Although the licensing system of online sports betting has been in force from 1 January 2023 (with payment bocking rules in force from 1 July 2023), the envisaged enforcement activity of the Supervisory Authority for Regulatory Affairs (SARA) had not taken place until the beginning of August 2023.

According to the new payment blocking rules, in case the Supervisory Authority of Regulatory Affairs (SARA) have established that an operator provided “prohibited gambling” (i.e. not licensed by the SARA) towards Hungarian players, it shall also issue a decision ordering the restriction of the payment account used for the payment of bets or winnings by the given gambling operator.

The Hungarian gambling authority’s (SARA) Implementation Decree have been published on 19 December 2022 with the already known amendments to the Gambling Act, and with the start of the new year the forms through which EEA companies may submit their applications for online sports betting licenses have appeared on the SARA’s website.