The Ministry of Finance agreed to allow online lottery in Israel

After long discussions the Ministry of Finance and the Israeli National Lottery (Mifal Hapayis) have come to an agreement, which could significantly change the situation of gambling in the country. The two parties finally agreed to allow the residents of Israel to play online lotteries and other games like Keno.

Israeli business newsletter Calcalist announced that the new permit will allow the activities of the National Lottery until the end of 2021. The two parties agreed that there will be eight Keno draws per day just for residents that live in areas that have a socio-economic rate of 6 or higher.

Meanwhile, Mifal Hapayis agreed to remove 500 slot machines and 150 keno machines after negotiations to renew its operating license did not reach an agreement. This was the condition of the Minister of Finance in order to allow the extension of Mifal Hapayis’s license “for another 48 hours in order to wind up talks.”

Moshe Kahlon, Israeli Minister of Finance, has been very vocal about his plans to shut down all gambling machines and horse racing activities in Israel.

However, Mifal Hapayis, is expected to benefit from these changes as there will be increased regulation and reliability in the country. Initially they wanted to add 14 annual lotteries to the two weekly draws they currently have.

Since Mifal Hapayis gets US$208 million from the gambling machines annually, the request has been placed to compensate this amount. However, ministry officials said that the real figure should be lower since Mifal Hapayis is given a chance to conduct extra lotteries.