Hungary

Online sports betting is legal in Hungary for operators licensed by the SZTFH (Szabályozott Tevékenységek Felügyeleti Hatósága), and the regulator actively blocks unlicensed sites. The sector rests on Act XXXIV of 1991 on Gambling Operations, amended in 2022 and 2023 to comply with EU and EEA free-movement principles. From 1 January 2023 the SZTFH opened a licensing system for online sports betting to EEA operators, ending the remote-gambling monopoly.

In January 2026 the SZTFH temporarily blocked Polymarket, citing suspected illegal gambling. Horse-race betting and land-based and lottery products remain under licence regimes that in practice are still dominated by formerly state-run licensees, and online casino entry is still tied to scarce land-based casino concessions.

Foreign operators have been slow to take up online betting licences through 2025 and 2026. After the opposition won the April 2026 election, further liberalisation was signalled but not yet enacted. The minimum gambling age is 18.

The industry faces an absurd amount of regulation, rules and taxes, but that's for the courts and Hungarian betting sites to worry about. For individual bettors, getting started at a legal online betting site in Hungary is easy.

Operators serving Hungarian players must hold a Hungarian licence, but most of the big brands haven't taken one, citing exorbitant fees and strange licensing conditions. No foreign operator had obtained a licence since the re-regulation, and only one Hungarian company had been granted one. Since the SZTFH now blocks operators without a Hungarian licence, the days of betting wherever you want are over.

Can You Still Use Unlicensed Betting Sites in Hungary?

It's harder than it used to be, because the regulator actively blocks them. The big international brands are legitimate companies with licences in other European countries, and they accept deposits in Hungarian forints by Visa, Mastercard, Neteller, Skrill and wire transfer. A licence held elsewhere isn't a Hungarian licence, though, and the Hungarian authority can order Hungarian ISPs to block any site offering unlicensed online gambling.

Hungary Gambling Laws

The past few decades have been turbulent for gambling in Hungary. From 1991 to 2011 the state held a monopoly over all forms of gaming. The Gambling Act of 1991 founded the state-owned Szerencsejáték Zrt., which has exclusive rights to sports betting and lottery games and also has interests in several land-based casinos.

As internet betting grew, the government issued vague decrees that gambling online was illegal. They had about as much effect in Hungary as similar decrees have had elsewhere, which is none at all. Hungarians kept betting online with foreign operators based in European countries where online gaming was already legal.

Szerencsejáték Zrt. went online in 1998 and still operates at Szerencsejatek.hu, where Hungarians can play lotteries and keno and bet on sports. Meanwhile, Hungary held firm that any other form of online gambling was illegal.

Things improved in 2011, when lawmakers amended the Gambling Act to open the country to other European operators. Private operators from Hungary and elsewhere in Europe could now get licences for online poker and horse racing, while the state stayed the sole provider of casino games and sports betting.

The same amendments added penalties for unlicensed operators targeting Hungarians. ISPs could now block unlicensed gambling sites, and the government gave itself the power to impose heavy fines on them. How it planned to collect those fines from foreign operators is anyone's guess.

The licensing process was badly flawed. Annual fees were HUF 100 million (roughly €317,000) for each product, and licensees needed a physical presence in Hungary or a concession agreement with one of the existing land-based casinos. It was so complicated and expensive that no European brand even tried to get a licence.

So foreign operators kept accepting Hungarians against Hungarian law. In 2013 lawmakers announced plans to reform licensing and open the country further, with new amendments that would let gaming websites get licences for sports betting and casino games as well as online poker and horse-race betting.

Hungary adopted the new laws on 9 July 2014. The final text made licences easier for foreign operators to get, removed the physical-presence requirement and set the tax on gaming revenue at 15%. Applicants previously needed at least ten years of experience in Hungary, and the new law cut that to three years in the country where the applicant was founded.

The 2014 reform didn't settle the matter. Hungary only opened online sports betting to outside competition on 1 January 2023, when amendments to the Gambling Act ended the state monopoly and opened the market to private operators from the European Economic Area (EEA). The terms stayed steep. Applicants need at least five years of licensed online gaming experience in the EEA, share capital of at least HUF 1 billion (about EUR 2.5 million) and a licence fee of HUF 600 million (about EUR 1.5 million).

Can You Bet in Hungarian Forints?

Yes. The forint isn't the most widespread currency in Europe, but the major betting sites serving Hungary accept it for deposits and withdrawals. Sites that take forints let you hold your balance in forints and convert automatically to euros or dollars when you place bets or join poker tables, using daily exchange rates, so the rate is fair.

You can take your winnings by bank wire, paper cheque or any of the many e-wallets that serve online betting. Most withdrawals are processed within 24 hours and take up to 3 business days to reach your bank account.