Distribution and platforms: Can we ship through apps and platforms?

Croatia's distribution and platform rules are, as, shaped by a convergence of domestic statute and platform-level policy. The Zakon o igrama na sreću, as amended by NN 72/2025 and in force since 1 January 2026, already confines online, audiovisual and radio gambling advertising to the hours of 06:00 to 23:00, bans print advertising outright, bans advertising on publicly visible surfaces, restricts bonus and incentive advertising to an operator's own website and publications, and prohibits celebrities, media figures and social-media creators from promoting or livestreaming gambling. Reinforcing this statutory watershed at the distribution layer, Google Ads has announced that it will revoke gambling-affiliate and aggregator advertising certifications targeting Croatia from 7 October 2026, removing a paid-search channel that affiliates and aggregators had used independently of operator-run advertising. The combined effect narrows the remaining advertising surface available to third-party marketers while leaving an operator's own direct channels, permitted under the statutory exemptions, as the principal durable route for bonus and incentive communication to Croatian consumers.