Online Gambling in Hungary
At the time of writing, Hungary was yet to enact specific I-gaming legislation and the official stance was described by a European Parliament committee study as ‘passively allowing’ online gambling. While Hungarian authorities have not taken a proactive approach restricting resident access to betting websites, they do not exactly promote the open market approach endorsed by the European Commission.
This open market approach has as its authority overarching EU laws (Article 49 of the EU Treaty – freedom of provision of services) and European Court of Justice precedent in a number of decided cases holding that protectionist practices with respect to online gambling were in breach of EU law.
But while Hungarian authorities don’t actively restrict player access to foreign (based in other EU Member countries) online gambling operators, they have so far sought to restrict any advertising of such products in Hungary.
In 2004 Sportingbet was fined on the basis that its Hungarian language website contravened Hungarian gaming legislation which essentially outlaws all operators seeking to compete with the local monopoly, Szerencsejatek. The EC has issued Hungary with a reasoned opinion objecting to this protectionist approach, but as yet no legislative or regulatory changes have been made.
[Update April 2016]
Hungaryʼs National Tax and Customs Office (NAV) began blocking unlicensed online betting sites (ie all sites other than Szerencsejatek). At April 2016, 410 sites were reported to have been blocked, with a further 108 to be added to the blacklist.
Best live casino for Hungarian players
The below casinos welcome Hungarian players. Some offer toll free phone support for players from the Hungary.
 Casinos |
 Player access |
 Banking |
 Toll free support |
 Local language |
 Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Read review | Visit |
No restrictions on Hungarian player sign-ups | No deposit restrictions Maintain account in Euro € |
No | No | European based dealer room with Euro centric games. |
 Read review | Visit |
No restrictions on Hungarian player sign-ups | No deposit restrictions Maintain account in Euro € |
No | No | European based dealer room with Euro centric games |
