responsible play page (read 9 October 2026):

• Deposit limits per day, week and month, and a daily stake limit below the 150,000 kr. cap.
• A break or self-exclusion of up to three years under “Spilatakmarkanir” in Mínar síður. Any balance is returned to the card used for deposits.
• A history of your play, deposits and withdrawals.
• A self-test in Icelandic and their own line, 580-2500.

Iceland has no national self-exclusion register, so a Lengjan block does not stop you at any other site. Our responsible gambling guide covers the tools and help available beyond Getraunir.

Lengjan compared with offshore bookmakers

Iceland has no licence for foreign betting sites. In Alþingi on 25 September 2025 the Minister of Justice said foreign betting aimed at Icelanders “fer í bága við lög” (breaches the law). Players are not prosecuted in practice (police told RÚV on 21 October 2025 that none of 14 gambling matters in five years was investigated), and the law restricts the promotion of unlicensed gambling.

Tax is where people most often go wrong. Lengjan winnings are exempt because its own act says so. Winnings from foreign commercial bookmakers fall under lög 90/2003, which counts winnings from lotteries, bets and competitions as taxable income.

If you want to read how offshore sportsbooks treat Icelandic players, see our betting sites overview as further reading. Lengjan is betting, not casino, and no online casino is licensed in Iceland. The casinos in Reykjavík page explains what you can and cannot play in person, and the Iceland Casino home page links to the rest of our guides.

Free help in Iceland

Betting 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
• Getspá/Getraunir: 580-2500, for limits, self-exclusion and information on help

How we checked this page

On 9 October 2026 we read, from an Icelandic connection, Getraunir’ pages “Getraunir”, “Spilareglur lengjunnar”, “Ábyrg spilun”, “Aðstoð” and “Fyrirtækið” on games.lotto.is, plus the live Lengjan odds page. We read the regulation for Íslenskar getraunir (in force from 19 September 2022) as published by Getraunir, and lög um getraunir nr. 59/1972 and lög um tekjuskatt nr. 90/2003 on althingi.is (version 158a, 1 October 2026). The margin figure is our own arithmetic from odds shown that day. Gunnar Sigurðsson wrote the page and Helga Björnsdóttir checked the legal and tax points.

Related guides

• how our scores are set
• Editorial policy
• the legal position in Iceland
• Help, limits and self-exclusion

Frequently asked questions

What is Lengjan?

Lengjan is the fixed-odds sports betting game of Íslenskar getraunir, the company set up under lög um getraunir nr. 59/1972. It has run since 1995, online and at retail outlets, and its profits go to Icelandic sport.

Is Lengjan legal in Iceland?

Yes. Íslenskar getraunir holds a special statutory authority under act 59/1972, and 10. gr. of that act bars anyone else from running sports betting without its own statutory authority.

How old do you have to be to play Lengjan?

18. Getspá/Getraunir state that nobody under 18 may play any of their games, online or at a retail outlet.

How much can you bet on Lengjan?

The regulation for Íslenskar getraunir sets a minimum of 100 kr. and a maximum of 12,000 kr. per Lengjan coupon, up to 252,000 kr. on a system coupon. Play is also capped at 150,000 kr. per day across all Getraunir games.

Are Lengjan winnings taxed?

No. 3. gr. of act 59/1972 exempts Getraunir winnings from all public charges in the year they are paid out. Offshore bookmaker winnings, by contrast, are taxable income under lög 90/2003.

What happens to a Lengjan bet if a match is postponed?

The postponed match counts as correct at odds of 1.00 and the rest of the coupon stands. If every match on the coupon is postponed, the coupon is cancelled and the stake refunded.