Austria wants gambling sites to refund 30 years of winnings

Austria is proposing new measures to block unauthorized online gambling operators and to allow their customers to reclaim all gambling losses suffered over the past three decades.

On Tuesday, Austria’s Ministry of Finance unveiled a draft amendment to the nation’s Gambling Act aimed at shielding the online gambling monopoly of Win2Day, the digital arm of Casinos Austria – in which the government holds a 30% stake – from internationally licensed competitors.

Finance Minister Hartwig Löger estimates there are around 2k internationally licensed online gambling sites currently accepting Austrian customers, which Löger believes are 2k too many. Löger wants to empower the Telekom Control Commission (TKK) to impose “immediate blocking” of any domain that refuses to cut ties with its Austrian customers.

What’s more, since Löger views all online gambling activity not blessed by the state as illegal, he wants to allow Austrian punters to reclaim any money lost to international gambling sites over the past 30 years.