Gambling, casinos, slot halls and online casinos in Luxembourg

In a study issued in November 2008, the European Parliament ranked Luxembourg third in the list of countries having the highest gross gaming revenue per capita in the EU. However, the country only has two main historical gambling operators: The National Lottery and Casino 2000 Montdorf. The casino gaming revenue in Luxembourg in 2017 amounted to EUR 41 million.

Laws and Regulators

The Gambling Law 1977 on the operation of games of chance is the main law regulating gambling in Luxembourg. The Ministry of Justice is responsible for issuing authorizations to private operators seeking to offer casino games, lotteries, and sports-betting products (http://mj.public.lu/).

Land Based Casinos

The Regulation 1979 (as amended) sets out the legal framework for casinos. It defines the conditions required for authorization and provides the list of authorized games. There is only one authorized and regulated casino operator in Luxembourg, Casino 2000 Montdorf.

Casino 2000 offers semi-automatic games and pure table games. Slot machines are also provided in a separate room. The Regulation 2014 allows a system of electronic gaming card for slot machines. Slots account for a vast majority of Casino 2000 revenues. Casino 2000 cannot offer any online gaming services.

Casino 2000 is open Mon-Tue 10:00am-03:00am, Fri-Sun 10:00am-6:00am. Slot machine area is available daily from 10:00am. The minimum bet while playing slots is EUR 0.01. Table games are offered daily from 7:00pm, except Sunday when they are in operation from 4:00pm. Valid proof of identity must be shown. The minimum gambling age in Luxembourg is 18. Smoking is prohibited. In 2002, Casino 2000 introduced the “Play It Safe” program in order to limit the risks related to problem gambling.

Online Gambling

The National Lottery Law 2009 indirectly defines online gambling as any “form of lotteries and sports-betting organized through information society services/tools”. The National Lottery Law only applies to the online gambling organized by the National Lottery. The current gambling legislation does not distinguish between land-based games and online games.

The National Lottery is the only entity carrying out online gambling activities in Luxembourg under a license. It is entitled to operate its commercial distribution network for any forms of online lotteries and sports-betting products, being de facto a monopoly.