Legal casino gambling age in Nepal
Nepal combines a general criminal prohibition of gambling with a narrow licensing exception for casinos that serve foreign visitors. The National Penal (Code) Act 2017, often called the Muluki Criminal Code, makes gambling and betting offences, but casinos established under a law are outside that prohibition. Casinos are licensed by the Department of Tourism under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, operate inside four-star or higher hotels and resorts, and may not admit Nepali citizens. No online casino or online betting service is licensed. Since the government’s 100-point reform agenda of 27 March 2026, the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has reported blocking more than 223,000 betting websites and apps. This guide explains the statutes, the casino licensing model, online enforcement, the position of players and recent reforms.
Key points
- Section 125 of the National Penal (Code) Act 2017 (Act 36 of 2017, in force since 17 August 2018) prohibits gambling and betting, with stakes liable to confiscation and terms of imprisonment of up to one year.
- Land-based casinos are authorised under the Tourism Act 1978 and casino regulations, first the Casino Regulation 2013 (2070 BS) and, from 2025, the Casino Regulations 2082 BS.
- Nepali citizens are barred from entering or gambling in casinos; only foreign passport holders may play.
- Online casino and betting services are not licensed. The Department of Tourism expressly prohibited internet-based casino betting in a November 2025 directive.
- Under point 42 of the government’s 100-point reform agenda (27 March 2026), the NTA ordered internet service providers to block betting platforms and reported 223,568 blocked sites and apps by July 2026.
- Winnings are treated as “windfall gains” under the Income Tax Act 2002, and casinos must deduct tax before paying out.
Last reviewed: 7 October 2026.
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Historical development
Nepal’s first casino opened on 10 March 1968 at the Soaltee Hotel in Kathmandu. According to a Kantipur archive feature published in 2025, it was introduced by Lenin Dorjee and was initially approved to operate as a night club. A 2004 report in the Nepali Times describes Casino Nepal at the Soaltee as the country’s oldest casino and states that Nepalis, who had earlier been admitted on payment of an entrance fee, were banned altogether in 1977. The same report records that three further casino licences were issued in 1992, after the restoration of multiparty democracy in 1990, and that by 2004 six casinos operated in five-star hotels in Kathmandu, aimed mainly at visitors from India and, increasingly, from other Asian countries.
Gambling outside casinos was long governed by the Gambling Act 1963, which defined gambling as a game of chance played on a wager. A 2019 analysis in the Kathmandu Post notes that the Act set a maximum fine of Rs 200 for a first offence and one to three months’ imprisonment for repeat offenders, and that its provisions were absorbed into section 125 of the Criminal Code in 2017 with much higher penalties.
The modern casino regime dates from the Casino Regulation 2013, known in Nepal by its Bikram Sambat (BS) year as the Casino Regulation 2070. It came into force on 16 July 2013 and sharply raised the cost of operating. Trade magazine GGB reports that it doubled the annual royalty to Rs 40 million and required Rs 250 million in paid-up capital. When the deadline for obtaining new licences passed on 18 April 2014, all existing casinos were declared illegal and ten casinos, eight in Kathmandu and two in Pokhara, were shut, according to a July 2014 report on ShareSansar. The Financial Bill for 2014/15 then reduced the royalty to Rs 30 million for casinos and to Rs 20 million for electronic gaming (“mini-casino”) licences.
The closures were followed by litigation. Some operators continued under interim orders of the Supreme Court; GGB reports that one Kathmandu casino reopened under the previous rules after a stay order, having been closed by the Tourism Ministry in November 2014. The president of Casino Association Nepal told GGRAsia in March 2015 that the regulation’s windfall gain tax provision was “not practical”. In July 2019 the cabinet amended the regulation to allow casinos within 3 km of an international border instead of 5 km, after operators in border towns including Kakarbhitta, Biratnagar, Birgunj, Nepalgunj and Dhangadhi raised concerns. The Kathmandu Post reported at the time that three casinos and eight mini-casinos had reopened under a Supreme Court interim order after their licences were revoked for non-payment of royalties, and that unpaid royalties totalled about Rs 1.25 billion.
Legal framework
The National Penal (Code) Act 2017
The general rule is set by the National Penal (Code) Act 2017 (Act No. 36 of 2017), which came into force on 17 August 2018 (1 Bhadra 2075 BS). Section 125, in the chapter on offences against public interest, health, safety, convenience and morals, provides that no person shall gamble or cause gambling. Gambling is defined broadly as a wager based on luck by which property can be gained or lost. The penalties are graduated. Based on the English translation and summaries by the Kathmandu law firms Law Bhandari and Law Alpine:
- a first gambling offence carries up to three months’ imprisonment, a fine of up to Rs 30,000, or both;
- a second offence carries up to one year’s imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 50,000, with additional penalties for further repetition;
- betting carries up to one year’s imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 10,000, together with forfeiture of the amount staked; and
- gambling instruments and stakes may be confiscated, although the house, room or vehicle in which gambling took place may not.
The section contains two exceptions. Low-stakes games played for entertainment at festivals, fairs or similar occasions with the prior approval of the competent authority are not an offence, although the Kathmandu Post has observed that the law sets out no procedure for obtaining that approval. Casinos and other gambling places established under a law are also excluded. Gambling cases are prosecuted by the district government attorney on behalf of the state (Law Bhandari). Precise sub-section numbering differs between the summaries consulted; readers needing the exact wording should use the official text.
Tourism Act and casino regulations
Casinos are authorised under the Tourism Act 1978 (2035 BS). The Kantipur reports that the Casino Regulations 2082 were issued under that Act in 2025. They replaced the 2013 regulation, which had itself been amended several times, most notably by the 2014 fee reductions and the 2019 border-distance change. The casino registration guide of Prime Law Nepal lists the other statutes that apply to a casino company, including the Companies Act 2006, the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act 2019, the Income Tax Act 2002 and the Asset (Money) Laundering Prevention Act 2008. Some trade reports refer to the new instrument as the “Casino Regulation 2080”; the Department of Tourism’s November 2025 directive, as reported by B360, refers to the Casino Regulations 2082.
Advertising is restricted separately. According to SiGMA, the Advertisement (Regulation) Act prohibits publishing, broadcasting or displaying promotions for gambling in any medium. SiGMA reported in July 2025 that gambling advertisements nonetheless reach Nepali social media users, and quoted a Cyber Bureau representative as saying that police can arrest domestic promoters but cannot control what the platforms display.
Regulator and licensing model
Nepal has no independent gambling regulator. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation sets casino policy, and its Department of Tourism issues casino and electronic gaming licences, collects royalties and inspects operators (Kathmandu Post, 2019). The model is a restricted licensing system: a licence is available only to a company operating inside an approved hotel, and only for foreign customers. Lotteries, sports betting and online gambling have no licensing route.
Under the 2025 regulations, as summarised by Republica and Prime Law Nepal:
- Two categories: large casinos, with minimum paid-up capital of Rs 300 million (previously Rs 250 million), and small casinos, with Rs 200 million (previously Rs 150 million).
- Fees: an application fee of Rs 1.5 million (large) or Rs 1 million (small) and a licence fee of Rs 30 million (large) or Rs 15 million (small). Prime Law Nepal gives renewal fees of Rs 15 million and Rs 7.5 million, and a bank guarantee of 1.5 times the annual royalty.
- Location: casinos must be inside a four-star or higher hotel or resort, with the property’s written consent, and a hotel or resort may hold only one casino licence.
- Border distance: new casinos may not be registered within 5 km of an international border; existing casinos inside that zone may continue under conditions (Kantipur). Republica reports that operation within the zone requires approval from the district security committee.
- Staffing and security: Republica reports a minimum of 20 trained security personnel per casino, while Prime Law Nepal gives a minimum of five, rising to 20 for casinos in border areas. Prime Law Nepal also gives minimum Nepali employment of 150 staff (large) or 50 (small).
Royalties are fixed annual payments to the government rather than a percentage of gross gaming revenue (GGR, the amount staked less winnings paid). They have been a recurring source of dispute. The Kathmandu Post reported in May 2025 that the Department of Tourism collected Rs 1.69 billion in royalties and Rs 132.46 million in licence renewal fees in the previous fiscal year, while five casinos, three of them operating illegally, owed Rs 1.78 billion. The same report states that electronic gaming houses in four-star hotels and “light casinos” in five-star properties were being phased out, and that one company would be limited to one casino by mid-July 2025. No official register of licensed casinos was found online, so the number of licensees is not stated here.
Online gambling and enforcement
No form of online gambling is licensed in Nepal. Because section 125 of the Criminal Code covers betting through any arrangement, online betting is treated as unlawful, and a foreign platform, VPN or overseas account does not create an exception (Law Alpine). Casino licensees are also barred from going online: the Department of Tourism’s 12-point directive, reported on 19 November 2025, states that any casino betting conducted over the internet or through online means is prohibited (B360).
Website and app blocking
Blocking means instructing internet service providers (ISPs) to make specified websites and apps unreachable from within the country. The NTA, the telecommunications regulator, already blacklisted online gambling and cryptocurrency sites in April 2025 (SiGMA). Enforcement intensified after the government introduced a 100-point governance reform agenda on 27 March 2026. Point 42 directed the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology to shut down betting apps and websites within 24 hours. SiGMA reported on 30 March 2026 that the NTA had issued a blocking directive to all ISPs, and by 5 April 2026 its deputy director reported that more than 7,000 URLs and apps had been closed and that over 50 public complaints had been received in a week (Onlinekhabar).
The Himalayan Times and ShareSansar reported on 24 July 2026 that 223,568 betting-related sites and apps had been blocked, many of them since the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The NTA formed a dedicated task force, uses threat-intelligence tools to identify sites and has opened a public reporting channel, but it acknowledges that new sites continue to appear under different names. SiGMA states that the NTA had already been acting against individual foreign gambling websites under the Telecommunications Act 1997; the specific provision relied on could not be confirmed from the statute itself. No source reviewed showed the Electronic Transactions Act 2008 being used as the legal basis for blocking betting sites, and enforcement reports cite the Criminal Code instead.
Payments and policing
Nepal has no published payment-blocking list for gambling, but the money flows of offshore betting are policed through criminal and foreign-exchange law. In April 2024 the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office arrested three people over Rs 574.1 million in betting transactions routed through 21 ConnectIPS and 98 bank accounts, under section 125 of the Criminal Code (ShareSansar). Law Alpine notes that the Foreign Exchange (Regulation) Act and Nepal Rastra Bank rules may also apply where stakes move through offshore remittance, cryptocurrency or hundi (informal transfer) channels.
Position of players
Nepal is a jurisdiction in which the player, not only the operator, can commit an offence. Section 125 penalises whoever gambles or bets, and its exceptions cover only authorised festival games and lawful casinos. For Nepali citizens, even casinos are closed: the casino regulations bar them from entering or playing, while foreign passport holders aged 18 or over may play after passport checks (Law Alpine). The Kathmandu Post noted in May 2025 that a bill then before Parliament was silent on whether the ban would continue; according to the Himalayan Times, the 2025 casino regulation maintains it. In a raid reported on 6 September 2026, police in Birgunj arrested a rural municipality chairperson, a police inspector, two other Nepali nationals and four casino employees after finding Nepalis gambling in a casino (Himalayan Times).
Arrests of individuals for gambling are frequent. The Kathmandu Post reported that police detained 2,869 people for gambling-related offences in fiscal year 2018/19 (Kathmandu Post, 2019). For online play, reported cases mostly involve agents and organisers handling bank accounts rather than casual players. In August 2026 Kathmandu police arrested three people over app-based betting worth more than Rs 206,000 and cryptocurrency worth about Rs 12 million; the reported charges related to operating or facilitating betting and cryptocurrency transactions (Himalayan Times). No case was found in which a player was convicted solely for staking money with an offshore website, but the law provides no exception for doing so.
Taxation
Casino operators pay the fixed annual royalty and licence fees described above, as well as ordinary corporate income tax and value added tax. Casinos are expressly excluded from the income tax concessions available to large tourism investments under section 11 of the Income Tax Act 2002 (2058 BS).
For players, the Income Tax Act defines a windfall gain as a gain from a lottery, gift, prize, tips, a share of earnings in a game, or any other incidental gain. A 2005 report in the Himalayan Times states that gambling winnings and sports prizes had been taxed as windfall gains at 25% of the gross amount, and that a finance ordinance of January 2005 exempted national and international awards in literature, art, culture, sports and journalism. The current statutory rate could not be confirmed from the text of the Act reviewed. GGB reports that the 2013 casino regulation required 25% of customers’ winnings to be deducted for the government. The November 2025 directive requires casinos to deduct tax from winnings before payment and to send the deduction certificates to the Inland Revenue Office and the Department of Tourism (B360). Because online gambling is unlawful, there is no tax regime for online winnings.
Consumer protection and responsible gambling
Nepal’s main protective measure is exclusion of its own citizens: the casino market is designed to serve tourists, and residents may not gamble in it. Beyond that, the rules focus on integrity and financial crime rather than harm reduction:
- Anti-money laundering: the November 2025 directive requires casinos to comply fully with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) law and with the Department of Tourism’s AML directives, and to submit compliance details to the Department regularly (B360).
- Identification and surveillance: the November 2025 directive requires biometric customer identification, CCTV recordings kept for at least six months, and adequate security inside and outside the premises (B360).
- Foreign currency: casinos may not trade in foreign currency without Nepal Rastra Bank approval (B360).
- Age: foreign players must be at least 18 (Law Alpine).
No national self-exclusion register, operator-funded treatment scheme or dedicated gambling helpline in Nepal was found in the sources reviewed. People affected by gambling may seek help through general health and addiction services. General guidance is available in our responsible gambling guide.
Recent and upcoming developments
- Integrated Tourism Bill (tabled 2025). The Kathmandu Post reported in May 2025 that a bill tabled in Parliament would embed a Casino Act in a new tourism law. It would cap foreign equity in casino companies at 49% (down from 90%), set a casino licence fee of Rs 25 million and an annual royalty of Rs 50 million, require operators to spend 2% of annual profits on social causes and require host hotels to hold at least 10% of the casino. No source confirming its enactment was found as of October 2026.
- Casino Regulations 2082 (2025). New regulations raised capital and fees and restored the 5 km border rule for new casinos, with exemptions for existing ones (Kantipur; Republica).
- 12-point directive (reported 19 November 2025). The Department of Tourism tightened anti-money laundering, tax deduction and security duties, and prohibited online casino betting (B360).
- Online betting crackdown (2026). Following the reform agenda of 27 March 2026, the NTA reported more than 7,000 blocks by 5 April and 223,568 by 24 July 2026 (Onlinekhabar; Himalayan Times).
- Casino enforcement (September 2026). The Birgunj raid reported on 6 September 2026 showed police enforcing the ban on Nepali patrons, including against public officials (Himalayan Times).
Casino listings for players in Nepal
The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database. They do not show that an operator is licensed in Nepal, and no official public register of licensed operators was found. No online casino is licensed in Nepal, online gambling and betting are offences under the Criminal Code, and the authorities actively block betting websites and apps. The listings must not be read as an indication that playing is lawful. See the report on the NTA’s blocking programme.
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Sources and further reading
- Government of Nepal (via Asian Development Bank Law and Policy Reform portal), The National Penal (Code) Act, 2017 (Act No. 36 of 2017), English translation.
- Government of Nepal, Inland Revenue Department, Income Tax Act, 2058 (2002), unofficial translation.
- Kathmandu Post, Don’t bet on it (6 November 2019).
- Kathmandu Post, Government relaxes location requirement for casinos (6 July 2019).
- Kathmandu Post, Proposed casino law to tighten rules, curb foreign investment (18 May 2025).
- Kantipur, Government’s two-tiered provisions on casinos: exemption for the old, stricter for the new (1 August 2025).
- Kantipur, Archive: this is how casinos were introduced in Nepal (1 October 2025).
- Republica, Casino investors must now bring Rs 200 million to the table (2025).
- B360, Government issues 12-point directive to further regulate casinos (19 November 2025).
- Prime Law Nepal, Casino registration in Nepal (accessed 7 October 2026).
- Law Bhandari and Associates, Gambling and betting law in Nepal: case prosecution steps (accessed 7 October 2026).
- Law Alpine, Gambling and betting law in Nepal (accessed 7 October 2026).
- Nepali Times, It’s a gamble (12 November 2004).
- ShareSansar, Government lowers casino royalty fee to Rs 30m (20 July 2014).
- GGRAsia, Some Nepal casino ops call for relaxation of rules (16 March 2015).
- GGB Magazine, Rally for Nepal casino industry (accessed 7 October 2026).
- Himalayan Times, Taxing gamblers and players (22 January 2005).
- Onlinekhabar, More than 7,000 online betting apps and websites closed (5 April 2026).
- Himalayan Times, NTA blocks 223,000 gambling apps, yet platforms keep returning (24 July 2026).
- ShareSansar, NTA shuts down more than 223,000 online betting apps and websites (24 July 2026).
- SiGMA, Nepal: NTA betting apps ISP block (March 2026).
- SiGMA, Nepal: illegal online betting ads on social media (accessed 7 October 2026).
- ShareSansar, Police arrest three suspects for illegal online sports betting involving Rs 574.1 million (15 April 2024).
- Himalayan Times, Three arrested in Kathmandu for online betting, crypto transactions (9 August 2026).
- Himalayan Times, Rural chair, police inspector among 8 arrested in Birgunj casino raid (6 September 2026).
