Change of Government in Hungary May Lead to End of Online Gambling Monopoly

^{Pictured: Péter Magyar, leader of the election-winning TISZA party}

Hungary’s existing online gambling regulatory model could be revised following a change in the ruling party, according to a LinkedIn post by Kristof Szucs, co-founder of consulting firm Kyborg.ai.

The TISZA party has secured a constitutional majority in parliament, giving it the power to overhaul the current system, which limits the number of licensed operators.

“This is not just a change in government, but a mandate to rewrite the rules. The concession model, which effectively entrenched a monopoly in the online market, could be rebuilt from scratch,” Szucs said.

He also noted that Hungary’s regulated online gambling sector is currently operating at only 20–25% of its potential, generating around €13 million per month.

As a comparison, Szucs pointed to other countries in the region: Romania, with a similar population, generates roughly ten times more gross gaming revenue (GGR*), while Slovakia generates about four times more despite having a smaller population.

According to the expert, the new parliamentary majority could revise licensing rules for online gambling, reform the regulator, open the market to new operators, and leverage the national lottery’s infrastructure to expand the regulated online segment.

At present, online gambling is legal in Hungary, but market access remains restricted. For example, only land-based casino operators are allowed to run online casino platforms.

Gambling Park notes that Finland had also decided to move away from its monopoly model for regulating online gambling.

* GGR (gross gaming revenue) is calculated as the total amount of bets minus total winnings.