Legal casino gambling age in MalawiMalawi permits and licenses casinos, gaming machines, sports betting and lotteries, but its gambling law is in transition. For more than two decades gaming was governed by the Gaming Act of 1996 and lotteries by the Lotteries Act of 2003, each with its own board. In October 2022 the President assented to the Gaming and Lotteries Bill, which merged the two boards into one regulator, the Malawi Gaming and Lotteries Authority (MAGLA). MAGLA now licenses sports betting operators, many of which take bets online and by mobile phone, alongside land-based casinos and lottery operators. No published statute that we could read creates a separate licence for online casino games. Since 31 December 2025, all gambling winnings have been subject to a 15% withholding tax, with no tax-free threshold.
Key points
- The Gaming and Lotteries Bill (Bill No. 31 of 2022) received presidential assent in October 2022 and merged the Malawi Gaming Board and the National Lotteries Board into MAGLA.
- The older Gaming Act (Chapter 47:03) required every gaming venue to be licensed and made it an offence both to run and to play at an unlicensed gaming house.
- In September 2025 MAGLA published a list of licensed operators, reported as ten sports betting operators, four land-based casinos, two wide-area progressive gaming operators and several lottery operators.
- The Taxation (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 2025 raised the withholding tax on gambling winnings from 10% to 15% and removed the earlier K100,000 and K500,000 thresholds.
- A MAGLA directive restricts gambling advertising on broadcast media to the hours between 21:00 and 06:00; the minimum age for gambling is 18.
Last reviewed: 7 October 2026.
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Historical development
Malawi’s modern gaming law dates from the mid-1990s. The Gaming Act (Act No. 26 of 1996) came into force on 1 August 1998. Its long title describes it as an Act “to provide for the regulation of gaming; for the control and licensing of gaming premises; for the imposition and recovery of a tax on gaming”. It created the Malawi Gaming Board, which licensed casinos and gaming machines.(MalawiLII consolidated text).
Lotteries followed separately. The Lotteries Act (Act No. 9 of 2003, Chapter 47:04) commenced on 19 September 2003. It established a National Lotteries Board and provided for a National Lottery run by a licensee, with part of the proceeds paid into a National Lottery Distribution Fund.
Sports betting developed under this framework during the 2010s. In November 2019 the Gaming Board was preparing requests for proposals for additional sports betting, casino and wide-area progressive licences. At that time the Board’s chief executive, Barnett Maliro, said that one sports betting company held a licence and operated both retail and online, and that three land-based casinos operated in Blantyre and Lilongwe. The Board reported gross gaming revenue of MWK5.71 billion for 2018, up 20.7% on the previous year (iGaming Business, November 2019).
Under the government’s public sector reform programme the two boards began working together before the law changed. The Office of the President and Cabinet’s reform pages describe the Gaming Board and the Lotteries Board as having merged to form MAGLA, with a bill being prepared to give the merged body a legal basis. On 6 October 2022 the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation reported that President Lazarus Chakwera had assented to the Gaming and Lotteries Bill (No. 31 of 2022), under which “the Malawi Gaming Board and the National Lotteries Board form one entity” (MBC).
Legal framework
Three groups of legislation are relevant: the Gaming and Lotteries Act of 2022 and the regulations made under it, the older Gaming and Lotteries Acts, and tax legislation.
Gaming and Lotteries Act, 2022
Trade press reports from 2025 and 2026 consistently describe MAGLA as operating under the “Gaming and Lotteries Act, 2022”, and its licensing notices of 2026 cite that Act together with the Gaming and Lotteries (Sports Betting) Regulations, 2025 (Focus Gaming News, 7 July 2026). We were unable to obtain the enacted text of the 2022 Act or of the 2025 regulations. The Act did not appear in MalawiLII’s listing of 2022 legislation when we checked, and the bill published on the National Assembly’s website could not be read. For that reason this guide does not state the Act’s section numbers, its penalties, or the extent to which it repeals or amends the 1996 and 2003 Acts.
Gaming Act, 1996 (Chapter 47:03)
The consolidated text of the Gaming Act on MalawiLII (revised edition current to 31 December 2014) shows the model that applied to land-based gaming before 2022. Its main provisions are:
- Section 2 defines “gaming” as “the playing of a game of chance for winnings in money or money’s worth”, and a “gaming machine” as a machine for playing a game of chance that requires no action by the player other than operating the machine.
- Section 3 established the Gaming Board as a body corporate of seven to nine members appointed by the Minister.
- Section 13 concerns gaming on unlicensed premises. A person who runs or facilitates such gaming is liable to a fine of up to K20,000 and imprisonment for up to five years; a person who plays there is liable to a fine of up to K2,000 and imprisonment for up to six months. A person found leaving such premises is presumed to have been gaming unless the contrary is proved.
- Section 14 allowed the Board to issue premises licences specifying the games permitted, with conditions on conduct, hours and the protection of players against fraud.
- Section 16 prohibits allowing anyone under 18 to play, to enter gaming premises or to be employed in gaming, with a fine of up to K10,000 and imprisonment for up to two years.
- Section 17 requires licensees to pay gaming tax at prescribed intervals and rates, with a penalty of 5% for each week of late payment and suspension of the licence until the tax is paid.
- Section 22 limits the stake on a gaming machine to K100 per play and requires machines to pay out at least 90% of stakes as winnings.
The Act was written for physical premises and contains no provision on internet or remote gaming.
Lotteries Act, 2003 (Chapter 47:04)
Under the Lotteries Act, section 3 established the National Lotteries Board, and section 21 provided for a licence to conduct the National Lottery. The Act defines the licensee as “the person to whom the licence for the National Lottery has been issued”, which implies a single National Lottery operator. Section 29 created the National Lottery Distribution Fund, into which net proceeds are paid for distribution to specified purposes. The Board could also permit other lotteries, and private lotteries are dealt with in section 44. Section 46 deals with unauthorised lotteries, and the general penalty in section 49, for offences with no specific penalty, is a fine of K500,000 and four years’ imprisonment.
Anti-money-laundering law
Under the Financial Crimes Act, a Gazette notice of 10 August 2018 designated the Gaming Board and the Lotteries Board as anti-money-laundering supervisors for their sectors (Financial Intelligence Authority). We found no later notice transferring this role to MAGLA.
Regulator and licensing model
Malawi follows a licensing model: private operators may offer gambling if they hold a licence from the regulator, and we found no state-owned gambling operator. The Lotteries Act of 2003 contemplated a single National Lottery licensee, although MAGLA’s 2025 list was reported to include two national lottery operators.
The Malawi Gaming and Lotteries Authority. MAGLA is the single regulator for gaming, betting and lotteries. It issues licences, vets applicants and runs public awareness work. Its chief executive holds the title of Director General; Racheal (also spelled Rachel) Mijiga held that post in 2025 and early 2026; by July 2026 Focus Gaming News named Muchanakhwaye Mpuluka as Director General.
Licence categories. In its April 2022 licensing notice, covering April 2022 to March 2023, the Gaming Board listed ten categories of licence it could issue: casino, gaming machine operator, gaming machine site, bingo operator, junket agent, manufacturer, maintenance, supplier, wide-area progressive (WAP) gaming, and any other licence determined by the Board. A WAP system links gaming machines at several venues to a shared jackpot. The notice listed three casino licensees, three gaming machine route operators, twelve site licensees, two WAP licensees and one manufacturer (Malawi Government Gazette, 15 April 2022). Sports betting was not covered by that notice.
Current licensees. In September 2025 MAGLA published a list of licensed operators and warned the public that “running gambling services without a license is illegal”. As reported by the trade press, the list comprised ten sports betting operators, four land-based casinos, two WAP operators, two national lottery operators and five other lottery operators (iGaming Today, 26 September 2025). We could not access the list on MAGLA’s own website.
The 2026 licensing round. In mid-2026 MAGLA invited applications for new sports betting licences, with a closing date of 10 July 2026, and for land-based casino licences, closing on 15 July 2026. The reported non-refundable application fee for sports betting was K2 million for local applicants and K2.6 million, or about US$1,500, for foreign applicants. MAGLA stated that applicants “shall be subject to fit and proper, financial integrity, beneficial ownership and regulatory due diligence assessments” (Focus Gaming News; SiGMA, 10 July 2026). The number of licences to be awarded and the outcome of the round had not been announced in the sources we found.
| Activity | Legal basis (as reported) | Licensing authority |
|---|---|---|
| Sports betting (retail and online) | Gaming and Lotteries Act, 2022; Sports Betting Regulations, 2025 | MAGLA |
| Land-based casinos and gaming machines | Gaming and Lotteries Act, 2022; formerly Gaming Act, 1996 | MAGLA (formerly Malawi Gaming Board) |
| National Lottery and other lotteries | Gaming and Lotteries Act, 2022; formerly Lotteries Act, 2003 | MAGLA (formerly National Lotteries Board) |
| Online casino games | No specific licence identified | Not applicable |
Online gambling: what is permitted and how it is enforced
Online sports betting is offered lawfully by MAGLA-licensed betting operators. Already in 2019 the sole licensed bookmaker operated “retail and online” (iGaming Business), and the regulator itself has said that “the rapid growth of mobile betting services and online gambling platforms has increased accessibility, making it easier for consumers to gamble at any time” (Focus Gaming News).
Online casino games are in a less clear position. The 1996 Gaming Act licensed premises, not websites, and we found no published licence category for remote casino games. Whether the 2022 Act or its regulations provide for one could not be confirmed, because their texts were not available to us.
Offshore operators. MAGLA’s position, as reported in September 2025, is that offering gambling services without a Malawian licence is illegal. We found no published list of blocked websites, no programme of internet service provider blocking, and no rules requiring banks or mobile money providers to block payments to unlicensed gambling sites. MAGLA’s reported enforcement has focused on land-based activity, including the seizure and destruction of illegal gaming machines (SiGMA, February 2026). The chief executive of the Africa iGaming Alliance has warned that the higher tax on winnings could push players towards unlicensed platforms (SiGMA, January 2026).
Advertising
MAGLA has regulated gambling advertising through directives rather than statute. By a letter of 3 December 2025 headed “Official Confirmation for Time Band Allocation for Licensed Gaming and Lottery Operations”, it limited gaming and lottery advertising to the hours between 21:00 and 06:00. Broadcasters objected that it would “cripple the sector”, and at a meeting facilitated by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Malawi in March 2026 MAGLA agreed to “review the feedback submitted and communicate its resolution to the public at a later date” (MISA Malawi, 17 March 2026). A report of the same week referred to the measure as Directive No. 1 of 2025 (AllAfrica, 20 March 2026). We found no announcement of the outcome of the review.
In August 2026 Malawi24 published unverified whistleblower allegations that licensed betting operators had used manipulated displays of “winnings” in promotions (iGaming Expert, 26 August 2026).
Position of players
Malawian law has historically treated players, as well as operators, as liable for unlawful gaming. Under section 13 of the 1996 Gaming Act, playing at unlicensed gaming premises carries a fine of up to K2,000 and up to six months’ imprisonment, and a person seen leaving such premises is presumed to have been gaming. We found no provision in the texts available to us that makes it an offence for an adult to bet or play online with an operator licensed abroad, and we found no reported prosecution of a player for doing so. Whether the 2022 Act contains such an offence could not be checked.
The minimum age for all forms of gambling is 18. In March 2025 MAGLA announced that operators allowing anyone under 18 to gamble, including on their platforms, would face fines of about US$11,500 if a minor was found to have used their platform (iGaming Expert, 17 March 2025). The legal instrument under which this fine is imposed was not identified in the reports.
Taxation
Gross gaming revenue (GGR) means the total staked by players less the winnings paid out.
Operators. Section 17 of the 1996 Gaming Act requires licensees to pay a gaming tax at prescribed rates. In 2019 the Gaming Board’s chief executive described a gross revenue tax of 12.5% applying to all gaming products (iGaming Business, November 2019). We could not confirm whether that rate is unchanged under the 2022 Act. For lotteries, the Minister of Finance stated in November 2025 that “the 15 percent excise tax applicable on gross lottery revenues will be fully enforced especially for radio stations and television stations”.
Players’ winnings. Winnings from betting, lotteries and other gambling are subject to a withholding tax deducted by the operator. In the 2025/26 Mid-Year Budget Review Statement delivered on 21 November 2025, the Minister of Finance, Joseph Mwanamvekha, announced that “the K100,000 and K500,000 thresholds for applying withholding tax on betting and lottery winnings are removed, meaning all winnings will now be taxed”, and that “the withholding tax rate on gambling winnings will increase from 10 percent to 15 percent” (Ministry of Finance). The bill implementing these measures was initially held up in Parliament on 2 December 2025 amid disputes over other proposals, notably a levy on mobile money transfers (AllAfrica). It was later passed as the Taxation (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 2025 (Act No. 36 of 2025), which received assent on 20 December 2025. Trade reports give 31 December 2025 as the date from which the 15% rate applied. We could not read the Act’s text, so the description of the measure relies on the budget statement and press reports.
| Tax | Applies to | Rate (as reported) |
|---|---|---|
| Gaming tax | Licensed gaming operators | Prescribed rate; 12.5% of gross revenue reported in 2019 |
| Excise tax | Gross lottery revenue | 15% |
| Withholding tax on winnings (from 31 December 2025) | All betting, lottery and gambling winnings | 15%, with no threshold (previously 10% above K100,000 or K500,000) |
In January 2026 MAGLA’s Director General said that “there are concerns from the operators themselves within the industry to say we need to look at the new taxes”, and that it would make recommendations to the Ministry of Finance and the Malawi Revenue Authority (The Nation, 26 January 2026). In February 2026 she said MAGLA would seek “a win-win situation for government, investors and the people of Malawi” (SiGMA, February 2026). We found no report that the rate had been changed by October 2026.
Consumer protection and responsible gambling
Malawi has no statutory national self-exclusion register that we could verify, and we found no dedicated gambling helpline or publicly funded treatment service. Consumer protection rests on four elements:
- Age limits. The minimum age of 18, backed by the fine of about US$11,500 for operators announced in 2025.
- Operator-level self-exclusion. In September 2026 MAGLA called on licensed operators to “comply with advertising requirements and make voluntary self-exclusion available to customers who want to stop gambling” (Focus Gaming News, 14 September 2026). This appears to be a duty on each operator rather than a single scheme covering all of them.
- Advertising limits. The 21:00 to 06:00 broadcast window described above.
- Public education. MAGLA runs outreach events. At one held in Phalombe on 12 September 2026, during Africa Safer Gambling Week, its public relations officer Nancy Malata advised that “players should establish a spending limit before gambling and avoid borrowing money to place bets”.
MAGLA has acknowledged that economic pressure is a driver of gambling harm. In July 2026, as reported by Focus Gaming News, MAGLA, then led by Director General Muchanakhwaye Mpuluka, described “a worrying trend in which financial hardship is driving more people towards gambling”, with people losing substantial bank withdrawals in a single session. Readers affected by gambling problems can find general guidance in our responsible gambling guide.
Recent and upcoming developments
- 2025. MAGLA announced fines of about US$11,500 for operators that allow minors to gamble (March) and published its list of licensed operators (September).
- Advertising directive (December 2025, under review). Broadcast advertising was limited to 21:00 to 06:00. MAGLA agreed in March 2026 to review it; no outcome had been reported by 7 October 2026.
- Tax on winnings (in force from 31 December 2025). The withholding tax rose to 15% on all winnings under the Taxation (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 2025.
- Licensing round (July 2026). Applications for sports betting and land-based casino licences closed on 10 and 15 July 2026 respectively. Results had not been published in the sources we found.
Casino listings for players in Malawi
The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database. They do not show that an operator holds a licence from the Malawi Gaming and Lotteries Authority, and readers should check MAGLA’s published list of licensed operators. We found no Malawian licence for online casino games, so the listings must not be read as an indication that offering or playing such games is authorised in Malawi.
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Sources and further reading
- Republic of Malawi, Gaming Act (Chapter 47:03), Act No. 26 of 1996 (MalawiLII, revised edition to 31 December 2014, accessed 7 October 2026).
- Republic of Malawi, Lotteries Act (Chapter 47:04), Act No. 9 of 2003 (MalawiLII, accessed 7 October 2026).
- Republic of Malawi, Taxation (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 2025 (Act No. 36 of 2025) (MalawiLII, 2025).
- Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralisation, 2025/26 Mid-Year Budget Review Statement (21 November 2025).
- Malawi Gaming Board, Notice of licensed gaming operators, Malawi Government Gazette Vol. LIX No. 18 (15 April 2022).
- Office of the President and Cabinet, Malawi Gaming Board and National Lotteries Board (MGB/NLB), public sector reforms (accessed 7 October 2026).
- Malawi Broadcasting Corporation, Chakwera assents to 4 bills (6 October 2022).
- Financial Intelligence Authority, Designation of supervisory authorities (accessed 7 October 2026).
- iGaming Business, Malawi looks to expand gaming industry with licence RFPs (2019).
- iGaming Today, MAGLA publishes official list of licensed gaming and lottery operators in Malawi (2025).
- Focus Gaming News, Malawi operators face final days to apply for sports betting licences (2026); SiGMA, Malawi nears sports betting licence application deadline (2026).
- The Nation, Gaming operators flag tax concerns (2026).
- AllAfrica, Malawi: Parliament halts contentious tax bill as public fury mounts (2025).
- SiGMA, Malawi’s gambling sector faces growing strain (2026); Malawi’s regulator MAGLA opens talks after tax overhaul (2026).
- MISA Malawi, MISA Malawi facilitates dialogue between broadcasters and Gaming and Lotteries Authority over advertising restrictions (2026).
- AllAfrica, Malawi: MAGLA advocates responsible gambling advertising to protect children (2026).
- iGaming Expert, Malawi introduces fines for underage gambling (2025); Malawi regulator facing scrutiny following unethical advertising allegations (2026).
- Focus Gaming News, Malawi regulator warns against essential funds for betting at Phalombe outreach (2026); Malawi gaming regulator urges players to treat gambling as entertainment (accessed 7 October 2026).
