Aruba Online Casino Guide

Legal casino gambling age in Aruba

Published by Casino News Daily editorial teamReviewed byFilip RadulovicOur editorial approach

Aruba is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and makes its own gambling law. Gambling is lawful only where the state permits it. The core statute, the National Ordinance on Games of Chance (Landsverordening hazardspelen), allows the Minister of Justice to license games of chance only in hotels designated and specially equipped for the purpose. Casinos are therefore tied to the island’s resort hotels. Lotteries are run by a state lottery and by a government-linked foundation, Fundacion Lotto pa Deporte. Aruba has no dedicated gambling regulator. Casino affairs are handled by a government department, and a new supervisory authority is being prepared under the Landspakket, a reform agreement with the Netherlands. We found no Aruban statute or official register that sets out a licensing regime for online casinos. This guide explains the legal framework, supervision, the position of players, taxation, player protection and the reform now under way.

Key points

The main statute is the Landsverordening hazardspelen (AB 1990 no. GT 44). Licences are personal, granted by the Minister of Justice, and limited to designated hotels.
Residents of Aruba may enter a casino only in limited cases: the statute allows them an access pass when they visit with named non-resident companions.
Licensed casinos pay a gaming licence tax (speelvergunningsrecht) on gross receipts. Official 2012 guidance gives the rate as 4%, payable monthly.
There is no gambling authority yet. Under the Landspakket, draft legislation for a new authority was due in parliament in Q3 2026, with the authority to be operational in Q1 2027.
We found no official Aruban framework for licensing online casino games, and no official list of Aruba-licensed online operators.

Last reviewed: 8 October 2026.

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Historical development

Aruba left the Netherlands Antilles on 1 January 1986 and became a separate country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a change often called its status aparte (see the general overview of Aruba). Since then it has legislated for itself in most fields, including gambling. Its economy depends heavily on tourism, and the casino sector grew up inside the resort hotels of Palm Beach, Eagle Beach and Oranjestad.

The current casino statute appears in the official consolidated texts of 1990 (the “GT” series of the Official Gazette, the Afkondigingsblad van Aruba or AB). The consolidated text of the Landsverordening hazardspelen records a later amendment in AB 2009 no. 75. The companion tax ordinance, the Landsverordening speelvergunningsrecht hazardspelen, was amended in 1997, 2004 and 2013. Lotteries have their own statutes: a general Lottery Ordinance (AB 1988 no. GT 25) and the 1992 Landsverordening Landsloterij Aruba (AB 1992 no. 115), which set up the state lottery. The government states that Fundacion Lotto pa Deporte was founded in 1982 and launched its Lotto game in 1984.

In 2006 a separate ordinance allowed slot machines in the departure hall of the airport. More recently, money laundering risk in casinos has become the main policy concern, and gambling reform was written into the Landspakket agreed with the Netherlands in 2020 (see below).

Legal framework

Gambling law in Aruba is national law: there are no regional authorities with powers over gambling. The Kingdom of the Netherlands does not regulate gambling in Aruba. In 2018 the Dutch State Secretary for Kingdom Relations, Raymond Knops, told the Dutch parliament that the issue and extension of offshore gaming permits in Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten is not a Kingdom affair and that the Kingdom therefore has no authority over it, as reported by The Daily Herald. Dutch gambling law, including the Netherlands’ online licensing system, does not apply in Aruba.

The main instruments are:

Landsverordening hazardspelen (AB 1990 no. GT 44). Article 1(1) allows the Minister of Justice to license the operation of games of chance (hazardspelen) only in hotels specifically designated and equipped for that purpose, on conditions and guarantees set by the Minister. Article 1a allows licences for betting on dog races, cockfights and jai-alai. Licences are personal and cannot be transferred (Article 2). A licensee who breaks the conditions is treated as operating without a licence (Article 3), and the Minister may revoke a licence at any time (Article 4).
Landsverordening speelvergunningsrecht hazardspelen (AB 1990 no. GT 45). This levies a gaming licence tax on licence holders, calculated on gross receipts (see Taxation).
Landsverordening speelautomaten Luchthaven (AB 2006 no. 13). It allows the Minister to grant the airport operator an exclusive, non-transferable concession for slot machines in the departure hall. Machines must be in separate soundproofed rooms, may be used only by people aged 18 or over, and must pay out between 87% and 90%. The ordinance also amended Article 266(1) of the Criminal Code: operating without the required permission is punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment or a fine of up to Afl. 25,000.
Lottery legislation. The Landsverordening Landsloterij Aruba (AB 1992 no. 115) establishes the state lottery as a legal entity, while the general Lottery Ordinance (AB 1988 no. GT 25) governs other lotteries.
Anti-money laundering law. Casinos have long been subject to reporting duties. The Regeling indicatoren casino’s (AB 2002 no. 12) set the indicators for unusual transactions that casinos had to report. The current framework is the State Ordinance on the Prevention and Combating of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (AB 2011 no. 28, amended including by AB 2022 no. 105), published by the Centrale Bank van Aruba.

The Landsverordening hazardspelen also contains a civil-law rule. Article 4a states that Article 1807 of Book 7A of the Aruban Civil Code, a provision on gaming and wagering, does not apply to prizes and winnings obtained at licensed venues. The statute itself does not set a minimum age for casinos; the age of 18 discussed below comes from other sources.

Regulator and licensing model

Aruba uses a closed, discretionary licensing model. There is no open application process, no published number of licences and no independent regulator. Licences are granted by the Minister of Justice under Article 1 of the Landsverordening hazardspelen, and the Minister also holds the power to set conditions and to revoke.

Day-to-day casino affairs are handled by the Department of Casino Affairs (Departamento di Asuntonan di Casino, DAC, also called Casinowezen), which the Government of Aruba lists under the Ministry of Justice and Social Affairs. The government page gives only contact details. It does not publish a register of licensees, licence conditions or enforcement decisions, and we found no official public list of licensed casinos.

The Aruba Tourism Authority states that there are twelve casinos on the island, in Oranjestad, Eagle Beach and Palm Beach, and that the legal age for playing any casino game is 18. This is a tourism source rather than a legal one, and the figure should be read as indicative.

Because the law links licences to designated hotels, the model is best described as a hotel-casino licensing system. The licence holder remains responsible for tax even if a separate company runs the casino under contract, according to the tax authority’s guidance.

The weakness of supervision has been noted officially. In its 2025 annual report, the Financial Intelligence Unit of Aruba (FIU-Aruba) called the absence of a dedicated gaming authority a structural weakness for licensing, supervision and auditing of the sector, according to NoticiaCla; 24ora described the same point as an unresolved structural gap in supervision. Both reports appeared in July 2026. Both reports state that gaming legislation was approved in 2021 but that the authority had not yet been set up. We could not locate the text of that legislation or confirm its exact name and publication details.

Online gambling: what is permitted and how it is enforced

The position of online gambling in Aruba is unclear, and readers should treat claims about it with caution. The Landsverordening hazardspelen permits games of chance only in designated and specially equipped hotels. On its face, this does not provide for games offered over the internet. We found no Aruban ordinance, ministerial decision or official register establishing an online casino licence, licence classes or online licence fees, and no list of Aruba-licensed online operators.

The official reform documents confirm that online gambling is on the policy agenda. The original Landspakket Aruba (measure H.2) commits the governments to decide whether and how the “physical and online” gambling sector should be reformed, with a view to increasing government revenue. It names a draft Landsverordening toezicht kansspelen (National Ordinance on the Supervision of Games of Chance) as the basis for that work. The documents do not describe how online gambling is licensed today.

Some secondary sources state that the Department of Casino Affairs grants online licences by ministerial decree. We could not confirm this from any official source, so this guide does not rely on it. Equally, we found no official statement that online gambling is prohibited for residents.

Relationship with Curaçao. Aruba’s position differs from that of Curaçao, the neighbouring constituent country best known for online gaming licences. Curaçao replaced its older master-licence and sublicence system with the Landsverordening op de kansspelen (LOK), which the Curaçao Gaming Authority states entered into force on 24 December 2024. The Curaçao reform does not apply in Aruba. The two reform processes are linked only in that the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security has supported gambling reform in Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten, as reported by the Curaçao Chronicle in April 2025.

Enforcement. We found no evidence of website blocking, payment blocking or a blacklist of unlicensed online operators in Aruba. We also found no specific rules on gambling advertising. The criminal offence of operating games of chance without permission, in Article 266(1) of the Criminal Code as amended in 2006, applies to operators. We found no published case applying it to an online operator.

Position of players

The statutes reviewed here are directed at operators. The Landsverordening hazardspelen regulates who may run games of chance, and the Criminal Code offence concerns operating without permission. We found no provision that makes it an offence for a player to gamble online with a foreign operator, and no recorded prosecution or fine of a player for doing so. That does not mean such play is protected: an operator with no Aruban licence is outside the supervision of Aruban authorities, and a player has no local body to complain to.

For land-based casinos, the most distinctive rule concerns residents. Article 1(2) of the Landsverordening hazardspelen requires an access pass issued by or on behalf of the Minister to enter the gaming rooms. Passes may be issued to non-residents. A resident of Aruba may obtain one only when visiting together with named non-resident companions and applying on that basis. How this rule is applied in practice today could not be verified from official sources.

The minimum age to gamble in a casino is 18, according to the Aruba Tourism Authority. The same age limit is written into law for the airport slot machines. Casinos may require identification, and identification is also required for some transactions under the anti-money laundering rules.

Taxation

Operators

Casino licence holders pay the speelvergunningsrecht (gaming licence tax) under the Landsverordening speelvergunningsrecht hazardspelen. The tax is charged on gross receipts, and the rate is set by national decree (landsbesluit). Where one licence covers several gaming venues, each is taxed as if it had its own licence. Gross receipts include uncollected gambling debts, and directors and local representatives can be held jointly liable for unpaid tax. The consolidated text also extends the tax to the airport slot machine concession.

The 2012 return guidance of the Aruban tax authority (Servicio di Impuesto) gives the following rules:

Element	Rule (2012 guidance)
Rate	4% of the gross amount of receipts
Tax base	All receipts from players’ participation, including chip purchases, tournament entry fees, front money and issued markers (credit); bingo is included
Slot machines	Normally the “bucket drop”; for machines with bill acceptors the inspector may accept 1.55 times the slot win as the base
Period and payment	Monthly; return and payment due within 15 days after the end of the month
Penalties	Fines of up to Afl. 2,500 for late or missing returns and up to Afl. 10,000 for late or incomplete payment

This guidance dates from 2012, and the ordinance itself leaves the rate to a national decree. A further search in October 2026 found no more recent official statement of the rate, so whether 4% still applies could not be verified; operators should confirm the current rate with the tax authority.

The state lottery is taxed differently. Under Article 23 of the Landsverordening Landsloterij Aruba, the director pays a levy of 17.5% of the nominal value of tickets sold, within a week of each draw. The lottery’s net results are distributed to charitable, scientific, cultural, sports and other public-interest bodies (Article 32).

Players

We did not find an official source on the income tax treatment of gambling winnings for players in Aruba. The gaming licence tax is a charge on the licence holder, not on players. Readers with large winnings should seek advice from the tax authority.

Consumer protection and responsible gambling

Aruba has no statutory player-protection code for gambling, and we found no national self-exclusion register. The existing statutes deal with licensing, tax and money laundering rather than harm prevention. The restriction on residents’ access to casinos in the Landsverordening hazardspelen is the main protective measure in the law, together with the age limit of 18.

Anti-money laundering rules impose the most detailed duties on casinos. The Regeling indicatoren casino’s of 2002 required casinos to report transactions such as cash exchanges, chip purchases paid out by cheque or wire, and requests for winnings statements above a set threshold. A 2010 amendment lowered that threshold from Afl. 20,000 to Afl. 5,000 to follow recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force. According to the FIU’s 2025 annual report, as reported by 24ora, casinos filed more than 33,000 unusual transaction reports, about 54% of all reports the FIU received. Their reports rose from more than 25,000 in 2023 to nearly 30,000 in 2024.

Player protection is now part of the reform plan. The 2024 Landspakket implementation agenda included a consumer-protection plan of action and research into gambling addiction. The report for April to September 2026 states that the addiction study was tendered in Q4 2025, has since been awarded, and is due to be completed in Q4 2026.

We found no gambling-specific helpline in Aruba. The youth helpline 131 (Fundacion Telefon pa Hubentud Aruba) offers anonymous support to young people aged 8 to 24, including on alcohol and drug problems. Adults concerned about their gambling should contact their general practitioner or local addiction services. Our responsible gambling guide explains common warning signs and practical tools.

Recent and upcoming developments

Landspakket gambling reform (2020 onwards). The Landspakket Aruba, agreed in 2020, includes measure H.2 on reforming the physical and online gambling sector. The 2024 implementation agenda lists the treatment and implementation of the Landsverordening toezicht kansspelen and a planned letter of intent on cooperation between the Department of Casino Affairs and the future authority.
Kansspelautoriteit Aruba (status September 2026). According to the implementation report for 1 April to 30 September 2026, a Dutch-supplied interim head (kwartiermaker) started on 1 September 2025. The roadmap was updated and a plan of action approved (target Q4 2025). Preparations to recruit the board had started (target Q2 2026). Work had started on draft legislation, due to be submitted to the Staten (parliament) in Q3 2026. The authority is due to become operational in Q1 2027. We found no report that the bill had been submitted by the date of this review.
FIU criticism (July 2026). FIU-Aruba’s 2025 annual report described the lack of a gaming authority as a structural weakness, as reported by NoticiaCla and 24ora.
Dutch support (2025). In April 2025 advisers from the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security met the Netherlands Gambling Authority to discuss reform in Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten, according to the Curaçao Chronicle.
Next AML evaluation. Aruba expects its next international evaluation of anti-money laundering measures around 2029 or 2030, which will test whether casino supervision works in practice (24ora).

Whether the new authority will also license or police online gambling is not stated in the published documents. Readers should check the status of the bill in the Staten and any announcement by the Ministry of Justice.

Casino listings for players in Aruba

The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database. They do not show that an operator holds any licence from Aruba. We found no official Aruban framework or register for online casino licences, and the Department of Casino Affairs does not publish a list of licensed operators. The listings must not be read as an indication that online play is regulated or protected in Aruba.

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Aruba Online Casino Guide

Key points

Online casinos for Aruba

Historical development

Legal framework

Regulator and licensing model

Online gambling: what is permitted and how it is enforced

Position of players

Taxation

Operators

Players

Consumer protection and responsible gambling

Recent and upcoming developments

Casino listings for players in Aruba

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