Legal casino gambling age in Mozambique
Mozambique regulates gambling through a licensing system run by the state, with two separate legal tracks. Games of chance in the strict sense, chiefly casino table games and slot machines, may be operated only by companies holding a state concession under the Gaming Law, Law No. 1/2010, and only inside authorised casinos. Lotteries, sports betting and other “social and amusement games” fall under a separate law of 2012. The General Inspectorate of Games (Inspecção-Geral de Jogos, IGJ), which reports to the ministry responsible for finance, supervises both. Online sports betting has grown quickly under the social-games regime, while internet casino games had no dedicated rules until July 2026, when the Council of Ministers approved a regulation creating a separate concession for games of chance offered through electronic or computerised means. This guide summarises the framework as far as it could be verified from the published statute, government documents, law-firm guidance and press reports, and says where details remain unpublished.
Key points
- Casino gambling is governed by Law No. 1/2010 of 10 February 2010 (the Lei do Jogo), which allows games of chance only under a state concession, inside a casino linked to a hotel of at least four stars (five in Maputo), for a term of 10 to 30 years.
- Lotteries, sports betting, bingo, raffles and virtual games are governed by Law No. 9/2012 of 8 February 2012 and its implementing regulations, according to a CMS law-firm guide (2023).
- Article 5(3) of Law 1/2010 permits games of chance “via computer systems” on terms to be set by the government. A dedicated regulation for online games of chance was approved by the Council of Ministers in July 2026; its fees, tax rates and procedures had not been published at the date of review.
- Casino operators pay a Special Gaming Tax on gross gaming revenue, reported at 20% to 35% depending on the length of the concession, plus stamp duty on casino entry tickets.
- Entry to casino gaming rooms is barred to persons under 18. No national self-exclusion register was found.
Last reviewed: 7 October 2026.
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Historical development
Modern gambling legislation in independent Mozambique dates from 1994. Two laws of 14 September 1994, Law No. 8/94 and Law No. 9/94, “instituted the basic legal and regulatory framework” for games of chance or fortune and for social and recreational games respectively, according to the preamble of later ministerial instruments published in the Boletim da República of 29 March 2000. The regulator was given its structure in 2000. Decree No. 11/2000 of 23 May 2000 approved the Regulation of the General Inspectorate of Games, placing it under what was then the Ministry of Planning and Finance with departments for inspection, licensing and auditing, and with powers to suppress illicit gaming. Decrees Nos. 12/2000 and 13/2000, published in the same gazette, regulated the training and professional cards of gaming-room staff and created a gaming revenue fund (FURJOGO).
Casinos developed slowly. A national money laundering risk assessment, which uses data up to 2019 and is published on a Mozambican government website, lists five casinos and one slot-machine venue then in operation, in Maputo, Matola, Beira, Tete and Nampula. The oldest had opened in Maputo in 1996; the others opened between 2015 and 2019.
Law No. 8/94 was replaced by Law No. 1/2010, which the Assembly of the Republic approved on 17 June 2009. It was promulgated on 8 January 2010, published in the Boletim da República, I Series, No. 6, of 10 February 2010, and entered into force 180 days after publication (Articles 99 and 100). Its implementing regulation is Decree No. 64/2010 of 31 December 2010, later amended by Decree No. 4/2017 and Decree No. 65/2022 (CMS, 2023). On the social-games side, Law No. 9/2012 of 8 February 2012 now applies (CMS). In 2018 the Council of Ministers amended the regulation on social and amusement games through Decree No. 33/2018 of 28 May 2018, adding requirements for obtaining licences, according to a Miranda Alliance legislative newsletter.
Legal framework
The Gaming Law (Law No. 1/2010)
Law No. 1/2010 concerns “concessions relating to the operation of games of chance or fortune”. It defines games of chance (jogos de fortuna ou azar) as games whose result depends exclusively or mainly on luck and which offer money prizes, and it excludes social and amusement games from its scope (Articles 1 and 3). Article 10 lists the games that may be offered, including baccarat, blackjack, boule, craps, keno, poker, American and French roulette and slot machines, and allows the government to update the list. The key operating rules are:
- Concession only. Under Article 5(1), operating games of chance “is always conditional on a prior concession, granted by the State”. Under Article 5(2), playing them is permitted only in the concession areas and premises authorised under the Law.
- Gaming zones. The government defines concession areas or zones (Article 6). A zone may be run under an exclusivity regime, in which a single concessionaire operates casinos within a defined geographical area (Article 8), or under a special regime, in which one or more concessionaires may be appointed (Article 9). The statute itself does not list the zones.
- Casinos and hotels. Games of chance may be operated only within casinos associated with one or more hotels of at least four-star classification, or five stars in Maputo (Article 38).
- Tender and term. Concessions are normally awarded by public tender (Article 12) and last for a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 30 years (Article 20).
- Capital and local ownership. A concessionaire’s share capital may not be less than MZN 100 million, indexed to inflation and exchange rates, and at least 26% must remain in Mozambican hands (Article 68). The minimum investment is MZN 200 million, to be made within five years (Article 69).
Online games under Law 1/2010
Article 5(3) of the Law states that “the operation and practice of games of chance via computer systems is permitted, under terms and conditions to be regulated by the Government”. For more than a decade no such specific regulation was adopted. The CMS guide (October 2023), written by lawyers at the Maputo firm CGA – Couto, Graça & Associados, stated that “there are no specific regulations for online gambling, but it may be practiced under the general regime”. The 2026 regulation described below is the government’s first dedicated instrument under Article 5(3).
Social and amusement games (Law No. 9/2012)
The second track covers what Mozambican law calls social and amusement games (jogos sociais e de diversão). According to CMS, these include “bingo, lotteries, totobola, totoloto, lotto, raffles, mutual betting, contests and virtual games”, and are governed by Law No. 9/2012 with Decree No. 17/2012 of 5 July 2012 as the regulation identified by CMS. The national risk assessment instead identifies Decree No. 33/2018 as the regulation of Law 9/2012; the Miranda newsletter describes Decree 33/2018 as an amendment. We could not obtain the text of Law 9/2012 or its regulations to confirm their provisions, including any age limit or tax specific to betting. It is under this regime that sports betting, including online sports betting, has been licensed (iGaming Business, August 2026).
Anti-money laundering
Casinos and other gaming operators are also obliged entities for anti-money laundering purposes. The national risk assessment notes that the IGJ was designated as their supervisor under Article 27(c) of Law No. 14/2013, the anti-money laundering law in force at the time. It identified significant vulnerabilities, including a large number of cash transactions, weak knowledge of the anti-money laundering rules among operators and IGJ staff, and the fact that the IGJ has no criminal enforcement powers of its own.
Regulator and licensing model
Mozambique follows a concession and licensing model: private companies may operate gambling, but only with a grant from the state, and for casinos only in designated zones. Under Article 36 of Law 1/2010, the General Inspectorate of Games is “an organ of control and support to the ministry that oversees finance”, responsible for the control, inspection and supervision of all activities connected with games of chance. Its statutory tasks include auditing, repressing acts contrary to the law, giving opinions on gaming equipment, providing technical support to the National Gaming Commission and issuing instructions to casino concessionaires. To protect its independence, the Law bars former inspectors from becoming shareholders, employees or advisers of a concessionaire for ten years after leaving office.
Responsibilities are divided as follows, according to CMS:
- Casino concessions are awarded by the Minister of Tourism. Under Article 35 of Law 1/2010 the National Gaming Commission (Comissão Nacional de Jogos) is chaired by the tourism ministry’s representative, with a finance ministry representative as vice-chair.
- Social and amusement games, including lotteries and sports betting, are authorised by the Minister of Finance.
- Supervision of all gaming operations lies with the IGJ.
Concessions have been granted for casinos in Maputo, Matola, Beira, Tete, Nampula and Pemba; Lusa reported in March 2026 that five private ventures had generated investments of about US$36 million, announced in August 2024 (as reproduced by the AMAN news alliance). The Ministry of Finance’s figures, as reported, put the minimum share capital at about US$2.7 million and the required five-year investment at about US$5.5 million. Law 1/2010 sets these minima as MZN 100 million and MZN 200 million, indexed to inflation and exchange rates. The IGJ’s website could not be reached during research, and no public register of concessionaires or betting licensees was found.
On the betting side, figures reported by the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s Context in December 2025 attributed to the IGJ indicated 30 betting operators, of which 21 were active and nine were awaiting licences.
Online gambling and enforcement
Until 2026, online gambling in Mozambique developed along two lines. Online sports betting and other remote products were licensed under the social-games framework, which already covered lotteries, raffles and virtual games (iGaming Business; SCCG Management). Online casino games, by contrast, had no specific framework, and digital casino operations depended on the concession regime written for land-based casinos (SiGMA, July 2026). Context reported in 2025 that about 25,000 people placed bets every hour through websites and mobile apps, with minimum stakes on most platforms of between US$0.15 and US$0.30.
The 2026 online games regulation
On 15 July 2026 the Council of Ministers approved the Regulamento de Exploração e Prática de Jogos de Fortuna ou Azar através de suportes eletrónicos ou informáticos (Regulation on the Operation and Practice of Games of Chance or Fortune through Electronic or Computerised Means). Government spokesperson Inocêncio Impissa announced it; Lusa reported that it recognises online games as an autonomous, independent modality subject to its own requirements, distinct from the concessions granted to physical casinos (Club of Mozambique; RTP/Lusa). Lusa linked the reform to falling casino tax receipts, which the Ministry of Finance attributed to online gaming.
According to iGaming Business (19 August 2026), the government had not disclosed concession costs, gaming-tax rates, capital requirements, application procedures or technical standards for the new regime, nor a timeline for publishing them. Economy Minister Basílio Muhate said the government would “continue to defend the fight against illegal gambling”, and the president of the Mozambican Association of Online Games and Betting, Danilo Mussá, said the framework “gives us a legal instrument that will also enable us to combat foreign betting sites”. We did not find the decree number or its publication in the Boletim da República, so its entry into force could not be confirmed.
Offshore operators, blocking and advertising
No statutory blocklist of unlicensed gambling websites, and no payment-blocking rule, was found in the sources reviewed. Reports on the 2026 regulation indicate that the authorities intend to tackle offshore sites serving Mozambican customers, possibly with the National Institute of Information and Communication Technologies (INTIC), but the scope of any blocking power was not set out (SCCG Management; iGaming Business). The CMS guide notes that payments between Mozambique and other countries are subject to exchange control legislation, requiring prior authorisation or registration with the Bank of Mozambique depending on the transaction. No specific gambling advertising code was identified.
Position of players
Law 1/2010 regulates operators. Article 5(2) confines the practice of games of chance to authorised concession areas and premises, and Article 48(2)(d) bars persons under 18 from casino gaming rooms. Article 48 also excludes other categories, such as intoxicated or armed persons, from casinos, and the Law bars certain office-holders, including members of the government and deputies. However, no article of the Law was found that makes it a criminal offence for an individual to play with an unlicensed online operator, and its sanctions chapter (Articles 87 to 92) provides administrative fines imposed by the Inspector-General. The national risk assessment notes that the IGJ itself has no criminal enforcement powers. We found no reports of prosecutions or fines against players for using offshore sites. This does not mean that playing with unlicensed operators is lawful: the clear policy of the 2026 regulation is to bring online games within a domestic concession system and to act against foreign sites.
Taxation
Under Article 81 of Law 1/2010, concessionaires pay a Special Gaming Tax (Imposto Especial sobre o Jogo) on the gross revenue from gaming after prizes are paid to players, at a rate fixed in the concession contract. Other activities of the concessionaire are subject to the general tax regime. Article 80 also provides for an award fee on the grant of a concession, ranging from MZN 0.5 million to MZN 3 million depending on whether the casino uses new, rehabilitated or existing infrastructure.
According to Ministry of Finance information reported by Lusa and Club of Mozambique (March 2026), the Special Gaming Tax rates are:
- 20% of gross revenue for concessions of up to 14 years;
- 25% for concessions of up to 19 years;
- 30% for concessions of 20 to 24 years; and
- 35% for concessions of 25 to 30 years.
A stamp duty equal to 50% of the price of casino entry tickets also applies, and operators are reported to be exempt from tax on gaming operating profits and from import duties on capital goods for casino operation. The Law earmarks part of the revenue for local benefit: at least 10% of the gaming-tax receipts allocated under Article 82 goes to the municipalities or districts of the concession zone, together with at least 50% of the stamp duty on casino entry tickets (Article 83).
Casino tax receipts have been modest and declining. The Ministry of Finance reported collections of MZN 387.7 million in 2024, against a budget of MZN 1,235 million, and MZN 359.5 million in 2025, 54% of a MZN 666.1 million target and 7.3% less than in 2024. The ministry stated that “the significant increase in online games” reduced the number of players visiting casinos (Club of Mozambique). Betting is taxed under the social-games regime; figures given to Context by the IGJ’s deputy inspector put direct tax revenue from betting companies at about US$17 million in 2025 and about US$18 million in 2024. The rate applicable to betting operators, and the tax treatment of players’ winnings, could not be verified from primary sources and are not stated here.
Consumer protection and responsible gambling
Statutory safeguards in Law 1/2010 focus on casinos: the minimum age of 18, the exclusion of certain categories of person from gaming rooms, and the location of casinos within upmarket hotels. For betting, Context reported that existing rules require operators to offer players limit-setting tools, to publish the contact details of support organisations and to display warnings about excessive gambling. No national self-exclusion register and no state-funded gambling helpline were identified.
Concern about harm has grown with the spread of mobile betting. According to the Thomson Reuters Foundation report (December 2025), police records showed at least ten suicides linked to gambling in 2024, mainly among young people. The IGJ’s deputy inspector, Macário Gusse, was quoted as saying that such deaths were linked to pressure from loan sharks and were “not directly linked to betting companies”. The non-governmental Centre for Community Development in Health and Environment (CEDSA) was reported to be supporting about 300 people with gambling problems nationally, including with debt restructuring and employment advice, and to be calling for automatic exclusion mechanisms (SiGMA). General guidance is available in our responsible gambling guide.
Recent and upcoming developments
- Online games regulation (July 2026). Approved by the Council of Ministers on 15 July 2026. It creates a separate concession regime for games of chance through electronic or computerised means. Fees, tax rates, capital requirements and procedures had not been published as of the latest report found (August 2026), and the decree’s publication in the Boletim da República could not be confirmed (iGaming Expert; iGaming Business).
- Falling casino revenue (2024–2025). Casino tax receipts fell from MZN 387.7 million in 2024 to MZN 359.5 million in 2025, well below budget, which the Ministry of Finance attributed to online gaming.
- Betting and harm (2025). Press reports in December 2025 described rapid growth of online betting among young people, with 30 betting operators, and calls by civil-society groups for stronger player protection.
- Regulation of casino gaming (2022). Decree No. 65/2022 of 30 November 2022 amended the casino gaming regulation, Decree No. 64/2010 (CMS). Its content could not be reviewed.
Casino listings for players in Mozambique
The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database. They do not show that an operator holds a concession or licence in Mozambique, where online games of chance are being brought under a new domestic concession regime and no public register of licensed operators was found. Readers should check an operator’s status with the General Inspectorate of Games before playing, and the listings must not be read as an indication that playing with any particular site is lawful.
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Sources and further reading
- Republic of Mozambique, Lei n.º 1/2010 (Lei do Jogo), Boletim da República, I Série, n.º 6 (10 February 2010).
- Republic of Mozambique, Boletim da República, I Série, n.º 20, 2.º suplemento: Decretos n.º 11/2000, 12/2000 e 13/2000 (23 May 2000).
- Republic of Mozambique, Boletim da República, I Série, n.º 13, 2.º suplemento (29 March 2000).
- Republic of Mozambique, Avaliação Nacional de Risco de branqueamento de capitais e financiamento do terrorismo (sector evaluation) (accessed 7 October 2026).
- E. Camacho and A. Martins (CGA – Couto, Graça & Associados), CMS, Gambling laws in Mozambique (24 October 2023).
- Miranda Alliance, Legislative Newsletter Mozambique, May–July 2018 (2018).
- Club of Mozambique, Mozambique moves forward with regulation for online gambling (15 July 2026).
- RTP / Lusa, Moçambique avança com regulamentação para jogos de azar online (July 2026).
- Club of Mozambique, Mozambique: Casinos yield less with new drop in taxes in 2025 (March 2026).
- Lusa via AMAN Alliance, Mozambique casino tax revenue report (24 March 2026).
- iGaming Business, Mozambique online gambling framework (19 August 2026).
- SCCG Management, Mozambique approves dedicated framework separating online casino games from land-based concessions (20 August 2026).
- SiGMA, Mozambique creates standalone online gambling framework (21 July 2026).
- iGaming Expert, Mozambique enters a new era for iGaming regulation (17 July 2026).
- S. Comé, Context (Thomson Reuters Foundation), As gambling spreads across Mozambique, families count losses (11 December 2025).
- SiGMA, Mozambique gambling boom sparks concern over player protection (17 December 2025).
