North Macedonia introduces a state monopoly on online gambling

North Macedonia has moved to a state monopoly model for online gambling. For PSPs, acquirers, and banks that touch gaming, that changes the list of counterparties from a market of operators to a single state-controlled setup.

1. The change is specifically about online gambling, not gambling in general. That matters because the payment flow, merchant setup, and licensing checks sit in a different bucket from land-based activity.
2. A state monopoly means private online operators lose direct access to the market under the new structure, and payment providers now have to deal with a single state framework instead of multiple merchants competing for processing.
3. For high-risk payment stacks, the practical question is not the headline itself but the operating model that follows: who is the licensed counterparty, how settlement is handled, and what controls the monopoly imposes on card and alternative payment methods.