title: Estonia — Licence fees: What do the licences cost? | advennt.io canonical: https://advennt.io/jurisdictions/estonia/fees/ [Jurisdictions](https://advennt.io/jurisdictions/) [Estonia](https://advennt.io/jurisdictions/estonia/) Licence fees Estonia · Question 04 of 11 # Licence fees: What do the licences cost? Favourable · Probable · Not reviewed · 3 post-review updates · Not reviewed · [Back to full Estonia report →](https://advennt.io/jurisdictions/estonia/) Key section parameters | Jurisdiction | Estonia (EE) | |---|---| | Regulator | Recorded in register | | Favourability | Favourable | | Confidence | Probable | | Review status | Not reviewed · 3 post-review updates · Not reviewed | | Last collected | 18 Oct 2026 | Summary answer Estonia's licence costs are low relative to EU peers. State fees apply for both the activity licence and the operating permit, payable per game type. Share capital of EUR 1m is required for online games of chance, evidencing operator solidity. Obtaining a licence is described as comparatively cheap … Not reviewed Information added after the 20 Aug 2026 expert review — published for currency and labelled not reviewed. 28 Sep 2026 Not reviewed A drafting error in the Gambling Tax Act amendment, passed 3 December 2025 and promulgated 18 December 2025, unintentionally exempted online games of chance and remote gambling from the 2026 tax by referencing only skill games in its operative text. A corrective amendment restored the 5.5 percent gross-gaming-revenue levy from 1 March 2026, part of a phased reduction schedule intended to bring the rate down to 4.0 percent by 2029. The episode reflects drafting fragility around the phased tax-reduction schedule rather than a change in the underlying downward trajectory of the rate itself: operators should anchor on the 5.5 percent-to-4.0 percent glide path as the durable fact and treat the brief exemption window as a closed, one-off correction. 11 Sep 2026 Not reviewed Remote games-of-chance, skill-games, and remote toto are taxed at 5.5% of gross gaming revenue in 2026, under a durable phased-reduction schedule that steps the rate down to 5.0% in 2027, 4.5% in 2028, and 4.0% in 2029. This gives entrants a predictable multi-year cost trajectory. Complicating this picture, a legislative drafting error flagged in the Estonian parliament may mean that online casino and remote-gambling games are effectively left untaxed for the 2026 tax year, despite the intended 5.5% rate. This finding is uncertain and single-sourced, so it should be treated as a live near-term anomaly with material revenue-planning implications rather than a resolved feature of the cost environment. 9 Sep 2026 Not reviewed The cost picture this cycle is dominated by a correction rather than a new imposition. A January 2026 drafting error had unintentionally exempted online gambling operators from the remote-gambling levy; a subsequent Gambling Tax Act correction restored the tax at 5.5% of gross gaming revenue per month, effective 1 March 2026, and operators should treat that corrected rate as the operative baseline rather than the brief unintended exemption. The Ministry of Finance's stated intention remains a phased reduction toward 4% by 2029, projected to reduce state revenue by approximately EUR6 million in 2026, rising to approximately EUR13 million by 2029. That intention is not a locked-in schedule: the Financial Intelligence Unit has already attached a caution to it, citing rising money-laundering incidents involving remote-gambling operators as a reason for care in extending further relief. ## Full section analysis Estonia's licence costs are low relative to EU peers. State fees apply for both the activity licence and the operating permit, payable per game type. Share capital of EUR 1m is required for online games of chance, evidencing operator solidity. Obtaining a licence is described as comparatively cheap and efficient, with the full process typically taking six to ten months.