Message 001
Communication from the Commission - TRIS/(2025) 0279
Directive (EU) 2015/1535
Notification: 2025/0060/AT
Notification of a draft text from a Member State
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MSG: 20250279.EN
1. MSG 001 IND 2025 0060 AT EN 30-01-2025 AT NOTIF
2. Austria
3A. Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Wirtschaft
Abteilung V/8
A-1010 Wien, Stubenring 1
Telefon +43-1/71100-805433
E-Mail: not9834@bmaw.gv.at
3B. Amt der Salzburger Landesregierung
Fachgruppe 0/3: Legislativ- und Verfassungsdienst
A-5020 Salzburg
E-Mail: landeslegistik@salzburg.gv.at
4. 2025/0060/AT - H10 - Games of chance
5. Act of ..... on the operation of games of chance with slot machines in amusement arcades in the State of Salzburg (Salzburger Glücksspielautomatengesetz 2026 – S. GSpAutG 2026)
6. Operation of state-licenced games of chance with slot machines
7.
8. The amendments to the Gambling Act published in the Federal Law Gazette (BGBl) under No 73/2010 have fundamentally restructured the field of gambling in Austria. Until the entry into force of the 2010 amendment to the Gaming Act, there was no overarching legal framework for “small games of chance” exempted from the Federal Government's monopoly on games of chance, neither with regard to regulatory requirements for operators entitled under the individual provisions of federal state law to operate “small games of chance”, nor with regard to player protection, which ultimately led the Federal legislature to conclude that “unclear rules of competence and different supervisory standards [...] make uniform enforcement in Austria more difficult”. With the 2010 amendment to the Gaming Act, “small games of chance” – now in the guise of “state-licenced games of chance with slot machines” – remained within the competence of the federal state, but only to the extent that they comply with the strict regulatory requirements formulated in Section 5 of the GSpG and with the requirements for player protection (cf. Section 4(2) of the GSpG: “in accordance with Section 5”).
The key points of the 2010 amendment to the Gaming Act are, according to the explanatory notes (BlgNR 981, XXIV. GP):
- protection of minors,
- player protection and social security of families and children,
- rules instead of prohibitions,
- efficient control, and
- fair competition.
9. For the “new” area of state-licenced games of chance with slot machines, the 2010 amendment to the Gaming Act provides the following provisions, which are also binding for federal state legislators, with which “the importance of responsible gambling is to be emphasised and made even more visible”:
- reorganisation of slot machine gambling in the form of state-licenced games of chance in amusement arcades or on individual slot machines,
- large new package of player protection measures for state-licenced games of chance with slot machines,
- gambling supervision of the state-licenced games of chance with slot machines,
- networking of slot machines with the Federal Data Centre (electronic connection) to improve tax compliance, and
- control of the slot machine map through legal requirements for maximum licence numbers, slot machine density, and reporting obligations on granted licences.
Unlike the federal states of Burgenland, Carinthia, Lower Austria, Upper Austria, and Styria, the Salzburg state legislature has not yet exercised its competence to regulate the state-licenced games of chance with slot machines. However, it cannot ignore the fact that—as the explanatory notes to the 2010 amendment to the Gaming Act state—“mere prohibitions do not prevent the unlicenced installation of machines” and that “effective control of rules [...] channels gambling addiction behaviour into orderly paths”. In view of the positive experiences in combating and reducing illegal gambling in other federal states, the Salzburg state legislature is now also pursuing the approach of “rules instead of prohibitions” and, under strict requirements for future operators with regard to their reliability and trustworthiness, as well as for the protection of players and minors, enables the operation of state-licenced games of chance with slot machines.
The first main section essentially contains the regulatory requirements for (future) licence holders, as well as measures to prevent gambling addiction and to ensure the supervision of licence holders, and complies with the requirements of Section 5(1), (2), (4), (5), and (7) of the Federal Gaming Act.
This required strict reference to the Gambling Act is owed to the 2010 amendment to the Gambling Act (BGBl I No 73/2020), which, although is has left the games of chance previously referred to as “small games of chance” within the competence of the federal state (see Section 4(2) of the Gambling Act), it has done so only “in accordance with Section 5”, that is to say only to the extent that the games of chance now referred to as “state-licenced games of chance with slot machines” comply with the strict regulatory requirements formulated in Section 5 of the Gambling Act and with the requirements for player protection.
Section 4 (2) of the GSpG stipulates that state-licenced games of chance with slot machines are not subject to the federal monopoly on games of chance in accordance with Section 5. Bresich/Posch in Strejcek/Bresich, Gambling Act 1989, point 9 to Section 4, state that “the games of chance now referred to as state-licenced games of chance with slot machines [(...] are outside the federal monopoly, [...] but remain subject to a minimum federal regulation by the provisions of Section 5 GSpG” (to the same effect also Rapani/Kotanko in Zillner, Commentary on the Gambling Act, Note 17 to Section 4). However, the statements in the commentary literature must be clarified to the effect that by the reference in Section 4(2) GSpG to Section 5 GSpG (cf. “in accordance with Section 5”), criteria for delimiting the Federal Government’s monopoly on games of chance from the area of competence of the federal state have been adopted: In contrast to the legal situation prior to the entry into force of the Act BGBl I No 73/2010, according to which games of chance with slot machines in which the stake did not exceed EUR 0.50 and the maximum profit did not exceed EUR 20 were excluded from the Federal Government's monopoly on games of chance, “state-licenced games of chance with slot machines in accordance with Section 5 (GSpG)’ are now excluded from the Federal Government's monopoly on games of chance (cf. the findings of the Constitutional Court of 12 March 2015, VfSlg (Selected Judgments of the Constitutional Court) 19.972, and of 10 October 2018, VfSlg 20.290). Section 5 The GSpG provides for different delimitation features – not only with regard to the stake level, but also with regard to the organisation of a licence holder or the technical aspects of a slot machine – which are significant for the federal state legislature if it wishes to exercise its competence in a manner consistent with the constitution.
10. Reference to the basic texts: No basic text available
11. No
12.
13. No
14. No
15. Yes
16.
TBT aspects: No
SPS aspects: No
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European Commission
Contact point Directive (EU) 2015/1535
email: grow-dir2015-1535-central@ec.europa.eu
