Estonia is making changes to its regulatory framework regarding social media influencers and their promotion of gambling.

Social media influencers play a big role in driving interest in various products. From retail to the gambling industry, all use social media influencers to help with promotion.

Let’s take a look at the changes that are on the cards and how they can affect the future.

Planned Changes for Estonia

The Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications is drafting a bill that will make amendments to the regulatory framework focused on gambling adverts.

Various changes have been proposed in terms of gambling promotions from social media influencers. This includes stricter age checks, which is similar to the country’s take on both alcohol and gambling.

There is a need to make changes to the current Advertising Act bill, which was implemented in 2008 due to the evolution of social media engagement. During last year’s general elections, the leading Reform Party formed a coalition with the Social Democrats and the Eesti 200 Party. As such, Kaja Kallas continues in her duty as the Estonian Prime Minister.

During the inauguration, the new coalition government has been focusing on the country’s current gambling laws. Looking at the different ways they can limit gambling advertising. In April last year, they were considering possible blanket bans.

In May, the Estonian Ministry of Finance had a draft proposal recommending that a gambling tax be raised, considering the massive growth in online revenue as per the stats from 2020 to 2022.

As per the new Tax Law, Estonia will increase taxes on online gambling lotteries from 5% to 6% of the income. The new Tax Law also proposes that the gambling taxes should be increased to 7% by 2026.

Proposed Advertising Laws

The objective is to change the Advertising Act as it is currently more focused on traditional media with not enough focus on the changes and developments experienced throughout the digital age.

According to the Head of Business Environment at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, Merike Koppel regulation of old channels is not working in the context of social media. They believe that it would be ‘future-proof’ to regulate content in a channel-neutral manner.

Koppel states that times have changed, and while influencers had no role during the original draft passed in 2008, times have changed. There is a requirement to change the regulatory framework to consider influencers and their impact on the industry.

There are plenty of questions for influencers, and supervisory authorities are looking for ways to comprehend, regulate and evaluate them fully. The goal is to protect consumers and the more vulnerable target market. At the same time, this allows companies to market their products and services.

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