While Estonia's coalition government had planned to reduce the remote gambling tax by 0.5 percentage points per year, a clerical error in the amended law means remote gambling will be completely untaxed,. The mistake was discovered by a lawyer representing a gambling company.

Speaking to ERR, Riina Sikkut (SDE), who is also a member of the Riigikogu's Finance Committee, criticized the error, saying that "a tax circus" has begun.

"The prime minister promised an end to the tax festival, but apparently the Estonian people were waiting for a tax circus to begin. Today, it became clear that the gambling tax exemption, which was created in a hurry and allegedly as a result of political blackmail, was flawed," said Sikkut.

"Now the very thing that was feared is happening: culture and sports will be deprived of the expected (additional) revenue — a 'typo' that has become law exempts a large part of the gambling industry from paying tax," she added.

Sikkut added that Prime Minister Kristen Michal (Reform) had enthusiastically defended the tax exemption for online casinos, even though his party colleagues considered it to be the worst law of the year.

"Now, of course, it's a new year, and it seems that the coalition is continuing to make bad decisions at a rapid pace.," Sikkut told ERR.

"The amendment to the law was a controversial one, and, as we remember, the concerns began from the way this tax exemption took shape within the draft law. Namely, a representative of online casinos lobbied for the law directly at the negotiating table during the coalition talks. Later, the Ministry of Finance warned of a possible decline in revenue. The Financial Intelligence Unit outlined the growing risk of money laundering, as it is difficult to supervise institutions that are not physically located in Estonia. For that reason, the Social Democratic Party (SDE) did not support this draft law," Sikkut said.

EKRE chair: Corrupt legislation supported by 'Putinists'

Meanwhile Martin Helme, leader of the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE), said the bill was corrupt and that the governmental parties would be getting a kickback for allowing the oversight.

"[MPs] Tanel Tein and Kadri Tali from Eesti 200 went around begging all Riigikogu members for support for their online casino tax cut. This was the only tax where the coalition believed the theory that if you lower the tax, turnover will grow and revenues will actually increase. The bill was supposed to be a major source of additional funding for culture. Everyone who does not support it is a boorish hater of culture and probably, in a small way, a Putinist as well…" Helme said.

"But it turns out that because of a small 'slip of the finger,' the tax will not be collected at all this year. Instead of a tax cut, a tax exemption was created. Instead of additional revenue, even the existing €22 million will not be collected. And this is not some electricity excise or fuel excise squeezed out of the pockets of ordinary working and rural people. This is money taken from gambling players. Or now, money not taken," Helme continued.

"In my view, investigative authorities should now determine how much of this €22 million splashes back to Reform Party and Eesti 200 politicians and their backroom operators. Because if the state is left €22 million short, then the casinos now have that money left over. No one gives anyone a €22 million gift without getting something for themselves in return."

Helme also referenced pre-local elections remarks by former finance minister Annely Akkermann (Reform) about finances being in order. He added, "I knew from the outset that this was a corrupt piece of junk legislation that cannot be supported. Akkermann promises that we will fix things. That's nice. But who will pay the money missing from the budget out of their own pocket?"

Center vice-chair: this is negligence, arrogance, and shirking responsibility

Center Party vice chairman and Riigikogu group chair Lauri Laats wrote on his social media account that the new year had got off to a bumpy start.

"First, an Eesti 200 minister came out with an initiative to tax the use of public transport by children and pensioners. Now it turns out that there is a 'slip of the finger' in the scandalous gambling tax law, as a result of which the state will miss out on nearly €10 million this year," Laats wrote.

Eesti 200 took the government hostage and threatened not to support the state budget if the law did not receive backing, Laats claimed.

"The outcome? The tax burden rises for the weakest, the state loses millions, responsibility is dispersed. But who is responsible for this mess? Certainly not a 'slip of the finger' and certainly not some abstract 'system.' Responsible are this government and the 51 members of the Riigikogu who voted for this mess. This is not governing the state. This is negligence, arrogance, and shirking responsibility, and the bill will once again be presented to the people. Voters see this, and memory is longer than a single crisis," Laats concluded.

Finance Committee member Aivar Kokk (Isamaa) was the first to inform ERR of the error in the law, noting that the issue had also come up in committee discussions. "Games of chance and remote gambling were left out of this year's taxation, meaning online casino games are not being taxed in 2026," said Kokk.

The mistake lies in a clause amending the Gambling Tax Act, which now specifies that the tax rate is 5.5 percent of the amount from "skill games" as defined in Section 1, Subsection 1, Clause 5 of the law.

According to Kokk, the problem is the inclusion of the term "skill games." There would have been no issue, he said, if the term "games of chance" had also been included.

The Riigikogu passed the bill amending the Gambling Tax Act on December 3 last year and the president promulgated it on December 18.

The bill's goal was to gradually lower the gambling tax rate from 6 to 4 percent — by half a percentage point annually. For this year, the rate was supposed to drop to 5.5 percent.

Kokk added that the provisions for subsequent years were correctly drafted, but the current error could result in a significant financial loss for the state.

Editor's note: This piece was updated to include comment from Martin Helme and Lauri Laats.

---

Follow ERR News on Facebook and X and never miss an update!