Gambling in Kiribati: Laws, Lotteries and Online Casinos

Published by Casino News Daily editorial teamReviewed byFilip RadulovicOur editorial approach

Kiribati, a Pacific island republic spread across the Gilbert, Phoenix and Line Islands, has one of the most restrictive gambling frameworks in the region. Its main statute, the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1988, starts from a general prohibition: lotteries, games of chance and prize competitions are illegal unless they fit within narrow exceptions, most of them tied to charitable or sporting fundraising. Gaming machines are banned outright. A separate statute of the same year created the Kiribati National Lottery Board to run national lotteries for public purposes. There are no casinos, no licensing system for online gambling and no published rules on remote gambling. This guide sets out the legislation, the limited forms of lawful gambling, the position of players, taxation, anti-money laundering rules and the gaps that remain.

Key points

The Gaming and Lotteries Act 1988 (No. 6 of 1988) declares that “all lotteries are illegal” and prohibits games of chance and prize competitions except under statutory exemptions; it repealed the colonial-era Gaming and Lotteries Ordinance (Cap. 36).
Lawful gambling is limited to small society and private lotteries, charitable games at fairs, ministerially licensed society events with larger prizes, licensed bookmakers and national lotteries run by the Kiribati National Lottery Board.
Any game of chance played on a gaming machine is illegal, and so is any game in which a player is under 18.
The Act contains no provision on internet, telephone or other remote gambling, and no online gambling licence exists.
Knowingly buying a ticket in, or taking part in, an illegal lottery or game of chance is itself an offence punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to 12 months’ imprisonment.

Last reviewed: 13 October 2026.

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Historical development

Kiribati’s gambling law has its roots in the colonial administration of the Gilbert Islands. The Gaming and Lotteries Ordinance (No. 4 of 1964, commencing 31 January 1964) was amended in 1968 and reproduced as Chapter 36 of the Laws of the Gilbert Islands, Revised Edition 1977.

Under the Ordinance, gaming was lawful only if the chances were equally favourable to all players, all stakes were paid out as winnings, and no other payment was required to take part. Playing a game in a street or other public place was an offence. Gaming with gaming machines was unlawful in all circumstances. Lotteries were generally unlawful, but the responsible Minister could give prior written consent to two kinds of small lottery: lotteries incidental to entertainments such as bazaars, fetes, dinners, dances and sporting events, where prizes could not be money; and lotteries run by non-commercial societies, with individual prizes of up to $1,000, tickets of up to $2 and total ticket sales of up to $4,000.

In 1988, after independence, the Maneaba ni Maungatabu (the national parliament) replaced this framework with two statutes. The Kiribati National Lottery Board Act 1988 (No. 3 of 1988) received assent on 14 June 1988, and the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1988 (No. 6 of 1988) is recorded on PacLII, the Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute, as assented to by the Beretitenti (President) on 9 June 1988. According to its explanatory memorandum, the 1988 Act kept a general prohibition but introduced registration of societies and ministerial licences for larger prizes.

Legal framework

Checking gambling legislation and licensing

The Gaming and Lotteries Act 1988

The Gaming and Lotteries Act 1988 is described in its long title as an Act “to provide for the conduct and control of lotteries, games of chance, prize competitions and certain other forms of gambling”. It is organised in seven parts:

Part II, Lotteries. Section 3 provides that “all lotteries are illegal”, subject to the exemptions in sections 5, 6, 18, 21 and 23. A lottery is defined as a scheme in which consideration is paid to participate and prizes are allocated by lot or otherwise wholly by chance.
Part III, Games of chance. Section 7 lists ten circumstances that make a game of chance illegal (summarised below).
Part IV, Prize competitions. Competitions in which both chance and skill play a part, such as forecasting sporting results, are illegal in defined circumstances. Sales promotion schemes are excluded.
Part V, Bookmaking and betting. Only bookmakers licensed by the Minister may accept bets.
Part VI, Registration and licences. Societies may register with the Minister and apply for licences to run events with larger prizes.
Part VII, Miscellaneous. This part protects the name “Kiribati National”, gives the Minister power to raise prize and stake limits and to permit overseas lotteries by Order, and provides for forfeiture, corporate liability and regulations.

Under section 7, a game of chance is illegal if any of the following applies: the chances are not equal between all players; a non-player has a better chance of winning; the game is played against a bank that does not pass between players by chance or rotation; stakes are disposed of other than as winnings to players; a payment other than a stake is required to play; a deduction or levy is taken from stakes or winnings; the game is played on a gaming machine; it takes place in a public place; a player is under 18; or it disposes of property specified by ministerial Order. In practice, house-banked casino-style gambling is illegal.

The Act defines “bingo” (a game in which randomly selected numbers are called out and players mark them on individual cards) and “gaming machine” (a machine for playing a game of chance that “requires no action by any player other than the activation or manipulation of the machine”). A “society” must be established and conducted for a purpose other than a commercial one, and an “authorised purpose” means “any charitable purpose or any other purpose in support of the promotion and development of sports, games or culture in Kiribati or any other purpose of similar nature”.

Status of the legislation

The Act’s final section repeals the Gaming and Lotteries Ordinance (Cap. 36). Section 1(2) provides that the Act takes effect on a date appointed by the Minister by notice; PacLII’s record gives 9 June 1988 as the commencement date. The consolidated legislation collection on PacLII still reproduces the 1977 revised-edition text of the Ordinance, and we were unable to locate a consolidated, up-to-date version of the 1988 Act or any amending legislation. This guide treats the 1988 Act as the operative law on the basis of its repeal clause, but readers who need certainty about commencement or later amendments should confirm the position with the Office of the Attorney General in Tarawa.

Other statutes

The Penal Code (Cap. 67) contains general offences, including common nuisance and offences by idle and disorderly persons, but its table of contents lists no specific gaming or lottery offence; the gambling offences discussed in this guide are found in the gaming legislation. The Proceeds of Crime Act 2003, discussed below, brings gambling businesses within Kiribati’s anti-money laundering framework.

Regulator and licensing model

Kiribati has no independent gambling regulator. Powers under the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1988 are exercised by “the Minister”, meaning the minister responsible for the subject, and the model is best described as prohibition with limited exemptions: the default is that gambling is illegal, and lawful activity is confined to categories the Act sets out. The main lawful channels are:

Society events at fairs and similar occasions (sections 5, 9 and 13). A non-commercial society may run a lottery, game of chance or prize competition to raise money for an authorised purpose, provided no commission is paid, tickets are sold only on the premises, and prizes do not exceed $300 in aggregate. For games of chance, the outcome must not depend entirely on chance, no gaming machine may be used and the charge to play may not exceed $1.
Private lotteries and competitions (sections 6 and 14), confined to members of a society, people who work or live on the same premises, or similar defined groups, with prizes of no more than $300 in aggregate and advertising limited to the premises.
Licensed society events with larger prizes (section 18). A society registered under section 17 may apply to the Minister for a licence to run a lottery, game of chance or prize competition with an aggregate prize of more than $300, for an authorised purpose. Licences prohibit commission payments, may carry conditions and may be cancelled. The Minister keeps a public register of societies.
Licensed bookmakers (section 15). The Minister may license a person over 25 who is “a fit and proper person”. Applicants are disqualified by a dishonesty or gambling conviction in the previous ten years or by undischarged bankruptcy. Licences last one year and applications must be accompanied by a “prescribed fee”.
National lotteries run by the Kiribati National Lottery Board (see below).
Overseas lotteries that the Minister permits by Order under section 21. We found no published Order made under this power.

The Minister may raise the statutory prize, aggregate and stake limits by Order (section 20) and, acting on the advice of Cabinet, make regulations on fees, licence applications and conditions, venues, expenses, supervision and record-keeping (section 25). We were unable to locate any regulations or Orders under the Act, any published list of licensed bookmakers, or the society register, so the current fee levels and number of licence holders could not be verified.

The Kiribati National Lottery Board

The Kiribati National Lottery Board Act 1988 establishes the Board as a statutory corporation with three to five members appointed by the Minister for two-year terms. Its functions are to “organise, promote and conduct” national lotteries, to decide how lottery profits are allocated and to approve distributions. The Minister may issue binding policy directions. Island council clerks may act as selling agents with ministerial approval, earning commission of up to 7% of the face value of tickets. Draws must be public and officially supervised.

Profits may be used for the welfare of older people, recreational and sporting facilities, youth activities, the promotion of Kiribati culture and scientific research, and the Minister may add further purposes by Order. The Act does not contain an express clause giving the Board exclusive rights, but section 19 of the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1988 makes it an offence for anyone else to run a lottery, game of chance or competition under a name that includes “Kiribati National”, punishable by a fine of up to $500 or six months’ imprisonment. We did not find published annual reports or recent public information on the Board’s current activity, so it could not be confirmed whether national lottery draws are presently held.

Casinos and gaming machines

There is no casino licensing law in Kiribati. A casino in the usual sense, with house-banked table games and gaming machines, would breach several limbs of section 7 of the 1988 Act, and the Act contains no mechanism for licensing one. We found no current government proposal to introduce casino legislation.

Online gambling: what is permitted and how it is enforced

Online casino games on mobile devices

The Gaming and Lotteries Act 1988 does not mention the internet, telephone or any other form of remote communication. There is therefore no licence category for online casinos, online sports betting or online lotteries, and no regulator with responsibility for remote gambling.

The absence of a specific online regime does not mean that online gambling is lawful. Most online casino games would fall within the Act’s definition of an illegal game of chance: they are typically played against a bank, involve a built-in house margin (a deduction from players’ stakes, in the Act’s terms) and are delivered through software that functions in the same way as a gaming machine. Online lotteries would be illegal lotteries unless covered by an exemption, and online betting with a bookmaker not licensed in Kiribati would fall within the bookmaking offences. How these provisions apply to an operator located outside Kiribati, and whether a Kiribati court would treat online play as taking place in Kiribati, has not been tested in any decision we could find.

Kiribati has no published blocklist of gambling websites and no statutory scheme for internet service providers or banks to block gambling services. The Communications Commission of Kiribati, established under the Communications Act 2013 and formerly known as the Telecommunications Authority of Kiribati, describes its mandate as regulating the national telecommunications market and promoting competition; its published description of its role does not refer to content regulation or website blocking.

Position of players

Kiribati is one of the jurisdictions in which participants, not only organisers, can commit an offence. Under section 4 of the 1988 Act, a person who knowingly “buys a ticket in an illegal lottery” or “participates in an illegal lottery” commits an offence, as does a person who is knowingly present on premises where an illegal lottery is being played or drawn. Section 8 creates the equivalent offences for illegal games of chance. Each is punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months. Under section 16, betting with an unlicensed bookmaker, or betting in a public place, carries a fine of up to $200 or up to three months’ imprisonment.

On their face, a resident who gambles on an unlicensed online casino could be committing an offence under section 8. However, the Act was not drafted with online gambling in mind, its territorial reach in relation to offshore websites is untested, and we found no reported prosecution of a player in Kiribati for online gambling. The accurate statement is therefore that online casino play is not authorised by Kiribati law and may expose players to criminal liability, but that there is no recorded enforcement against players.

Taxation

There is no general gambling tax on operators in Kiribati, which reflects the fact that commercial gambling is largely prohibited. The one specific levy found in the legislation applies to the national lottery: under section 16 of the Kiribati National Lottery Board Act 1988, the Board pays a gaming duty of 10% of the total value of tickets sold into the Consolidated Fund. The Minister, on Cabinet advice, may change the rate by Order, which must be laid before the Maneaba. The Board’s own income is wholly exempt from income tax, and equipment it imports for its functions is exempt from customs duty (section 26).

Bookmakers’ licences and society licences are subject to fees prescribed by regulation, but we could not locate the regulations setting them. We were also unable to verify how Kiribati’s income tax legislation treats gambling or lottery winnings received by individuals, and readers with a specific question should consult Kiribati’s Ministry of Finance.

Anti-money laundering

Kiribati’s Proceeds of Crime Act 2003 (No. 8 of 2003) includes gambling businesses among the entities subject to anti-money laundering obligations. The definition of “cash dealer” includes “an operator of a gambling house, casino or lottery”, and the definition of “financial institution” covers a business “operating a gambling house, casino or lottery, including an operator who carries on operations through the internet”. The Act established a financial intelligence unit within the Kiribati Police; the Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Act 2005 changed its name from the Financial Tracking Unit to the Financial Intelligence Unit and inserted a threshold above which financial institutions and cash dealers must record transaction details.

Internationally, Kiribati has not been reported as a full member of the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), the regional body that assesses compliance with Financial Action Task Force standards. According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, which reported on Kiribati’s first public-private sector dialogue forum on anti-money laundering in Tarawa on 4 October 2023, Kiribati was then an APG observer, and the Kiribati Police representative expressed the hope that Kiribati would implement the required framework so that it could seek full membership. We found no APG mutual evaluation report on Kiribati.

Consumer protection and responsible gambling

Kiribati’s gambling legislation protects consumers mainly by restricting supply rather than by regulating operators. The principal safeguards are:

Age limit: any game of chance in which a player is under 18 is illegal (section 7(i)).
Ban on gaming machines: games of chance played on a gaming machine are illegal in all circumstances (section 7(g)).
Low prize and stake limits: unlicensed society and private events are capped at $300 in aggregate prizes, and charitable games of chance at $1 per play.
Purpose restrictions: lawful society gambling must raise money for charitable or sporting purposes, and commission payments are prohibited.
Public oversight of the national lottery: public draws, official supervision and reporting to the Maneaba.

We found no national self-exclusion scheme, no gambling-specific helpline and no dedicated treatment service in Kiribati. Anyone concerned about their own or a family member’s gambling can seek help through general health services and community support, and can find general information in our responsible gambling guide.

Recent and upcoming developments

No reform identified (2024 to 2026). We found no bill, government statement or parliamentary record proposing changes to the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1988, any regulation of online gambling or the introduction of casinos in the period from 2024 to October 2026.
Anti-money laundering capacity. Kiribati held its first public-private sector dialogue forum on anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism in October 2023, as part of efforts toward full APG membership (UNODC).
Items to watch. Any Order under section 21 permitting overseas lotteries, regulations under section 25, or a move to full APG membership would be the most significant changes to monitor.

Casino listings for players in Kiribati

The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database. They do not show that an operator is licensed or authorised in Kiribati: no online casino licence exists under Kiribati law, there is no public register of online operators, and taking part in an illegal game of chance is an offence under the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1988. The listings must not be read as an indication that playing is lawful.

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Key points

Top Rated Online Casinos for Kiribati

Historical development

Legal framework

The Gaming and Lotteries Act 1988

Status of the legislation

Other statutes

Regulator and licensing model

The Kiribati National Lottery Board

Casinos and gaming machines

Online gambling: what is permitted and how it is enforced

Position of players

Taxation

Anti-money laundering

Consumer protection and responsible gambling

Recent and upcoming developments

Casino listings for players in Kiribati

Related country guides

Sources and further reading

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