Legal casino gambling age in Laos
Laos, officially the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), treats gambling as a criminal offence unless it has been authorised by the state. The Penal Code of 2017 punishes “forbidden gambling” with fines and, for organisers and repeat offenders, imprisonment. Alongside this general prohibition, the government has allowed a small number of casinos to operate under investment concessions, most of them in border areas and special economic zones (SEZs), and aimed at foreign visitors rather than Lao citizens. The best known is the Kings Romans casino in the Golden Triangle SEZ in Bokeo province, whose owner was sanctioned by the United States in 2018. Online gambling is not lawful for people in Laos, and since 2024 the authorities have conducted repeated raids on scam and online gambling operations, first in the Golden Triangle SEZ and, by 2026, in Vientiane and other provinces. This guide explains the legal framework, the casino concession model, the position of players and the recent enforcement campaign.
Key points
- Article 141 of the Penal Code (Law No. 26/NA of 17 May 2017) makes “forbidden gambling”, defined as unauthorised gambling, an offence punishable by a fine of 5 to 10 million kip; organisers, people who lend their premises and repeat offenders face three months to two years’ imprisonment.
- Casinos operate under government concessions rather than an open licensing regime. Under the 2016 Law on Investment Promotion, investment in casino business requires the approval of the National Assembly.
- Lao citizens are generally barred from gambling in the country’s casinos, which are aimed at foreign customers; this rule is reported consistently in the press, but its exact legal instrument could not be verified.
- The US Treasury designated Kings Romans co-owner Zhao Wei and his network as a transnational criminal organisation in January 2018, citing drug trafficking, human trafficking, money laundering, bribery and wildlife trafficking.
- In August 2024 the authorities ordered scam centres in the Golden Triangle SEZ to close and detained 771 people; raids continued in 2025; between January and mid-June 2026 police reported detaining 2,652 suspects nationwide, and in May 2026 the national news agency said 307 Thai suspects had violated the gambling article of the Penal Code.
Last reviewed: 7 October 2026.
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Historical development
Laos has never had a general licensing law for gambling. Its casino sector grew from the late 2000s through individual agreements between the government and foreign investors, typically linked to tourism projects close to the borders with China, Thailand and Vietnam. A Radio Free Asia report from October 2012 described “three fully fledged casino resorts” and several slot machine venues on the borders with Thailand and China. It noted that, except for the Dansavanh Nam Ngum Resort near the Vietnamese border, run by a Malaysian investor, “all the major casinos in Laos are backed by China-based companies”, and that the authorities had threatened to close casinos and were “often barring Lao citizens from patronizing them”.
The same report recorded that the authorities had officially closed the Golden City casino in Boten, on the Chinese border, in 2011, citing “speculation of criminal activity”. The Golden Triangle SEZ in Bokeo province was established in 2007, when the Hong Kong-registered Kings Romans Group, led by Zhao Wei, obtained a 99-year lease over a territory of 100 square kilometres along the Mekong, according to a 2024 peer-reviewed study in Social Sciences. The study notes that, although gambling is illegal under national law, the government made an exception for the zone, where the Kings Romans casino became the centrepiece. Bloomberg (2024) reports that the Lao state received a 20% stake in the zone when the development rights were granted in 2007.
In the south, the Savan Vegas casino in Savannakhet became the subject of a dispute in which, according to GGRAsia (May 2016), the government had seized the resort claiming about US$23 million in back taxes and penalties. In 2016 Macau Legend Development agreed to pay US$42 million, including the assumed tax liability, for the operating rights, which carried a 50-year exclusivity over casino gaming in the provinces of Bolikhamsay, Khammouane and Savannakhet, extendable by up to 49 years.
In the early 2020s the Golden Triangle SEZ, like similar zones in Myanmar and Cambodia, became associated with large-scale online fraud and illegal online gambling operations staffed in part by trafficked workers. This led to periodic raids and, from 2024, a sustained crackdown described below.
Legal framework
The Penal Code (2017)
The central gambling provision is Article 141 of the Penal Code, Law No. 26/NA of 17 May 2017 (unofficial English translation published on the FAO’s FAOLEX database), promulgated by Presidential Decree No. 118/PO of 26 June 2017. The article, headed “Forbidden Gambling”, sits in the chapter on offences against safety and social order. In the translation it reads:
“Any person indulging in forbidden gambling shall be fined from 5,000,000 kip to 10,000,000 Kip. Any person consenting to have his/her house used as gambling premises or acting as the chief gambler or found to have engaged in (gambling) recidivism, shall be punished by three months to two years of imprisonment or by re-education without deprivation of liberty and shall be fined from 5,000,000 kip to 15,000,000 Kip.”
The Code defines forbidden gambling simply as unauthorised gambling. The structure of Lao law is therefore one of general prohibition: all gambling is unlawful unless a competent state body has authorised it, as it has for state lotteries and for concession casinos. The offence applies to participants as well as organisers.
Administrative rules on lotteries, slot machines and online games
Below the Penal Code, enforcement relies on executive instruments. A Vientiane Times report of 3 April 2020 described instructions from the Economic Police Department of the Ministry of Public Security to close illegal lottery outlets, slot machine shops and online gambling operations. The report cited Minister of Finance Order No. 1332 of 2009 on lottery management, Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism Notice No. 157 of 2017 on slot machine services and Prime Minister’s Office Notification No. 2253 of 2019 on illegal operations. It set out a graduated approach:
- for illegal lotteries, a warning and confiscation of equipment, then a fine of 50% of the value of the lottery, then prosecution under Article 141;
- for slot machines and online gambling, a warning and seizure of the machines, then fines of between 200,000 kip and 5 million kip and confiscation, then detention or arrest under Article 141.
The texts of these orders and notices were not available in English and could not be checked directly.
Investment and special economic zone law
Casinos are approved as investment projects. Article 49 of the Law on Investment Promotion (Amended), No. 14/NA of 17 November 2016, published in English on the government’s Lao Trade Portal, lists “casino business and casino gambling business” among the investments that require the approval of the National Assembly. Special economic zones are governed by their own legal framework; the 2024 Social Sciences study states that the Golden Triangle SEZ operates under Decree No. 443/PM of 2010 on special economic zones, which, according to the study, gives such zones a degree of autonomy in their business operations. The decree’s text was not checked directly.
No Lao statute dedicated to casinos or to online gambling was found in an English translation. Several secondary sources refer to a decree on casino business, but its number, date and text could not be verified, so this guide does not rely on it.
Regulator and licensing model
Laos has no single gambling regulator comparable to a gaming commission. Responsibility is divided:
- Casino approvals are made as investment concessions, with National Assembly approval required for casino investments under the 2016 Law on Investment Promotion. The terms, including tax and exclusivity, are set in individual agreements, as the Savan Vegas example shows.
- Special economic zones have their own management boards. In the Golden Triangle SEZ the management board, chaired by Zhao Wei, issued statements in 2024 requiring businesses to comply with Lao law and to be licensed by the state.
- Lotteries fall under Ministry of Finance rules, such as Order No. 1332 of 2009 cited by the Vientiane Times.
- Enforcement against illegal gambling, including online gambling, is carried out by the Ministry of Public Security and provincial authorities.
The model is best described as prohibition with concession-based exceptions: gambling is criminal unless authorised, and authorisation is given case by case to large investment projects rather than through a published licensing system with standard licence types and fees. No official list of licensed casinos was found. Press sources name casinos at the Golden Triangle SEZ (Kings Romans), in Savannakhet (Savan Vegas) and near the Vietnamese border (Dansavanh Nam Ngum), but the current number of operating casinos could not be verified.
Online gambling and enforcement
No source was found showing that any operator is authorised to offer online gambling to people in Laos. Online gambling has been treated by the authorities as illegal since at least the 2020 enforcement instructions described above, and recent prosecutions have been brought under the gambling article of the Penal Code. In May 2026, the national news agency KPL reported that 307 Thai nationals detained in raids on telecommunications fraud and online gambling operations in Vientiane were handed to Thai authorities, having violated “Article 141 of the Lao Penal Code, which prohibits illegal gambling activities”.
Offshore licensing reports
A Voice of America report on warnings by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) stated that, according to news reports, the government had granted a private company, the “Laos Offshore Gaming Authority”, the power to license online gambling sites, and that “with Lao citizens barred from gambling in Laos, the sites will target foreign customers”. The online version of the report is undated. No official Lao government document establishing such a body, nor any list of licensees, could be found, and the status of this scheme could not be verified.
Enforcement tools
Enforcement in Laos relies mainly on police raids, confiscation of equipment, arrest and deportation of foreign workers, and orders to close premises. No published system of website blocking or payment blocking aimed at offshore gambling sites, and no rules specific to gambling advertising, were found in English-language sources. Local measures target physical points of access. In 2025, according to KPL, Khammouane province ordered internet cafés and game credit shops involved in online gambling to close by 15 July 2025, warning that violators faced fines and possible criminal charges.
Position of players
Under Article 141 of the Penal Code, “indulging in forbidden gambling” is itself an offence. A person in Laos who gambles in a form that has not been authorised, which includes gambling with online operators, is therefore liable to a fine of 5 to 10 million kip, and a repeat offender may be imprisoned for three months to two years. Lao law does not distinguish between domestic and foreign online sites: the question is only whether the gambling has been authorised in Laos.
Lao citizens are widely reported to be barred from the casinos, which serve foreign customers. The 2024 Social Sciences study states that Lao nationals may work in the Golden Triangle SEZ casino only as croupiers. The precise legal source of the bar on citizens could not be verified, and it is not clear whether foreign residents in Laos are affected by it.
Most recorded prosecutions concern people running or working in illegal gambling and scam operations rather than individual players. No reported case was found of a player being fined solely for gambling online from Laos, but the offence exists and the administrative instructions of 2020 provide for warnings and fines for slot machine and online gambling offences.
Taxation
Laos has no published gambling tax rate applicable to all operators. Casino taxes and fees are set in individual concession agreements alongside the general tax laws. The Savan Vegas dispute, in which the government seized the resort over about US$23 million in claimed back taxes and penalties before Macau Legend’s 2016 purchase (GGRAsia), illustrates that tax obligations are negotiated and enforced project by project. Because unauthorised gambling is unlawful, there is no tax regime for online gambling. No source was found on the tax treatment of players’ winnings.
Consumer protection and responsible gambling
No national self-exclusion scheme, gambling helpline or statutory responsible gambling framework was found for Laos. The main safeguards are indirect: the criminal prohibition on unauthorised gambling and the reported bar on Lao citizens entering casinos. Provincial measures such as the 2025 Khammouane order justify closures by reference to harm to “public order, youth development, and social well-being” (KPL).
The UNODC and investigative reporting have raised wider concerns about the zones in which casinos operate. The US Treasury’s January 2018 designation alleged that the Kings Romans casino was used for the storage and distribution of heroin and methamphetamine, human trafficking and child prostitution, and the trade in tigers, rhinos and pangolins. People who travel to such areas, or who are offered jobs there, should be aware of the trafficking risks described below. General guidance on gambling safely and on finding help is available in our responsible gambling guide.
The Golden Triangle SEZ and US sanctions
On 30 January 2018 the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated the Zhao Wei Transnational Criminal Organization under Executive Order 13581. It described Zhao Wei as a Chinese national and co-owner of Kings Romans International, and also designated his wife, the casino’s Australian security chief, a Thai director and three companies registered in Hong Kong and Thailand. US persons are generally prohibited from dealing with designated persons, and their property under US jurisdiction is blocked (US Treasury, 2018).
The sanctions did not end the Lao authorities’ relationship with Zhao Wei. The Social Sciences study records that days before the designation the government gave him a development award, and that in October 2022 he received a state medal. In an analysis published by The Diplomat (August 2024), an expert described the zone’s business model as providing the infrastructure, leases and armed security that allow criminal businesses to operate.
Recent and upcoming developments
Enforcement against scam and online gambling operations has intensified since 2023. The main dated events are:
- November 2023. According to UCA News, citing Radio Free Asia, 462 Chinese nationals arrested in raids in the Golden Triangle SEZ on 28 November were deported to China the following day. A later RFA report described these arrests as involving more than 430 Chinese nationals suspected of running fraudulent call centres (RFA, 12 August 2024).
- August 2024. After a meeting on 9 August between the Bokeo provincial governor, Ministry of Public Security officials and Zhao Wei, the authorities ordered scam centres in the zone to be “completely shut down by Aug. 25”. Joint Lao and Chinese operations from 12 August detained 771 people, including 275 Lao, 231 Burmese and 108 Chinese nationals (The Diplomat). An official told RFA that some operations had “shifted into online gambling centers”. The SEZ management board required all businesses to comply with Lao law and be licensed, and banned employers from confiscating workers’ passports and documents (KPL, August 2024). Raids continued after the deadline, with 60 more arrests on 26 August (RFA, 29 August 2024).
- January to February 2025. The Vientiane Times, as republished by The Star (5 January 2025), reported that nine operations had shut down 267 call centres in the zone and led to the arrest of people of 16 nationalities (the Laotian Times gave 267 as the number of arrests), and that the zone’s security command would continue operations in 2025. The Laotian Times (18 February 2025) reported more than 10,000 computers and 11,000 mobile phones seized and a stated goal of eliminating cyber scam operations in the zone in 2025.
- July 2025. Khammouane province ordered internet cafés and shops facilitating online gambling to close by 15 July 2025 (KPL).
- January to mid-June 2026. The Ministry of Public Security reported that 20 fraud operations had been dismantled and 2,652 suspects of 14 nationalities detained, under Prime Minister’s Order No. 32 and related directives on internet crime and illegal online gambling (KPL, 18 June 2026).
- June to August 2026. According to The Star (1 August 2026), 1,044 suspects were detained in July 2026, including 589 at a company in Vientiane on 18 July. Police said suspects detained in the Boten SEZ on 30 June had used online gambling platforms among other methods. On 15 July the Ministry of Public Security warned that people assisting criminal networks faced fines, asset confiscation or criminal charges.
No bill to create a general gambling or online gambling licensing law was found. The scope and duration of Prime Minister’s Order No. 32 and the status of the reported offshore licensing scheme should be rechecked.
Casino listings for players in Laos
The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database. They do not show that an operator is licensed in Laos, and no official register of authorised gambling operators is published. Offering online casino games to people in Laos is not authorised, and unauthorised gambling is an offence under Article 141 of the Penal Code for players as well as operators. The listings must not be read as an indication that playing is lawful.
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Sources and further reading
- Lao PDR, National Assembly (unofficial translation, FAOLEX), Penal Code, Law No. 26/NA of 17 May 2017 (2017).
- Government of the Lao PDR, Lao Trade Portal, Law on Investment Promotion (Amended), No. 14/NA of 17 November 2016 (2016).
- Vientiane Times (Phomphong Laoin), Law enforcement agencies directed to shut illegal lottery, slot machine outlets (3 April 2020).
- US Department of the Treasury, Treasury Sanctions the Zhao Wei Transnational Criminal Organization (30 January 2018).
- Social Sciences (MDPI), Contested Borderlands: Experimental Governance and Statecraft in the Laos Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (2024).
- Bloomberg, Golden Triangle: How Crypto Scammers Found a Criminal Paradise in Laos (2024).
- Radio Free Asia, Gambling a Foreign Hand (15 October 2012).
- GGRAsia, Macau Legend to pay US$42 mln for Savan Vegas (16 May 2016).
- Voice of America, UN Warns of Growing Criminal Threat from Mekong Region Casinos, SEZs (undated; accessed 7 October 2026).
- UCA News, Laos deports 462 Chinese nationals over ties to scams (December 2023).
- Radio Free Asia, Laos orders Golden Triangle scammers out of zone by end of month (12 August 2024).
- Radio Free Asia, Lao authorities raid more Golden Triangle scam centers as deadline passes (29 August 2024).
- The Diplomat, Lao, Chinese Officials Detain 771 in Raid on Golden Triangle Gambling Hub (August 2024).
- Lao News Agency (KPL), Laos strictly handles cyber-scam crime in Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (August 2024).
- The Star / Vientiane Times, Bokeo authorities in Laos continue crackdown on scam call centres (5 January 2025).
- Laotian Times, Laos Strengthens Control on Call Center Scams as Thailand Targets Fraud Rings (18 February 2025).
- Lao News Agency (KPL), Khammouane Cracks Down on Online Gambling Outlets (2025).
- Lao News Agency (KPL), Lao Police Hand Over Online Scam and Gambling Suspects to Thai Authorities (May 2026).
- Lao News Agency (KPL), Laos Intensifies Crackdown on Cyber Scam Networks, Pledges to Eliminate Online Fraud (18 June 2026).
- The Star, Laos detains more than 1,000 suspects as cybercrime crackdown intensifies (1 August 2026).
