Legal casino gambling age in BelarusBelarus permits gambling under a licensing model controlled tightly by the state. A licensing model, in this sense, is one in which private companies may lawfully offer gambling once they hold a licence and meet conditions set by the authorities. In Belarus those conditions are set almost entirely by presidential decree rather than by an act of Parliament. Casinos, gaming-machine halls, bookmakers, totalisators and, since 1 April 2019, “virtual gambling establishments” (the Belarusian legal term for online casinos and online betting sites) may be run by licensed Belarusian companies. The Ministry of Taxes and Duties (Министерство по налогам и сборам, MNS) both sets policy and supervises the sector, and every stake and payout must be recorded in a state-run computer cash system. Since 11 March 2026 the framework has been governed by Presidential Decree No. 226 of 6 June 2025, which replaced the 2005 and 2018 decrees and requires banks to refuse card payments to foreign gambling operators.
Key points
- Gambling is regulated by presidential decree. Decree No. 226 of 6 June 2025 “On activity in the field of gambling business” took effect in its main parts on 11 March 2026 and repealed earlier acts including Decree No. 9 of 10 January 2005 and Decree No. 305 of 7 August 2018.
- Online gambling has been lawful since 1 April 2019, but only through a “virtual gambling establishment” run by a Belarusian company that already holds a gambling licence. Secondary legal sources state that at least two years of licensed activity in Belarus are required.
- The MNS is the policy body, licensing authority and supervisor. A state-designated company, the Monitoring Centre for Gambling Business, operates the technical systems and keeps the register of people barred from gambling.
- The minimum age to gamble is 21. People can exclude themselves from all gambling for six months to three years, and courts can impose restrictions.
- Since 1 January 2026 winnings paid by Belarusian operators are taxed at 5% (previously 4%), and operators pay a monthly gambling business tax that includes a 12% charge on the income of virtual establishments.
Last reviewed: 6 October 2026.
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Historical development
The first comprehensive modern set of rules came with Presidential Decree No. 9 of 10 January 2005, which approved the Regulation on the implementation of activities in the field of gambling business. According to a 2011 review by the Business Information Institute (bii.by), the 2005 framework stated that the procedure for gambling activity was determined exclusively by the President and recognised four kinds of venue: bookmaker offices, gaming-machine halls, casinos and totalisators. A totalisator is a pool-betting system in which stakes are pooled and shared among winners after the operator’s deduction.
The sector was reshaped in 2010. Decree No. 450 of 1 September 2010 on the licensing of certain activities moved responsibility for gambling licences from the Ministry of Sport and Tourism to the MNS from 1 January 2011 and restricted the business to legal entities, according to SB. Belarus Segodnya (22 September 2010). Decree No. 599 of 19 November 2010 then required gambling venues to occupy whole buildings or isolated premises, set minimum floor areas of 100 square metres for gaming-machine halls and 250 square metres for casinos, required an average payout of at least 90% for gaming machines, and obliged operators to connect to a special computer cash system by 1 July 2012 (bii.by). That cash system, known by its Russian initials SKKS, remains the backbone of state control.
Slotegrator, a gaming-industry supplier, noted that Belarus’s land-based gambling rules were finalised in 2008, as Russia’s ban on casinos and gaming halls was about to take effect. In February 2022 it reported that the number of land-based casinos in Belarus had fallen to about 20 by 2021. That figure comes from an industry source and has not been confirmed from official statistics.
The decisive change for online play came in 2018. Decree No. 305 of 7 August 2018 “On improving the legal regulation of gambling business” was published on 11 August 2018. Its provisions on virtual gambling establishments applied from 1 April 2019. According to the official commentary published by the President’s press service, the decree legalised gambling on the internet through a virtual gambling establishment under licence, raised the minimum age for players from 18 to 21, banned lending money to players and aimed to reduce the outflow of money abroad by restricting access to gambling sites outside the national internet segment. iGaming Business reported the 1 April 2019 launch date in August 2018.
Legal framework
Presidential Decree No. 226 of 2025
The principal act today is Presidential Decree No. 226 of 6 June 2025 “On activity in the field of gambling business” (Указ № 226 «О деятельности в сфере игорного бизнеса»), published on the National Legal Internet Portal. It approves a new Regulation on the implementation of activities in the field of gambling business. Its main provisions entered into force nine months after official publication, which the MNS and regional media gave as 11 March 2026 (ONT; MediaBrest). An annex repeals eleven earlier acts. The repealed acts include Decree No. 9 of 2005 and Decree No. 305 of 2018; the database Spinform records Decree No. 305 as having ceased to have effect on 11 March 2026.
The provisions most relevant to players and operators are:
- Clause 1 of the Decree gives the MNS responsibility for state policy on gambling and for coordinating other government bodies, and places control over the sector with the MNS and its territorial bodies.
- Permitted activities. The Regulation lists five kinds of gambling business: bookmaker offices, virtual gambling establishments, gaming-machine halls, casinos and totalisators.
- Age limits. People under 21 may not take part in gambling, and people under 18 may not be employed in the sector.
- Restriction register. Clauses 13 to 16 of the Regulation provide for self-exclusion and court-ordered restrictions (see below).
- Payments. Clause 33 requires banks that issue payment cards to refuse transfers abroad when cards are used to pay foreign gambling organisers.
- Unlicensed online gambling. Clause 5 of the Decree prohibits the distribution of information aimed at organising or conducting gambling on the internet in breach of the law.
- Cryptocurrency. Clause 6 allows players’ funds to be transferred to gambling organisers through crypto-platform operators that are residents of the High Technology Park.
Licensing law and tax law
Gambling licences are issued under the general Law “On Licensing”, in force since 2023, which lists activity in the field of gambling business as a licensed activity with the MNS as licensing authority (Zakonoved). Taxation is set by the Tax Code of the Republic of Belarus, whose Article 358 fixes the rates of the gambling business tax (Neg.by). Lotteries are regulated separately from the gambling business and are not covered in detail here.
Regulator and licensing model
Belarus has no independent gambling regulator. The functions are distributed as follows:
- Ministry of Taxes and Duties (MNS): policy, licensing and supervision. Under Decree No. 226 control is also exercised by the State Control Committee within its competence (Decree No. 226).
- Monitoring Centre for Gambling Business: a company designated by the Decree that operates the SKKS, registers gaming equipment and keeps the register of people restricted from gambling.
- Operational and Analytical Centre under the President: under Decree No. 305 it took part, with the MNS and the Monitoring Centre, in the technical examination of virtual gambling establishments (Decree No. 305).
Licence components and conditions
A gambling licence is split into components (works and services): running a casino, a gaming-machine hall, a totalisator, a bookmaker office and a virtual gambling establishment (Zakonoved). Only legal entities may hold a licence. The main conditions reported by Belarusian legal sources are:
- Land-based precondition for online play. A licence component for a virtual gambling establishment is available only to a company that already holds a gambling licence and has conducted that activity in Belarus for at least two years (Zakonoved; Legaltax, 2019). The online market is therefore open only to existing domestic operators, not to foreign companies.
- Guarantee funds. Operators of virtual establishments must keep money on a special bank account to secure taxes and winnings. From 11 March 2026 the required amount is 90,000 base units (about 4.05 million roubles) for a virtual establishment offering casino games, and 20,000 base units (about 900,000 roubles) for one offering only betting or totalisator games, according to MNS information reported by ONT and Jurisprudent.
- Technical testing. Virtual establishments must meet requirements set by the Council of Ministers and obtain a test protocol. Decree No. 226 gives existing operators until 1 July 2027 to obtain one (Decree No. 226).
- Equipment and records. Gaming equipment must be registered and connected to the SKKS, and video surveillance recordings must now be kept for at least 60 days, up from 30 (Jurisprudent).
We could not access a current official list of licensees from the MNS website at the time of review, so we do not give a number of licensed operators.
Online gambling: what is permitted and how it is enforced
Online casino games and online betting are lawful in Belarus only through a licensed virtual gambling establishment. Players must register an account, and since 11 March 2026 they must confirm their identity by video session or by visiting a land-based venue of the operator. Each person may hold only one account with each virtual establishment, and may pay only with bank cards, electronic wallets or accounts in his or her own name (ONT; Vecherny Brest). Legal guides from 2019 also report that licensed sites had to use domain names stated in the licence and Belarusian domain zones, and that player data had to be stored in Belarus (Legaltax; Revera). We could not confirm whether these technical details remain unchanged under the 2026 rules.
Blocking of unlicensed sites and payments
Belarus uses two main tools against offshore operators. The first is information blocking. Point 3 of Decree No. 305, in force from 1 April 2021, declared information aimed at organising gambling on the internet in breach of the law to be prohibited from distribution (Decree No. 305). Clause 5 of Decree No. 226 repeats that rule. Legaltax described technical blocking of unlicensed foreign sites as starting in 2021. We did not find a published count of blocked gambling domains.
The second tool, new in 2026, is payment blocking. Clause 33 of Decree No. 226 requires card-issuing banks to refuse transfers of money to foreign banks when payment cards are used for gambling with foreign organisers. The MNS presented this as a ban on transfers to foreign online casinos (ONT; MediaBrest).
Advertising
Gambling advertising is permitted for licensed operators but restricted. According to the law firm Revera, the Law on Advertising bans gambling advertising on television and radio between 07:00 and 22:00 and prohibits it in educational and medical institutions and in media aimed at young people. Promotion of unlicensed online gambling falls within the general ban on distributing information on illegal gambling described above. We did not find a change to these advertising rules in Decree No. 226, but we could not check the current text of the Law on Advertising directly.
Position of players
Belarusian law directs its main obligations at operators, banks and internet providers rather than at players. Some regional press summaries of the 2026 rules describe playing in foreign online casinos as prohibited (Vecherny Brest), but we found no provision that sets a penalty for an individual simply playing with a foreign online casino, and no report of a player being prosecuted or fined for doing so. In practice the 2026 rules make offshore play harder: domestic bank cards should be refused, and sites may be blocked. Players who receive winnings from foreign operators remain liable to personal income tax (see below).
The 2026 rules create new obligations for players of licensed operators. Playing on someone else’s account, card or documents is prohibited. MediaBrest, summarising the MNS position, reported that winnings obtained through unauthorised use of another person’s account are forfeited to the state and that deliberately passing on account credentials may in some cases lead to criminal liability (MediaBrest). Operators may not lend money to players, and may suspend payment of suspicious winnings for up to 30 working days during an investigation (Decree No. 226).
Taxation
Gambling business tax
Operators pay a monthly gambling business tax under Article 358 of the Tax Code. It combines a fixed amount for each taxable object with a percentage of gaming income. The rates indexed from 1 January 2024 were (Neg.by, February 2024):
| Object | Monthly rate from 1 January 2024 |
|---|---|
| Gaming table | 8,443 roubles |
| Gaming machine | 284 roubles |
| Totalisator cash desk | 2,661 roubles |
| Bookmaker cash desk | 1,774 roubles |
| Income of land-based venues | 4% |
| Income of virtual gambling establishments | 8% |
Both percentage rates have since risen. According to MNS guidance summarised by Orbitax, from 2026 the rate on the gaming income of land-based casinos, gaming-machine halls, bookmakers and totalisators rose from 4% to 5%, and the rate for virtual gambling establishments rose from 10% to 12%. The virtual rate had therefore already been raised from the 8% shown above to 10% by 2025, as Jurisprudent also reports; we could not confirm the date of that change from a primary source. Belarusian legal commentators report that the fixed amounts per object were also indexed for 2026 and that a higher rate applies to gaming machines registered for more than ten years (Jurisprudent). We could not confirm the exact 2026 fixed amounts from a primary source, so readers should check them against the current Tax Code.
Players’ winnings
Winnings paid by Belarusian gambling organisers are subject to personal income tax, which the operator withholds as tax agent. Law No. 127-З of 30 December 2025 on amendments to tax laws raised the rate from 4% to 5% from 1 January 2026, the first change in ten years, according to the MNS as reported by Smartpress and PNK Bel. Winnings and withholding are recorded in the SKKS. According to a betting information site, Legalbet, income received from foreign operators is not covered by withholding and must be declared by the player and taxed at the general 13% personal income tax rate.
Consumer protection and responsible gambling
Decree No. 226 contains the main player-protection rules (Decree No. 226):
- Minimum age of 21 for all participation in gambling. Electronic instant lotteries are also closed to minors and to people under a court-ordered restriction (Vecherny Brest).
- Self-exclusion. Any person can restrict himself or herself from visiting gambling establishments and from taking part in gambling by submitting a written application in person, for a period of six months to three years.
- Court-ordered restriction. A court can restrict a person whose gambling places him or her or the family in serious financial hardship, and debtors can be temporarily restricted under procedures set by other legislation.
- Register. The register of restricted persons is kept by the Monitoring Centre for Gambling Business and is accessible to operators through the SKKS, so that one application covers all licensed land-based and online venues.
- Identity checks. Land-based venues must check identity documents twice, at the entrance and at the cash desk, and virtual establishments must verify that payment methods belong to the player (ONT).
We did not find a dedicated national gambling helpline in Belarus. Regional reporting of the 2026 reforms advised players to set time and budget limits and referred to specialised medical help for gambling addiction (MediaBrest). For general guidance see our responsible gambling guide.
Recent and upcoming developments
- Decree No. 226 (2025 to 2026). Signed on 6 June 2025; main provisions in force from 11 March 2026. It consolidated the rules, introduced “know your customer” identity checks, one account per player, bank refusal of payments to foreign gambling operators and longer video retention.
- Tax increases (2026). From 1 January 2026 the tax on players’ winnings rose from 4% to 5% under Law No. 127-З of 30 December 2025, and the percentage rates of the gambling business tax rose to 5% for land-based venues and 12% for virtual establishments.
- Testing deadline (2027). Existing virtual gambling establishments must obtain a test protocol confirming compliance with the Council of Ministers’ requirements by 1 July 2027 (Decree No. 226). As of 6 October 2026 we found no published figures on how many operators had done so.
Casino listings for players in Belarus
The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database. They do not show that an operator is licensed in Belarus. Online gambling is lawful in Belarus only through virtual gambling establishments run by licensed Belarusian companies, foreign operators cannot obtain a Belarusian licence, and since March 2026 Belarusian banks must refuse card payments to foreign gambling operators; the listings must not be read as an indication that playing with these operators is lawful. Readers should check an operator’s status with the Ministry of Taxes and Duties.
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Sources and further reading
- President of the Republic of Belarus, Decree No. 226 of 6 June 2025 “On activity in the field of gambling business” (National Legal Internet Portal) (2025; accessed 6 October 2026).
- President of the Republic of Belarus, Decree No. 305 of 7 August 2018 “On improving the legal regulation of gambling business” (Spinform database, with status notes) (2018; accessed 6 October 2026).
- Press Service of the President of the Republic of Belarus, Commentary on Decree No. 305 of 7 August 2018 (2018).
- President of the Republic of Belarus, Decree No. 9 of 10 January 2005 approving the Regulation on activities in the field of gambling business (consolidated text, Zakon.kz) (2005; accessed 6 October 2026).
- President of the Republic of Belarus, Decree No. 599 of 19 November 2010 on measures to improve gambling business activity (National Legal Internet Portal) (2010).
- Chernyak, M. (bii.by), New procedure for regulating gambling business in Belarus: stages of reform in 2010 (2011).
- SB. Belarus Segodnya, Gambling business: new licensing authority, new requirements (2010).
- Zakonoved, Licence for gambling business in Belarus 2023 (2023).
- Legaltax, E-gambling in Belarus: new rules of the game (2019).
- Revera, Online gambling business in Belarus: how to start a business, important features (2019).
- iGaming Business, Belarus confirms online gambling launch date (2018).
- ONT, New gambling rules in force in Belarus from 11 March 2026 (2026).
- Vecherny Brest, Gambling business in a new way: what changed in Belarus from 11 March 2026 (2026).
- MediaBrest, Changes in the gambling business enter into force on 11 March 2026 (2026).
- Neg.by, New rates of the gambling business tax (2024).
- Orbitax, Belarus provides guidance on tax changes for 2026 (2026).
- Smartpress, MNS raises tax on gambling winnings from 1 January (2026).
- PNK Bel, Tax on gambling winnings increased in Belarus (2026).
- Legalbet, Taxation of betting winnings in Belarus (updated 2026; accessed 6 October 2026).
- Jurisprudent, Gambling business in Belarus 2026: taxes, licence and new rules (2026).
- Slotegrator, Gambling market of Belarus: land-based and online casino (2022).
