Legal casino gambling age in Cuba
Cuba is one of the few countries in the Americas where no form of gambling is lawfully offered to the public. After the revolution of 1959 the new government closed the casinos, converted the national lottery into a savings scheme and, over the following decades, treated games of chance run for profit as a criminal matter. There is no gambling regulator, no licensing system, no legal online gambling and no state lottery. The current Penal Code, Law No. 151 of 2022, punishes those who organise or promote illegal games. In practice, an informal numbers game known as la bolita remains widespread, and press reports describe uneven enforcement. This guide sets out the history, the legal framework, the position of players, and the main points of uncertainty.
Key points
- Cuba has no legal casinos, lottery, sports betting or online gambling. Casinos were closed and the national lottery wound down after 1959.
- The Penal Code (Law No. 151 of 2022), published in the Gaceta Oficial on 1 September 2022 and in force since 1 December 2022, contains the offence of illicit games (juegos ilícitos).
- According to press accounts of article 281, bankers, collectors, note-takers and promoters of illicit games face one to three years’ imprisonment or a fine, or both, rising to three to eight years in aggravated cases.
- No Cuban authority licenses online gambling. Access to foreign sites is further limited by internet costs, the domestic banking system and United States sanctions.
- There is no gambling regulator, self-exclusion register or gambling helpline; general addiction services are provided through the public health system.
Last reviewed: 13 October 2026.
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Historical development
Gambling has a long history in Cuba. According to a 2016 report by the independent outlet CubaNet, lotteries were introduced under Spanish colonial rule in 1812, suppressed by the United States authorities in 1898 and re-established as a state institution by a law of the Cuban Congress in 1909, and that a “tourism law” signed by President Menocal in 1919 authorised games of chance; these dates come from a single press source and could not be checked against official records (CubaNet, 2016). The state lottery administration was the Renta de la Lotería Nacional. An academic study published in Revista INVI in 2015 describes it as having been “una fuente de corrupción y de enriquecimiento ilícito” (a source of corruption and illicit enrichment) for those who ran it during the republican period, and notes that many unofficial games of chance flourished under Fulgencio Batista (Muñoz Hernández and González González, 2015).
By the 1950s Havana had become a regional casino centre, with gaming rooms inside several large hotels, some of them financed by figures from organised crime in the United States. After Fidel Castro took power on 1 January 1959, crowds ransacked several casinos, and the hotels and casinos stayed closed into February, leaving their workers unpaid. A decree of 19 February 1959 allowed a number of hotel casinos to reopen, but around April 1961, after the Bay of Pigs invasion, the government nationalised all businesses, including the hotels (The Mob Museum, 2018). Other accounts record that gambling was abolished soon after the revolution and that slot machines and roulette tables were destroyed (CubaNet, 2016).
The national lottery was dealt with by Law No. 86 of 17 February 1959, which created the Instituto Nacional de Ahorro y Vivienda (INAV, the National Savings and Housing Institute) and transferred to it the assets of the Renta de la Lotería Nacional. The stated aim was to turn gambling into saving: tickets became bonds that could be redeemed after five years at their purchase price, and the proceeds financed housing. INAV’s construction programme ended in 1962 and the institute was dissolved on 31 March 1968 (Muñoz Hernández and González González, 2015). Since then Cuba has had no state lottery. On 24 November 1994 Fidel Castro still claimed that “la Revolución liquidó el juego” (the Revolution did away with gambling), a statement that independent journalists have contrasted with the persistence of the illegal lottery (Diario de Cuba, 2025).
Legal framework
Penal law as the basis of the prohibition
Cuba has no dedicated gambling statute. Games of chance are addressed through criminal law, which is the main instrument of what this guide calls a prohibition model: a system in which gambling for profit is not licensed at all and is instead treated as an offence. The Penal Code in force until 2022 was Law No. 62 of 1987. Under its article 219, as reported by CubaNet in 2017, bankers, collectors, note-takers and promoters of illicit games faced one to three years’ imprisonment or a fine of 300 to 1,000 cuotas, or both, and three to eight years if the offence was committed by two or more people or by using minors under 16 (CubaNet, 2017).
The Penal Code of 2022 (Law No. 151)
Law No. 62 was replaced by Law No. 151 of 2022, the Penal Code, approved by the National Assembly of People’s Power on 15 May 2022 and published in the Gaceta Oficial de la República de Cuba, No. 93 Ordinaria, of 1 September 2022. It entered into force on 1 December 2022 (OnCuba, 2023). The general part of the Code expresses fines in cuotas (units): for individuals, each cuota is worth between 10 and 200 pesos, set by the court (article 40.2), and for legal persons between 100 and 1,000 pesos (article 65.2).
The offence relevant to gambling is that of illicit games (juegos ilícitos) in article 281. The text of article 281 itself could not be consulted for this guide: the copies of the Gaceta that could be read stop well before the special part of the Code. The description below therefore relies on press accounts, which agree on the structure of the offence:
- Basic offence. Acting as a banker (banquero), collector (colector), note-taker (apuntador) or promoter of illicit games is punishable by one to three years’ deprivation of liberty or a fine, or both (CubaNet, 2023).
- Aggravated offence. Where the offence is committed by two or more people or by using minors under 18, the penalty rises to three to eight years’ imprisonment (CubaNet, 2023). Diario de Cuba also reports that the use of animals in such games is an aggravating factor (Diario de Cuba, 2025).
- Scope. According to CubaNet, the prohibition covers casino-type games, cockfighting outside authorised venues, and the illegal lottery (CubaNet, 2023).
Press reports differ on the size of the fine. CubaNet (2023) gives it as 300,000 cuotas, while Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported in April 2025 that the penalty is up to three years in prison and a fine of 300,000 pesos (AFP via Médias24, 2025). Neither figure sits easily with the general part of the Code, under which a cuota is worth 10 to 200 pesos, and the 1987 Code as reported set the fine at 300 to 1,000 cuotas (CubaNet, 2017). The amount of the fine under article 281 could not be verified and should be treated as uncertain.
The article as described targets the organisation of gambling rather than the act of placing a bet. This distinction matters for the position of players, discussed below. Cockfighting is the main documented exception to the general hostility towards betting-related activities: CubaNet reports that fights are permitted only in state clubes gallísticos (cockfighting clubs) run by a state enterprise group, under Decree-Law No. 31 of 2021 on animal welfare (CubaNet, 2023). Whether wagering is lawful at those venues could not be confirmed from official sources.
Regulator and licensing model
Cuba has no gambling regulator and no licensing regime. No ministry issues casino, lottery, betting or remote gambling licences, and no register of authorised operators exists. Enforcement is a matter for the Ministry of the Interior (MININT), which includes the National Revolutionary Police (PNR), together with the Attorney General’s Office and the courts applying the Penal Code.
Many jurisdictions that restrict gambling keep a state lottery as a lawful outlet for demand. Cuba ended its lottery in the 1960s and has not re-created one. An academic study of the INAV period notes that the lottery was replaced by a savings mechanism intended to turn the habit of gambling into one of saving (Muñoz Hernández and González González, 2015).
No official proposal to reintroduce casinos, for instance in international tourist resorts, was found in Cuban official sources consulted for this guide. Statements by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Tourism in May 2026 on reviving tourism under tighter sanctions, as reported by Diario de Cuba, did not refer to gambling (Diario de Cuba, 2026).
Online gambling and enforcement
Legal position of online gambling
No Cuban law expressly regulates online gambling, and no operator is authorised to offer it. Because there is no licensing framework, any online casino, sportsbook or lottery service that accepts players in Cuba does so without Cuban authorisation. The Penal Code offence of illicit games is framed around the roles of banker, collector, note-taker and promoter, so a person in Cuba who organises or promotes an online game, or collects stakes for it, would appear to fall within its scope. How the courts would treat purely online activity has not been documented in published case law.
Online elements of the illegal lottery
The internet has changed the informal lottery more than it has introduced foreign casino play. According to AFP, mobile internet arrived in Cuba in 2018, and the results that the bolita uses are now spread through web pages, a dedicated app, messaging groups and social media pages. The bolita takes its winning numbers from the draws of lotteries in Florida, Georgia and New York, which are held twice a day (AFP, 2025). Earlier, in 2017, CubaNet described how Cubans had adapted a random-number app, designed abroad for lottery players, to run small private bolita games among friends (CubaNet, 2017).
Practical barriers and sanctions
Access to foreign gambling sites from Cuba is constrained by practical factors rather than by a published blocking list. No Cuban authority publishes a list of blocked gambling sites, and no official statement on blocking gambling websites was found. The main constraints are:
- Payments. No Cuban rule authorising payments to foreign gambling operators was found, and no lawful payment channel for gambling exists in Cuba. Payment methods available to residents for cross-border transactions are limited, which in itself restricts use of foreign sites.
- United States sanctions. The US embargo, implemented by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) through the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (31 CFR Part 515), restricts financial transactions and services involving Cuba. OFAC’s Cuba page lists Executive Order 14404 of 1 May 2026, imposing sanctions on those responsible for repression in Cuba, and, in September 2026, new designations, amendments to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations and an alert on expanded sanctions against Cuba (OFAC, Cuba Sanctions). These rules limit the financial and online services that businesses subject to US jurisdiction can provide in connection with Cuba.
- Connectivity. Internet access is expensive relative to average incomes, which AFP put at about 5,000 pesos (about 42 US dollars) a month in 2025 (AFP, 2025).
There are no advertising rules specific to gambling, because there is no lawful gambling to advertise. Promotion of illicit games is itself covered by article 281 as reported (CubaNet, 2023).
Enforcement in practice
Enforcement is directed mainly at the land-based bolita. In August 2020 state television reported that police in Florida municipality, Camagüey province, had seized 1,134,252 pesos, betting lists, calculators and a motorcycle from a man described as a bolita banker and accused of “juegos prohibidos”, who was placed in provisional detention (CubaNet, 2020). CubaNet noted in 2023 that such cases are infrequent and described betting tables, including a roulette-style table, operating openly during popular festivities in La Maya, Santiago de Cuba, in view of the police (CubaNet, 2023). In a 2015 report, a banker told the journalist Iván García that he had been jailed “a couple of times” and that running a bank required paying off local police (Diario Las Américas, 2015); such claims are anecdotal and could not be verified.
Official summaries of the national “exercise” against crime and illegalities held in December 2024 listed operations against drugs, corruption and livestock theft, but, as reported, did not single out gambling (CubaNet, 2024). This suggests that illegal gambling is not currently a headline enforcement priority, although it remains a criminal offence.
Position of players
The position of the ordinary bettor is less clear than that of organisers. The press accounts of article 281 describe penalties for bankers, collectors, note-takers and promoters, not for people who simply place a bet (CubaNet, 2023; Diario de Cuba, 2025). No report was found of a player being prosecuted solely for gambling, whether with the bolita or with a foreign online site. This should not be read as a statement that playing is lawful: there is no lawful gambling product in Cuba, money staked in an illicit game can be seized as the proceeds or instruments of an offence, and a player who also collects bets for others moves into the scope of the offence.
For online play, players also face practical risks. A foreign operator that accepts a Cuban resident does so without any Cuban authorisation, and no Cuban authority can resolve a dispute over winnings or a closed account. Payment methods that circumvent domestic rules or US sanctions may expose the player to further legal or financial problems.
Informal betting is widespread. AFP described collectors and bankers handling several million pesos a day, and reported one player winning 270,000 pesos in two weeks, more than 60 times his monthly salary (AFP, 2025). Reporting from Santiago de Cuba in 2023 recorded players describing debts and compulsive behaviour linked to the game (CubaNet, 2023).
Taxation
Because no form of gambling is lawful, Cuba has no gambling tax, no licence fees and no tax regime for winnings. Gross gaming revenue (GGR), meaning stakes minus prizes, is not measured officially. Proceeds of illicit games are not taxed but are liable to confiscation in criminal proceedings, as in the Camagüey case of 2020 (CubaNet, 2020). Informal “taxes” reported in the bolita and in clandestine gaming houses are payments to organisers, not state revenue; CubaNet reported in 2016 that the owners of one clandestine venue took 30% of table winnings (CubaNet, 2016).
Consumer protection and responsible gambling
Cuba has no gambling-specific consumer protection framework. There is no national self-exclusion register, no regulator that sets rules on age checks, deposit limits or fair play, and no gambling helpline. People who play informal or foreign games have no recourse if an organiser refuses to pay.
The public health system provides general addiction services. A Cuban government report submitted to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) describes a free, confidential 24-hour Línea Confidencial Antidrogas (anti-drugs line) created in 2003, 113 community mental health centres (Centros Comunitarios de Salud Mental), and secondary-level services in 53 hospital facilities (Government of Cuba, report to UNODC). That report concerns drug use and does not mention gambling, so these services should be regarded as a general route to mental health support rather than a dedicated gambling service. The family doctor programme is the usual first point of contact. General guidance on recognising and limiting gambling harm is available in our responsible gambling guide.
Recent and upcoming developments
- New Penal Code in force (December 2022). Law No. 151 of 2022 replaced the 1987 Penal Code on 1 December 2022 and retained the offence of illicit games, now in article 281 (OnCuba, 2023; CubaNet, 2023).
- Growth of the illegal lottery during the economic crisis (2025). AFP reported in April 2025 that the bolita was gaining players amid the worst economic crisis in more than 30 years, helped by mobile internet and messaging groups (AFP, 2025). Diario de Cuba described the government as having largely turned a blind eye to the game (Diario de Cuba, 2025).
- National crime-prevention exercises (2024–2025). The authorities held national exercises against crime and illegalities in December 2024 and again in 2025. Published summaries focused on drugs, corruption, theft and price violations rather than on gambling; during the second exercise the Ministry of Finance reported 36,506 fines, and separately reported more than 131 million pesos in fines for price-cap violations in late March 2025 (CubaNet, 2024; OnCuba, 2025).
- Expanded US sanctions (2026). OFAC lists Executive Order 14404 of 1 May 2026 on sanctions against those responsible for repression in Cuba, and in September 2026 published amendments to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations and an alert describing expanded sanctions against Cuba (OFAC, Cuba Sanctions).
- No legalisation proposal. No official bill or government proposal to legalise casinos, a lottery or online gambling was found as of October 2026.
Casino listings for players in Cuba
The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database and do not show that any operator is licensed or authorised in Cuba. No Cuban authority licenses gambling of any kind, there is no regulator’s register to check, and organising or promoting games of chance is a criminal offence under the Penal Code. The listings must not be read as an indication that playing is lawful in Cuba.
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Related country guides
- Cayman Islands gambling guide
- Bahamas gambling guide
- Jamaica gambling guide
- Belize gambling guide
- Honduras gambling guide
Sources and further reading
- República de Cuba, via FAOLEX (FAO), Gaceta Oficial de la República de Cuba No. 93 Ordinaria: Ley No. 151/2022, Código Penal (1 September 2022).
- Walter Mondelo, OnCuba News, Socialismo, pena de muerte y punitivismo penal: notas sobre el Código Penal (22 May 2023).
- Yadira Serrano Díaz, CubaNet, Cuba: Juegos “prohibidos” en plena calle, a la vista de las autoridades (22 April 2023).
- Jorge Enrique Rodríguez, Diario de Cuba, La bolita: más que juego, ocio y costumbre (30 May 2025).
- Agence France-Presse, via Médias24, Dans un Cuba en crise, la loterie clandestine gagne des adeptes (16 April 2025).
- Ruslan Muñoz Hernández and Gabriela González González, Revista INVI 30(84), Labor desarrollada por el Instituto Nacional de Ahorro y Vivienda (INAV) en La Habana (1959-1962) (2015).
- Scott M. Deitche, The Mob Museum, The rise of Castro and the fall of the Havana Mob (28 December 2018).
- Orlando González, CubaNet, Jugar en los casinos clandestinos de Cuba (8 December 2016).
- Orlando González, CubaNet, “Número de suerte”: una app para jugar bolita (12 June 2017).
- CubaNet, Confiscan más de un millón de pesos a cubano por juego de la bolita (19 August 2020).
- Iván García, Diario Las Américas, Los cubanos en la isla sueñan con el Premio Gordo (20 January 2015).
- CubaNet, Más 3.300 detenidos en menos de una semana por “ejercicio contra el delito” del régimen (7 December 2024).
- Redacción OnCuba, OnCuba News, Ministerio de Finanzas impuso más de 131 millones de pesos en multas por violaciones de precios (9 April 2025).
- Diario de Cuba, Marrero busca engatusar a los inversores turísticos en Cuba: “estas sanciones no serán duraderas” (10 May 2026).
- US Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control, Cuba Sanctions (accessed 13 October 2026).
- Government of Cuba, contribution to UNODC, Comportamiento de las actividades de las drogas en la República de Cuba (2015 and first half of 2016) (accessed 13 October 2026).
