Best Online Casinos for Players from Austria in 2024

Information about casinos for Austrian players

Did you know that Austria legalized gambling almost 20 years before its neighbor Germany did? That's right, players in Austria have been able to access their favorite Austrian online casino sites since the early 2000s, and the online gambling industry there is still very popular today.

Yet, despite there being many casino options for players today, it's still crucial that they find the safest site possible to play on. This is where this page can help, offering ratings, reviews and filters to help you find the best online casino in Austria and discover how to find the best site for you.

Table of contents:

Online gambling in Austria

Legal gambling in Austria is centred around the Glücksspielgesetz (GSpG) which the government passed in 1989. This was the first time that the casino and lottery operators needed formal licenses to operate, thus legally recognizing and regulating the industry in one stroke.

When the internet brought online casino and lottery games with it a decade or so later, Austria simply amended the GSpG to recognize online gambling as a legal activity.

But there was a catch. The amendment only allowed for the creation of 15 Austrian online casino licenses, with companies needing to pass strict criteria to get one. The biggest operator, Casinos Austria, got 12 of them within its network of companies, while three other operators obtained one each. Later, these three rivals all lost their licenses for failing to follow Austrian laws, meaning Casinos Austria had a legal monopoly that still exists today.

While this can be seen as bad news for Austrian players in theory (as fewer operators means less choice and a potential dip in standards), the system seems to work today for two reasons.

1. Players have a range of regulated domestic operators to choose from, albeit under the influence of the same company
2. An EU directive forces Austria to allow residents to access foreign online gambling sites.

The evolution of online gambling in recent years has put pressure on the government to form a new regulatory framework. This would include a self-exclusion program for online players, a blacklist of gambling sites, control of harmful loot boxes, and stringent digital anti-corruption measures. However, we have yet to see the authorities give this the official 'go-ahead', meaning Austria still has largely the same online gambling regulation as at the start of the 2000s.

How to choose the best online casino in Austria for you

The goal of this page is to provide you with the top online casinos for you as for a player in Austria. At the top of this page, you'll see a complete list of sites when the 'All' tab is selected, but you can rejig the list by choosing sorting options from the drop-down list next to it. Here are a few examples.

• Recommended – This places the sites recommended by our team of experts at the top of the list.
• Newly opened – If you enjoy new casinos, you can see them prioritized with this option.
• Big brands – See the best-known casinos first.
• Highest Safety Index – This rearranges the list so that the sites with the highest Safety Index appear first.

Our filter system is here to help you reduce the list of options to choose from, and it's very useful in pinpointing just those sites that you want to see. To really get down to business, you can use our set of additional filters, which isolate sites possessing a certain feature. Here are a few examples:

• Payment method

  If you're sick of casinos rejecting your payment method, then this filter lets you find the sites that accept it, whether it's Mastercard, Skrill or another favorite.

• Licensing authority

  A license from a trusted authority gives you extra peace of mind about a casino. Use this filter to find them.

• Game type

  Don't waste your time with casinos that don't have a particular type of casino game you want to play. This filter will weed them out, so that you can find slot sites, roulette casinos, or whatever else you're looking for.

• Currency

  While Austrian players typically play in Euros, you might have a USD balance lying around somewhere, for example. Find casinos you could use it in with this filter.

Once you've found a casino you'd like to play on, remember to check out its rating and review: these will give you some valuable info about the site before you play on it.

Austrian online casino bonuses

Players love online casino bonuses because they potentially offer a little extra enjoyment, sometimes for free. Deposit bonuses are the most common type: these are prepaid spins or credit awarded to you after you make a deposit into a casino account. No deposit bonuses, meanwhile, are smaller amounts that you get just for registering with a new site.

If you head to our list of online casino bonuses you'll be able to find all the bonuses available to Austrian players as of today. If there are lots to choose from and you don't have the time to look through all of them, you can also use filters here, including 'Recommended', 'Latest', and 'Exclusive'. The latter may be of particular interest as it lets you see bonuses available to just Casino Guru visitors. Check out their information box for instructions on how to claim them.

There are also additional filters which can help you narrow down your choice.

• Bonus type
• Bonus value
• Wagering requirements (WR)

Note: If WR confuses you a little, then don't worry. Our guide to casino bonuses explains it for you in simple terms.

So, there you have it. If you're based in Austria and would like to find the best possible casino to play on, we hope this page has helped you.

Remember, we regularly update this page with the latest developments, such as new casinos, bonuses, and other features that might interest you, so make sure you keep an eye on it!