Lithuania Working Group Backs Progressive Gambling Tax Worth About €36m

A working group of Lithuania's three ruling parties agreed on 5 November 2026 that gambling should face a progressive gambling tax, and the coalition council is due to review the model on 11 November.

Tomas Tomilinas, a Democrat member of the Seimas (Lithuania's parliament) who chairs its Social Affairs and Labour Committee, says the model would add about €36m to the state budget. That figure is his own estimate. The working group brings together the Social Democrats, the Peasants, Greens and Christian Families group, and the Democrats. Tomilinas said the model is clear but the rates and figures still have to be written in, according to BNS, the Baltic news agency.

What the working group agreed

The group backed progressive taxation of gambling, meaning the rate rises across bands of the tax base instead of staying flat. Tomilinas's bill was submitted to the Seimas in 2025. According to LRT, the national broadcaster, it proposes rates of 27%, 32% and 37% on the lottery and gambling tax base. Because Tomilinas says final rates are still to be written in, operators should treat those percentages as the bill's starting position rather than a settled outcome.

Where the decision stands

The working-group result is not yet a coalition decision. On 9 November, coalition MP Aušrinė Norkienė of the Peasants, Greens and Christian Families group said the group had reached no final decisions. A second meeting was scheduled for Tuesday 10 November, and the coalition council meets on Wednesday 11 November to see the outcome, LRT reported.

The council's earlier position was broader. After its 28 October meeting, Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius said the coalition had agreed to raise taxes on gambling, lotteries and sugar, with the increases starting from July 2027. He cautiously hoped for about €100m a year in total, which implies roughly half of that in 2027. Tomilinas says he accepts a half-year lead time before his tax takes effect.

The fiscal backdrop explains the urgency. The 2027 budget draft projects a deficit of 3.8% of GDP, and the coalition is looking for new revenue across several taxes.

The Finance Ministry's opinion is the key variable

Tomilinas said the Finance Ministry is finishing its opinion on his bill and that he expects a positive government opinion alongside the budget. The ministry's stance matters because, according to Yogonet, it blocked a bid to raise gambling and lottery taxes in September 2026. A new opinion on the progressive model has not been published.

What operators should watch

Three points will determine the commercial impact: the final rates and the tax-base bands that trigger each one, the effective date, and how the lead time is set. Lithuania has raised gambling taxes before; Gamingo covered the 2% gambling tax increase in 2024. Earlier Gamingo coverage of the Lithuanian gambling market's €161m revenue shows the base the new tax would be applied to, and the planned rules for gambling operators cover the wider compliance agenda.

Other European markets have faced similar fights over tax design. Dutch iGaming operators were alarmed by a 37.8% gambling tax proposal, a reminder that top-band rates draw sharp industry pushback.

The next checkpoints are the outcome of the 10 November working-group meeting, the coalition council on 11 November, and the Finance Ministry opinion expected alongside the budget.

Status reviewed on 10 November 2026. Figures and dates come from BNS and LRT reporting of statements by Tomas Tomilinas, Aušrinė Norkienė and Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius. More regulation news and EMEA coverage.