Legal casino gambling age in MauritiusMauritius regulates gambling through a single statute and a single regulator. The Gambling Regulatory Authority Act 2007 (Act No. 9 of 2007) brought casinos, gaming houses, gaming machines, horse racing, betting, lotteries and the national lottery under the Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA). The country follows a licensing model. Licensing means that private operators may carry on a gambling activity only if they hold the licence the Act prescribes for it, and the state does not run a monopoly. Land-based gambling and betting, including some betting by remote communication, have long been licensed. The Act’s provisions on interactive (online) gambling, by contrast, were for many years on the statute book but not in operation. The Finance Act 2026, which received presidential assent on 12 August 2026, rewrote the interactive gambling regime and created separate business-to-consumer and business-to-business licences. Trade press report that the new rules take effect in stages during 2027.
Key points
- The Gambling Regulatory Authority Act 2007 is the main gambling law. It replaced the Gaming Act 1973, the Prize Competitions Act 1975, the Horse Racing Board Act 2003 and the Mauritius National Lotteries Act 2004, according to the GRA.
- The GRA licenses casinos, gaming houses, gaming and limited payout machines, horse racing organisers, totalisators, bookmakers, sweepstakes, pool betting, dart games, other lotteries and the Mauritius National Lottery operator. Interactive gambling is a separate licence category.
- The Finance Act 2026 (Act No. 14 of 2026) requires an interactive gambling licensee to be a company incorporated in Mauritius and sets a business-to-consumer licence fee of EUR 30,000 a year plus 3% of gross gambling yield each quarter. It also removes the separate hotel casino category.
- According to the Mauritius Revenue Authority, casinos pay 15% gaming tax on table-game takings and 35% on gaming machines, betting operators pay 14% of gross stakes, and most licensees also pay a 2.5% responsible gambling levy on gross gambling yield. A 10% tax is withheld from large winnings paid by casinos, gaming houses and the national lottery.
- A levy-funded Responsible Gambling and Capacity Building Fund finances harm-prevention work. The GRA runs a problem gambling helpline on 8909, and the 2026 amendments oblige operators to honour self-exclusion both on premises and online.
Last reviewed: 6 October 2026.
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Historical development
Before 2007, responsibility for gambling in Mauritius was divided. The GRA describes how the Accountant General’s Office, the Gaming Control Board, the Value Added Tax Department, the Horse Racing Board and the Mauritius Revenue Authority each handled a part of the sector.
The Gambling Regulatory Authority Bill 2007 proposed to “amend and consolidate the laws relating to gaming and betting”, to regulate betting on foreign horse races, football matches and other events, to “foster responsible gambling in order to minimise harm caused by gambling” and to create “one single regulator for better synergy and enforcement”, in the words of its explanatory memorandum. The Act, according to the MauritiusLII consolidation, commenced on 10 September 2007. The GRA itself was set up in December 2007 following the Act’s proclamation.
The GRA’s own chronology records the main licensing milestones that followed. The first bookmaker licence for fixed-odds betting on football was issued in June 2008, and the Mauritius National Lottery licence in November 2008. A licence for “amusement with prize” machines followed in March 2011; the category was renamed limited payout machines in January 2012. In September 2018 the GRA authorised twice-weekly lotto draws, and in August 2020 it licensed the Loterie Vert.
Legal framework
The Gambling Regulatory Authority Act 2007
The principal statute is the Gambling Regulatory Authority Act 2007. The GRA publishes a consolidated text as at 16 June 2026, and the Ministry of Finance publishes a consolidation that incorporates amendments up to the Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2025 (Act No. 18 of 2025, assented to on 8 August 2025). The Act is organised by activity, with a separate Part for each type of gambling. The provisions most relevant to this guide are:
- Section 2 defines interactive gambling as any prescribed game involving chance, or chance and skill, “played or available to be played through the internet or such other electronic communication system” approved by the Board. “Remote communication” means communication using the internet, telephone or another approved electronic system.
- Sections 11A and 11B establish the Responsible Gambling and Capacity Building Fund.
- Parts on each activity: casinos (section 16), gaming houses (section 23), gaming machines (section 28), limited payout machines (section 29A), horse racing organisers (section 30), totalisators (section 34), bookmakers (section 44), sweepstakes (section 51), pool betting (section 53), dart games (section 57) and the Mauritius National Lottery (Part XV, from section 58).
- Sections 91 and 91A deal with interactive gambling and, under the heading “Prohibition on interactive gambling outside Mauritius”, with offshore operators.
- Section 114 imposes the duties, levies and taxes, with rates in the Fifth Schedule.
- Part on offences: section 134 (carrying on an activity without a licence), section 136 (transactions with an unlicensed person or non-registered lottery retailer), sections 140 and 141 (age restrictions on gambling and on lottery games), section 143 (prohibition on gambling by certain persons) and section 156 (advertisement).
For sections 91A, 134, 136, 140, 141 and 156 we could confirm the headings but not the operative wording, which readers should check in the GRA’s consolidated text.
Regulator and licensing model
The Gambling Regulatory Authority is a statutory body governed by the Gambling Regulatory Board. It issues and renews licences, inspects premises, supervises horse racing through its Horse Racing Integrity Division and administers the responsible gambling fund. The Mauritius Revenue Authority collects gambling taxes. Mauritius follows a licensing model rather than a monopoly, although the national lottery is reserved to a single licensed operator.
Licence categories
The GRA’s licensees page groups licence holders into thirteen categories: horse racing organiser, totalisator, bookmaker, Mauritius National Lottery, casino, gaming house, limited payout machines, dart games, pool betting, other lotteries, sweepstake, interactive gambling and ad hoc licence. The page did not display numbers of licensees when we reviewed it. The most recent published counts we were able to read are in the GRA Annual Report 2017/18, which recorded, as at 30 June 2018, 4 casinos, 20 “Gaming House A” licensees, 32 race-course and off-course bookmakers and 1,737 gaming machine licences.
Until 2026 the Act also contained a separate regime for hotel casinos (sections 22A to 22C). The Finance Act 2026 deleted the definitions of “hotel casino” and related terms, and iGaming Business reported that these activities will no longer be permitted as a separate category. iGaming Business reports that casino, gaming house and limited payout machine operators may offer digital games; the Act requires these to be certified by a gaming laboratory approved by the Authority.
The national lottery
The Mauritius National Lottery is governed by Part XV of the Act, which covers the operator’s licence, the registration of lottery retailers, prize funds, draws and a Lotto Fund (section 85). The GRA licensed the national lottery in November 2008. The lottery games are run by Lottotech Ltd, whose website lists Loto, Loto Vert, the Football Pools and Hotpicks. The MRA lists a lottery tax of 47.16% of net proceeds from lottery games, with no responsible gambling levy.
Horse racing
Horse racing at the Champ de Mars in Port Louis is the most closely regulated part of the Mauritian betting market. The racing organiser, totalisators and bookmakers each need their own licence. The GRA newsletter of April 2023 reports that People’s Turf PLC was licensed in June 2022 to organise racing at the Champ de Mars and received a totalisator licence on 14 October 2022, and that the Authority staffed an independent division to regulate horse racing. In August 2024 the Board approved People’s Turf’s request to end the 2024 season early, on 6 October 2024 (GRA communiqué). The GRA’s legislation page lists directions issued to the Mauritius Turf Club Jockey Club (MTCJC) in 2025 and 2026. Under rule 11 of the Rules of Racing 2026, the Horse Racing Integrity Division reports to the GRA’s chief executive and is responsible for keeping racing “fair, clean, and free from corruption or malpractice”.
Online gambling: what is permitted and how it is enforced
Betting by remote communication
The Act has long allowed some betting at a distance. Under section 38(2) a totalisator operator “may, subject to the approval of the Board, carry out its activities through remote communication”, and the MRA tax schedule has a separate line for a “bookmaker conducting fixed odds bet through remote communication”. Licensed betting operators therefore offer some products online. When the GRA suspended a licensed bookmaker in March 2026 during a money-laundering investigation, iGaming Business reported that the suspension covered its online platforms as well as its retail outlets.
Interactive gambling: from dormant provision to new licences
Section 91 has provided since 2007 that “no person shall operate interactive gambling unless he holds the appropriate licence”. In the 2017 consolidation the section was marked as not in operation, and the industry overview by SOFTSWISS (updated September 2026) states that this part of the law “has not been brought into force so far”. Online casino games were therefore not available from Mauritian-licensed operators.
The Finance Act 2026 (section 6) rewrote section 91. Its main changes are:
- No interactive gambling licence may be issued unless the applicant “is a company incorporated in Mauritius” and has paid the fee in the Third Schedule.
- Applications must be made in the form the Board approves, with a non-refundable processing fee of EUR 5,000.
- The Board may issue “directives and guidelines” for the conduct of interactive gambling in Mauritius. Under the original text, the detailed rules were to be made by the Minister as regulations.
- Part II of the Third Schedule sets three annual fees: EUR 30,000 plus 3% of quarterly gross gambling yield for a business-to-consumer (B2C) licence, EUR 20,000 for a business-to-business (B2B) licence and EUR 5,000 for ancillary services. Gross gambling yield means stakes received from punters less winnings paid out.
- A new section 109D requires every betting operator to connect its server and terminals to the Authority’s server.
A B2C licence allows gambling services to be offered directly to players; a B2B licence covers the supply of gambling products to B2C licensees. Focus Gaming News reported that licensing of betting-platform suppliers starts on 1 March 2027 and that the new application and renewal rules apply from 1 July 2027. We were not able to read the commencement section of the Act, so these dates rest on press reports. As of 6 October 2026 we found no published list of B2C interactive gambling licensees.
Offshore operators and blocking
The 2007 Act anticipated the blocking of offshore sites. Section 91, as enacted, allowed regulations providing that the Authority could direct internet service providers, through the Information and Communication Technologies Authority, to “block access by persons physically present in Mauritius to interactive gambling sites outside Mauritius”, and could direct financial institutions to stop payments to such operators (Bill, clause 91(6); MauritiusLII). Those powers depended on regulations that were never made while section 91 remained out of operation. The current Act also contains a section 91A headed “Prohibition on interactive gambling outside Mauritius”. We could not read its full wording. We found no published GRA blocklist of unlicensed websites and no reported blocking orders against gambling sites.
Advertising
Section 156 of the Act deals with advertisement. We were unable to read its operative text in the consolidations available online, and we found no separate GRA advertising code or guidelines among the documents the Authority publishes.
Position of players
The Act’s offences are aimed mainly at operators. Section 134 penalises carrying on a gambling activity without a licence. Section 136, headed “Transaction with unlicensed person or non-registered lottery retailer”, appears to be capable of reaching the other party to a transaction with an unlicensed operator, but we could not read its wording to confirm whom it covers or what penalty it carries. Sections 140 and 141 restrict gambling and lottery play by age, and section 143 prohibits gambling by certain persons.
We found no reported case of a Mauritian resident being prosecuted for playing on an offshore website. Trade press such as Focus Gaming News note that many residents use foreign sites that are not licensed by the GRA. A player who does so falls outside the protections that attach to GRA licensees, including the self-exclusion rules. The GRA invites confidential reports of unlicensed gambling through its “Report something in confidence” service. Because the age thresholds in sections 140 and 141 could not be confirmed from the text, readers should check the current minimum age with the GRA or the operator.
Taxation
Gambling taxes are set by section 114 and the Fifth Schedule of the Act and collected by the MRA. The table summarises the rates published by the MRA at the time of review:
| Licensee | Tax or duty | Responsible gambling levy |
|---|---|---|
| Casino | Gaming tax: 15% of gross takings on table games; 35% on gaming machines | 2.5% of gross gambling yield |
| Gaming house “A” | Gaming tax: 30% of gross takings on table games; 35% on gaming machines | 2.5% of gross gambling yield |
| Totalisator operator | Betting tax: 14% of gross stakes | 2.5% of gross gambling yield |
| Bookmaker (local races, fixed odds, remote communication) | Betting tax: 14% of gross stakes | 2.5% of gross gambling yield |
| National lottery (Loto, Loterie Vert) | Lottery tax: 47.16% of net proceeds | None |
For players, the MRA states that the national lottery operator, casino operators, hotel casino operators and gaming house operators must “withhold a tax of 10% on any amount payable to a punter if ever the total amount exceeds Rs 100,000”. The MRA page does not list bookmakers or totalisators among the operators that must withhold this tax. Interactive gambling licensees will pay 3% of quarterly gross gambling yield as part of their licence fee under the Finance Act 2026.
The 2026/27 budget annex also proposed calculating horse racing betting tax on stakes less winnings payable instead of on gross stakes, and connecting casino and gaming house servers to the MRA’s Central Electronic Monitoring System (Gambling.com). We could not confirm from the text available to us how these proposals were enacted, so the gross-stakes basis in the table should be checked against the MRA’s current guidance.
Consumer protection and responsible gambling
Sections 11A and 11B of the Act establish the Responsible Gambling and Capacity Building Fund, financed by the levy on licensees. The fund may be used to develop and implement responsible gambling programmes, to identify and address the “ills associated with the gambling industry”, to build capacity at the Authority, to ensure integrity and best practice in the industry and to finance the Horse Racing Integrity Division. It is administered by a Responsible Gambling Board made up of members of the Gambling Regulatory Board. The 2017/18 annual report recorded total fund revenue of Rs 77,943,667 for that year, of which Rs 77,768,887 came from non-exchange transactions.
The GRA runs a problem gambling helpline on 8909, open Monday to Friday from 9 am to 3.30 pm outside public holidays, and an email address, [email protected]. According to the GRA newsletter, the helpline was launched in July 2018 and became free of charge for callers in 2021. In 2023 the Authority said it was looking to set up a fuller support system offering psychological treatment and follow-up sessions.
The Act provides for self-exclusion. As amended by the Finance Act 2026, section 143 states that where the Authority directs an operator to exclude a punter under the self-exclusion programme, the operator “shall not allow that punter to place a bet or enter into any gambling transaction, whether on a licensed premise or by remote communication”. The GRA’s website did not describe how to apply for self-exclusion when we reviewed it; people who wish to exclude themselves should contact the Authority. Our general responsible gambling guide gives further advice on limiting play and finding support.
Recent and upcoming developments
- Bookmaker suspension (March 2026). On 4 March 2026 the GRA directed a bookmaker licensed in 2025 to stop all betting operations after its director was arrested on provisional money-laundering charges; the case was referred to the Financial Crimes Commission (iGaming Business).
- Rules of Racing (April 2026). The GRA announced a consultation on its Rules of Racing on 13 April 2026, and the Rules of Racing 2026 were published in the Government Gazette of 18 April 2026 as General Notice No. 424, ahead of a season that began on 25 April (Focus Gaming News).
- Budget 2026/27 and Finance Act 2026. The budget annex proposed more than 30 amendments to the GRA Act, including calendar-year licensing, five instead of three betting terminals per bookmaker’s premises and fixed-odds betting on foreign horse races during the local off-season (Focus Gaming News, July 2026). The Finance Act 2026 received assent on 12 August 2026 and introduced the B2C, B2B and ancillary interactive gambling licences, the deletion of hotel casinos, the digital games regime and the self-exclusion duty described above. The Act also raises the maximum financial penalty in section 99(9) from Rs 200,000 to Rs 400,000 and the number of betting terminals allowed on a bookmaker’s premises from three to five (Finance Act 2026, section 6; Gambling.com).
- Internal Affairs Division (September 2026). The GRA invited applications, closing on 9 October 2026, for the head of a new Internal Affairs Division that will monitor declarations of assets by GRA staff and refer suspected corruption or money laundering to the competent authorities (Focus Gaming News).
Casino listings for players in Mauritius
The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database. They do not show that an operator holds a licence from the Gambling Regulatory Authority. As of October 2026 no Mauritian interactive gambling licences for online casino games had been published, so the listings must not be read as an indication that playing at a particular site is lawful in Mauritius. Readers can check an operator’s status on the GRA licensees page.
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Sources and further reading
- Republic of Mauritius (published by the Gambling Regulatory Authority), Gambling Regulatory Authority Act 2007 (Act No. 9 of 2007), consolidated as at 16 June 2026 (2026).
- Ministry of Finance, Mauritius, Gambling Regulatory Authority Act, consolidated to Act No. 18 of 2025 (2025).
- MauritiusLII / Laws.Africa, Gambling Regulatory Authority Act, version as at 30 June 2017 (accessed 6 October 2026).
- National Assembly of Mauritius, The Gambling Regulatory Authority Bill (No. X of 2007), with explanatory memorandum (2007).
- National Assembly of Mauritius, The Finance Act 2026 (Act No. 14 of 2026) (2026).
- Republic of Mauritius (copy hosted by the Financial Services Commission), The Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2025 (Act No. 18 of 2025) (2025).
- Gambling Regulatory Authority, History (accessed 6 October 2026).
- Gambling Regulatory Authority, Licensees (accessed 6 October 2026).
- Gambling Regulatory Authority, Legislations and Policies (accessed 6 October 2026).
- Gambling Regulatory Authority, Problem Gambling Helpline (accessed 6 October 2026).
- Gambling Regulatory Authority, Report Something in Confidence (accessed 6 October 2026).
- Gambling Regulatory Authority, Awareness (accessed 6 October 2026).
- Gambling Regulatory Authority, Newsletter Issue No. 1 (April 2023).
- Gambling Regulatory Authority, Annual Report 2017/2018 (2018).
- Gambling Regulatory Authority, Rules of Racing 2026 (General Notice No. 424 of 2026) (2026).
- Gambling Regulatory Authority, Press Communiqué, 22 August 2024 (2024).
- Mauritius Revenue Authority, Gambling Taxes (accessed 6 October 2026).
- Lottotech Ltd, Home page (accessed 6 October 2026).
- iGaming Business, Mauritius budget scraps hotel casino licences and expands casino tax monitoring (2026).
- iGaming Business, Mauritius regulator suspends Bet 593 Ltd amid money laundering investigation and director’s arrest (2026).
- Focus Gaming News, Mauritius proposes major gambling law reforms to expand digital gaming and strengthen oversight (2026).
- Focus Gaming News, Mauritius enacts gambling law overhaul with new digital licences and betting controls (2026).
- Focus Gaming News, Mauritius Gambling Regulatory Authority creates Internal Affairs Division for integrity checks (2026).
- Focus Gaming News, Mauritius Gambling Regulatory Authority launches horse racing rules review ahead of 2026 season (2026).
- Focus Gaming News, Online betting in Mauritius: how locals are really betting (2025, updated 2026).
- Gambling.com, Mauritius Budget Bill Would Link Casino, Betting Servers to Live Monitoring (2026).
- SOFTSWISS, Is Gambling Legal in Mauritius? (updated September 2026).
