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Central African Republic Online Casino Guide

Published by Casino News Daily editorial teamReviewed byFilip RadulovicOur editorial approach

Gambling in the Central African Republic (CAR) is not prohibited outright. It is subject to an authorisation requirement: the Penal Code of 2010 makes it an offence to keep a gambling house open to the public without authorisation, or to run a lottery that the law has not authorised. Beyond that core rule, the public record is thin. No consolidated gambling statute, published licensing register or dedicated regulator could be identified for this review. Press reporting from 2025 indicates that the Ministry of Territorial Administration has taken a lead role in organising the sector, including by awarding a concession to run a national platform for payments to and from licensed gambling establishments. This guide sets out what the sources show, and states plainly where they are silent.

Key points

Article 183 of the Penal Code (Law No. 10.001 of 6 January 2010) punishes keeping an unauthorised gambling house open to the public, and running a lottery not authorised by law, with one to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of 1,000,000 to 5,000,000 francs.
The law therefore assumes that gambling houses and lotteries can be authorised. A detailed licensing statute, list of licensees or published fee schedule could not be found.
According to a September 2025 press report, a ministerial order dated 31 August 2025 granted a private company the management of gambling-related deposits and withdrawals for licensed gambling establishments nationwide.
No national lottery, specific online gambling law, national self-exclusion scheme or gambling helpline could be identified.
UN sanctions on the CAR are targeted at armed groups and designated persons. The arms embargo on government forces was lifted by Resolution 2745 (2024); measures on armed groups were extended by Resolution 2827 (2026) until 31 July 2027.

Last reviewed: 14 October 2026.

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Historical development

The CAR’s legal approach treats games of chance as lawful only where the State authorises them. The modern statement of that approach is the Penal Code adopted by Law No. 10.001 of 6 January 2010 (WIPO Lex record). It places unauthorised gambling houses and lotteries in a chapter headed “offences against the regulations on lotteries” (infractions aux règlements sur la loterie), alongside other public-order offences (Penal Code text).

The country’s recent history has been dominated by armed conflict. The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) has been deployed since 2014 (UN Peacekeeping), and on 6 February 2019 the government and 14 armed groups signed a peace and reconciliation agreement in Bangui after talks in Khartoum, according to UN News.

According to a September 2025 report in the economic outlet EcoMatin, the government had announced in 2018 an intention to formalise the betting and gambling sector, and in 2019 nearly 100 gaming points, including casinos and physical betting outlets, were counted in the country. The same article reports a much larger annual turnover figure attributed to a statistics website; that figure could not be traced to an official or verifiable source and is not repeated here.

Legal framework

The Penal Code (2010)

The central provision is Article 183 of the Central African Penal Code. It punishes:

“those who have kept a house of games of chance without authorisation and admitted the public to it” (ceux qui auront tenu une maison de jeux de hasard sans autorisation et y auront admis le public); and
“those who have established or kept lotteries not authorised by law” (ceux qui auront établi ou tenu des loteries non autorisées par la loi).

The penalty is imprisonment of one to five years and a fine of 1,000,000 to 5,000,000 francs. Offenders may also be deprived of the civic and family rights listed in Article 24 of the Code for between five and ten years, and the funds and items found in play or in the lottery are confiscated to the Treasury.

Three features of this text matter. First, the offence is defined by the absence of authorisation, which means gambling is not banned as such: a gambling house or lottery that holds the required authorisation is lawful. Second, the gambling-house offence requires that the public was admitted, so private games are outside its wording. Third, the Code does not mention betting, casinos by name, gaming machines or remote (internet or telephone) gambling. Whether an online service accessible from the CAR counts as a “house of games of chance” has not, as far as could be found, been tested in any published decision.

Licensing instruments

The Penal Code refers to authorisation but does not itself set out who grants it or on what terms. No law or decree specifically regulating casinos, lotteries or sports betting in the CAR could be located in the official or secondary sources consulted. The most recent documented instrument is the ministerial order (arrêté ministériel) of 31 August 2025 reported by EcoMatin, which, according to that report, authorised a private payments company to build and operate a “national platform for managing the financial flows of licensed gambling establishments” (plateforme nationale de gestion des flux financiers des établissements de jeux agréés). The text of the order itself could not be obtained, and its number is not given in the report.

Regional context: CEMAC and anti-money laundering rules

The CAR is a member of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC). Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) obligations are set at regional level by CEMAC Regulation No. 01/16/CEMAC/UMAC/CM of 11 April 2016 on the prevention and suppression of money laundering and terrorist financing in Central Africa. The CAR’s compliance is assessed by the Action Group against Money Laundering in Central Africa (GABAC), the FATF-style regional body. The mutual evaluation report on the CAR, dated 1 December 2023 on the FATF website and based on an on-site visit from 29 August to 14 September 2022, lists casinos and gambling providers among the designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs) that it treats as high-risk. It also notes that casinos are among the businesses designated as sub-delegates for manual foreign exchange, and records the absence of designated authorities to supervise DNFBPs for AML/CFT purposes.

The uniform acts of OHADA, the Organisation for the Harmonisation of Business Law in Africa, deal with company and commercial law in general; no OHADA instrument specific to gambling was identified in the course of this review.

Regulator and licensing model

The CAR’s model can best be described as an authorisation regime without a dedicated, publicly visible regulator. The legal basis for requiring authorisation is clear, but the institutional arrangements are not documented in published sources.

The available evidence points to the Ministry of Territorial Administration, Decentralisation and Local Development as the lead body. EcoMatin reports that the 2025 payments decision was announced in a communiqué of that ministry, and that the minister attended the signing. Neither the Ministry of Finance nor any other ministry could be confirmed as the licensing authority for casinos, lotteries or betting from a primary source. No official list of licensed establishments, no licence categories and no licence fees could be found.

The 2025 payments concession is significant because it describes the establishments concerned as “licensed” (agréés), which indicates that the authorities consider at least some gambling operators to hold an authorisation. The aim reported by EcoMatin is to centralise and secure the topping-up and withdrawal of players’ betting accounts through a single national system.

No state lottery company could be identified. The CAR does not appear to have a national lottery with a public website or published results, and none is named in the sources consulted.

Online gambling

There is no statute in the CAR that expressly regulates or prohibits online gambling. The Penal Code’s gambling-house offence was drafted with physical premises in mind, and no licence category for online casinos, online betting or online lotteries could be identified. The secondary source LCB.org describes the country as having no laws regulating online gambling and no licensing process; that assessment is consistent with what could be found in primary sources but cannot be confirmed by an official statement.

Online betting nevertheless appears to be part of the market. The 2025 EcoMatin report notes the growth of online gambling and links the new payments platform to the topping-up and withdrawal of bettors’ accounts (rechargement et déchargement des comptes parieurs). No published information was found on blocking of gambling websites by internet service providers, blocking of payments, or rules on gambling advertising in the CAR.

Reputable, detailed reporting on the growth of sports betting in Bangui could not be located for this review.

International sanctions

International sanctions on the CAR are targeted, not comprehensive. The UN sanctions regime was first established by Security Council Resolution 2127 (2013). Resolution 2745, adopted unanimously on 30 July 2024 (UN Digital Library), lifted the arms embargo on CAR government forces, while maintaining an embargo on arms supplies to armed groups (UN News). According to the UN Security Council sanctions committee page, the measures comprise a targeted arms embargo on armed groups and associated individuals, and a travel ban and asset freeze on persons and entities designated by the committee. On 29 July 2026 the Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2827 (2026), renewing these measures until 31 July 2027 (UN press release SC/16424), as also reported by Africanews and anticipated in Security Council Report.

The United States maintains a list-based programme under Executive Order 13667 of 13 May 2014, which blocks the property of certain persons contributing to the conflict (US Treasury, OFAC). These measures do not prohibit ordinary commercial dealings with the CAR, but payment providers and banks apply sanctions screening, and transactions involving designated persons are prohibited. This guide does not give legal advice on sanctions compliance.

Position of players

The Penal Code targets the organiser, not the participant. Article 183 penalises those who keep an unauthorised gambling house and admit the public, and those who establish or keep an unauthorised lottery. It does not create an offence of playing in such a house or buying a ticket in such a lottery. The confiscation rule, however, covers the funds and effects connected with the games or lotteries, which suggests that a player’s stake in an unlawful game could be forfeited if the game is prosecuted.

No law was found that makes it an offence for an individual in the CAR to place bets with an operator licensed abroad, and no recorded prosecution or fine of a player could be identified. Equally, no law gives players a right of redress against foreign operators, and no public body was identified that handles player complaints. A player who uses an unlicensed service therefore has no local consumer protection to rely on.

No statutory minimum gambling age could be confirmed from the sources consulted.

Taxation

No gambling-specific tax rate could be verified. The CAR’s General Tax Code (Code général des impôts, 2017 version updated in 2023, published by the Ministry of Finance) is the main tax instrument, but the portions of it that could be retrieved for this review do not contain provisions on gaming, betting or lottery taxes, and the full text could not be searched. Operators established in the CAR are in principle subject to the ordinary corporate tax rules. Whether, and at what rate, gross gaming revenue (the amount staked minus winnings paid out) or players’ winnings are taxed could not be established, and readers should seek current advice from the tax administration.

One practical development is relevant to taxation. Centralising deposits and withdrawals through a single national platform, as described in the 2025 EcoMatin report, would in principle give the authorities visibility of betting flows. The report does not, however, mention any tax or levy linked to the platform.

Consumer protection and responsible gambling

No national responsible gambling framework could be identified. In particular, there is no evidence of:

a national self-exclusion register allowing people to bar themselves from gambling;
a gambling helpline or specialist treatment service;
statutory rules on deposit limits, reality checks or advertising of gambling; or
a published minimum age for gambling.

Article 183 of the Penal Code functions mainly as a public-order measure rather than a consumer-protection rule. The GABAC mutual evaluation identifies casinos and gambling providers as high-risk for money laundering and notes the lack of a designated AML supervisor for these businesses, which also means that operators are not subject to systematic external checks. People in the CAR who are concerned about their own or someone else’s gambling can find general guidance in our responsible gambling guide.

Recent and upcoming developments

National gambling payments platform (2025). According to EcoMatin (16 September 2025), a ministerial order dated 31 August 2025 granted a private company the management of payment, deposit and withdrawal operations linked to gambling across the country. The text of the order has not been published online and its implementation status in 2026 could not be confirmed.
UN sanctions renewal (July 2026). On 29 July 2026 the Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2827 (2026), renewing the targeted sanctions on armed groups until 31 July 2027 and the mandate of the Panel of Experts until 31 August 2027, according to the UN press release.
AML/CFT follow-up. The 2023 GABAC mutual evaluation identified gaps in the supervision of DNFBPs, including casinos. No follow-up report on the CAR was listed on the FATF website at the time of review.
No gambling bill identified. No draft law on gambling, online gambling or a national lottery was found in the sources consulted.

Casino listings for players in Central African Republic

The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database. They do not show that any operator holds an authorisation in the Central African Republic, where keeping a gambling house open to the public or running a lottery requires authorisation under Article 183 of the Penal Code. No public register of authorised operators could be found; readers should check an operator’s status with the Ministry of Territorial Administration, Decentralisation and Local Development, which press reports identify as the lead authority. No online licensing regime could be identified, and the listings must not be read as an indication that a particular service is lawful. UN and US sanctions relating to the CAR are targeted at designated persons, and banks and payment providers may restrict transactions accordingly.

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Central African Republic Online Casino Guide

Key points

Online casinos for Central African Republic

Historical development

Legal framework

The Penal Code (2010)

Licensing instruments

Regional context: CEMAC and anti-money laundering rules

Regulator and licensing model

Online gambling

International sanctions

Position of players

Taxation

Consumer protection and responsible gambling

Recent and upcoming developments

Casino listings for players in Central African Republic

Related country guides

Sources and further reading

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