Legal casino gambling age in Oman
Oman is a prohibition jurisdiction. Gambling is treated as a criminal offence, there are no casinos, no betting shops and no national lottery, and the state has created no licence under which any form of online gambling could be offered to people in the Sultanate. The prohibition rests on two pillars: the Penal Law issued by Royal Decree No. 7/2018, and the cybercrime legislation, which since 2011 has punished the use of information technology for gambling. In June 2026 the Cyber Crime Law of 2011 (Royal Decree No. 12/2011) was repealed and replaced by a new Law on Combating Information Technology Crimes, issued by Royal Decree No. 61/2026, whose Article 47 punishes anyone who uses a website, information system or information technology means for games of gambling. Enforcement is visible mainly through Royal Oman Police raids on private gambling gatherings, most of them involving expatriate workers. This guide sets out the legal framework, how it is enforced, the position of players, taxation and the limited consumer-protection picture.
Key points
- Gambling is prohibited in Oman. No authority licenses casinos, betting, online gaming or a state lottery, and the Basic Statute declares Islamic Sharia to be the basis of legislation.
- The Penal Law (Royal Decree No. 7/2018) replaced the 1974 Penal Law. Its predecessor, as amended in 1997, punished both running a gambling venue and taking part in gambling with six months’ to three years’ imprisonment.
- Article 47 of the Law on Combating Information Technology Crimes (Royal Decree No. 61/2026, in force from 8 June 2026) punishes anyone who uses a website or information technology in games of gambling with one to six months’ imprisonment and/or a fine of RO 100 to RO 1,000.
- The wording of the online offence covers anyone who “uses” a website for gambling, so it is not limited to operators. Players are therefore exposed to prosecution.
- Royal Oman Police regularly announce arrests for gambling, typically of groups of expatriates in private premises. We found no national self-exclusion scheme or gambling-specific helpline.
Last reviewed: 7 October 2026.
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Historical development
Modern Omani criminal law dates from the Penal Law issued by Royal Decree No. 7/1974, which remained in force for more than four decades. Gambling was already an offence under that code. The clearest surviving statement of its rule is the 1997 amendment. Royal Decree No. 12/97, issued on 25 February 1997 and published in Official Gazette No. 594 on 1 March 1997, gave Article 233 of the 1974 Penal Law the following content (our translation from the Arabic):
“Whoever establishes or manages a place for games of gambling shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than six months and not more than three years and by a fine not exceeding five hundred rials. Whoever practises games of gambling shall be punished by the same penalty. In all cases the tools and money used shall be confiscated.”
Two features of that text are important for understanding Omani policy. First, the player was placed on the same footing as the organiser: practising gambling carried the same penalty as running a gambling house. Second, confiscation of equipment and stakes was mandatory rather than discretionary.
The arrival of the internet led to a specific online offence. The Cyber Crime Law issued by Royal Decree No. 12/2011 on 6 February 2011 contained an article on gambling. According to an English translation of the 2011 law, Article 17 punished the use of the information network or information technology means in gambling with imprisonment of not less than one month and not more than three years and a fine of RO 100 to RO 3,000, or either penalty.
In January 2018 a new Penal Law was issued by Royal Decree No. 7/2018. It was issued on 11 January 2018, published in the Official Gazette on 14 January 2018, and came into force on the day after publication, replacing the 1974 code. The most recent stage is the June 2026 replacement of the 2011 cybercrime statute, discussed below.
Legal framework
Constitutional context
Article 2 of the Basic Statute of the State, issued by Royal Decree No. 6/2021 on 11 January 2021, provides that “the religion of the State is Islam, and Islamic Sharia is the basis of legislation”. Gambling (qimar or maysir) is forbidden in Islamic law, and this constitutional principle explains why Omani legislation contains no licensing regime for games of chance. The prohibition is expressed through the ordinary criminal law rather than through a dedicated gambling act.
The Penal Law (Royal Decree No. 7/2018)
The Penal Law of 2018 is the general criminal code. Its text is published on the official legal databases, including on Decree.om. The most recent amendment we identified, Royal Decree No. 66/2026 issued on 23 June 2026, added offences of bribery in the private sector and did not concern gambling (Royal Decree No. 66/2026).
We were not able to verify the exact article number and wording of the gambling provisions of the 2018 Penal Law from an official text, because the publicly accessible copies we consulted were incomplete. Press reporting indicates that the code continues to punish gambling. In a May 2022 report on arrests in Buraimi, Muscat Daily stated that under the Omani Penal Code gambling offences carry imprisonment of up to three years, a fine of up to RO 1,000, or either penalty. That figure is attributed to the newspaper and should be checked against the official text.
Law on Combating Information Technology Crimes (Royal Decree No. 61/2026)
On 1 June 2026 Sultan Haitham bin Tarik issued Royal Decree No. 61/2026 promulgating the Law on Combating Information Technology Crimes. The decree was published in Official Gazette No. 1651 on 7 June 2026 and took effect on the following day. It expressly repeals the Cyber Crime Law of 2011 (Muscat Daily, 1 June 2026). The law has 62 articles. Gambling is dealt with in Chapter Six, on content crimes, in a section headed “Pornographic material and games of gambling”.
Article 47 provides (our translation): “Whoever uses a website, an information system or an information technology means in games of gambling shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one month and not more than six months and by a fine of not less than RO 100 and not more than RO 1,000, or by one of these two penalties.” The Oman Observer reported on 7 June 2026 that using websites or digital platforms for gambling is a criminal offence punishable by “a prison term of not less than one month and not exceeding six months, and a fine ranging from 100 to 1,000 Omani rials, or either of the two penalties”.
Several other provisions of the 2026 law are relevant to gambling sites:
- Territorial reach. Article 2 applies the law to offences committed wholly or partly outside Oman where they harm Omani interests or persons, or where the criminal result occurs, or was intended to occur, in Oman. This allows the offence to be applied to services directed at Oman from abroad.
- Confiscation and closure. Article 60 allows the court to order confiscation of the devices, programs and proceeds of an offence, and the permanent or temporary closure of the information system or website used.
- Definitions. Article 1 defines a website as a virtual space with a specific address on the information network that makes data, information or electronic services available.
Compared with Article 17 of the 2011 law, the maximum prison term for using technology for gambling has fallen from three years to six months, and the maximum fine from RO 3,000 to RO 1,000. The minimum penalties are unchanged. Arabic-language coverage in Oman Daily on 7 June 2026 described the law as a modern legislative framework keeping pace with rapid technological developments and noted that access to electronic data by the competent authorities is subject to an order of the Public Prosecution or the court.
Telecommunications and consumer law
The Telecommunications Regulatory Act (Royal Decree No. 30/2002) is administered by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA). Its Article 61 punishes any person who sends, through a telecommunications system, a message contrary to public order or public morals, with imprisonment of up to one year and a fine of up to RO 1,000. The Consumer Protection Law (Royal Decree No. 66/2014) is relevant to prize promotions: Article 31 prohibits suppliers from running promotional offers or price reductions without first obtaining the licences and approvals of the competent authority.
Regulator and licensing model
Oman follows a prohibition model. In a prohibition model the law does not merely limit gambling to a monopoly or to licensed operators; it treats the activity itself as an offence and creates no lawful channel for it. There is no gambling regulator, no licensing authority for casinos or betting, and no register of licensed operators to consult. Responsibility for the prohibition is shared between the general criminal justice institutions: the Royal Oman Police, which investigates and arrests; the Public Prosecution, which brings charges; and the courts, which impose penalties and orders of confiscation and closure.
Oman has no state lottery and no statutory operator comparable to the national lotteries of many other countries. We found no officially published figures on the size of the illegal gambling market, the number of prosecutions or the value of confiscated stakes.
Lotteries and prize draws
The prohibition of gambling does not extend to every scheme in which prizes are allocated by chance. Omani law recognises lawful prize draws held by licensed entities. Article 22 of the Personal Income Tax Law (Royal Decree No. 56/2025) defines income from prizes as anything a person obtains, in cash or in kind, “from draws conducted by entities legally licensed to do so”. Commercial promotional offers in turn require prior licensing and approval under Article 31 of the Consumer Protection Law. In practice, draw-based promotions run by businesses with the necessary approvals are distinguished from gambling, in which participants stake money for the chance of winning. We did not find a published ministerial regulation setting out the conditions for prize draws, so this distinction is described here only in general terms.
Online gambling and enforcement
No online casino, online sportsbook, online poker room or online lottery is licensed in Oman, and none can be licensed under current law. Every online gambling service available to people in Oman is therefore offshore, meaning it is operated from another jurisdiction, sometimes under a licence issued there. A foreign licence has no legal effect in Oman. Article 47 of the 2026 cybercrime law, read with the extraterritorial rule in Article 2, makes the use of such services an offence regardless of where the operator is based.
Blocking
Blocking means preventing access to a website at the level of internet service providers. Oman has filtered internet content for many years. A 2009 country profile by the OpenNet Initiative found that the main provider, Omantel, filtered content using commercial filtering software, with the TRA setting telecommunications policy. That profile is now old and did not specifically address gambling sites.
We did not find a current official TRA statement, published blocklist or decision specifically concerning gambling websites, and we could not verify how gambling sites are currently filtered. The legal basis for blocking under the 2026 cybercrime law is judicial: Article 60 allows a court to order the permanent or temporary closure of a website used to commit an offence. Readers should not assume that a site which loads in Oman is lawful to use.
Payments and advertising
We found no published Central Bank of Oman rule dealing specifically with payments to gambling operators, and no Oman-specific code on gambling advertising, which would in any case be inconsistent with a full prohibition. Promotion of gambling online may fall within the general content offences of the cybercrime law, and messages contrary to public order or morals sent through a telecommunications system are punishable under Article 61 of the Telecommunications Regulatory Act.
Policing of gambling
The Royal Oman Police regularly announce arrests for gambling. Reported cases include:
- September 2018, Muscat. Police raided a flat in Qurum after a tip-off and arrested 17 expatriates. A police spokesman said officers “found people engaged in gambling on six tables”; the accused were referred to the Public Prosecution (Gulf News).
- March 2021, Al Dakhiliyah. A group of expatriates was arrested for gathering and gambling in breach of the Supreme Committee’s COVID-19 decisions (Times of Oman).
- May 2022, Buraimi. The Buraimi Governorate Police Command, supported by a special tasks unit, arrested 25 people of Asian nationality on charges of gambling, saying they had been caught red-handed (Muscat Daily).
- April 2024, Al Kamil W’al Wafi. The South Sharqiyah Governorate Police Command arrested 19 expatriates of Asian nationality “on charges of indulging in gambling” (Muscat Daily).
- May 2024, Sur. Police arrested 22 people of Asian descent “for engaging in gambling at a residence” (Gulf News).
These reports concern physical gatherings, usually card games in private homes or flats. We did not find a reported prosecution of an individual for gambling online under Article 17 of the 2011 law or Article 47 of the 2026 law, although such cases may not be publicised.
Position of players
In Oman the player commits an offence, not only the organiser. This was explicit in Article 233 of the 1974 Penal Law as amended in 1997, which applied the same penalty to whoever “practises games of gambling” as to the operator of a gambling venue. Police statements on arrests consistently describe those detained as having been engaged in gambling, not only as having organised it.
For online gambling, Article 47 of the 2026 cybercrime law applies to “whoever uses” a website, information system or information technology means in games of gambling. On its plain wording this covers a person who places bets or plays casino games through a website or app, and not only the provider of the service. The penalty is imprisonment of one to six months, a fine of RO 100 to RO 1,000, or either penalty. A court may also order confiscation of devices and proceeds under Article 60. Expatriates should be aware that criminal convictions can have consequences for residence status, although we did not find a source addressing deportation specifically for gambling offences.
Private gambling among friends is not exempt. Unlike some licensing jurisdictions, Omani law as we found it contains no general exception for social gambling at home, and several of the arrests listed above concerned gambling in private residences.
Taxation
Because gambling is prohibited, Oman has no gambling duty, no tax on gross gaming revenue (GGR, meaning stakes received minus prizes paid) and no licence fees. Stakes and winnings from unlawful gambling are liable to confiscation rather than taxation.
Oman is introducing a personal income tax. The Personal Income Tax Law, issued by Royal Decree No. 56/2025 on 22 June 2025, applies from 1 January 2028. It charges tax at 5% (Article 8) on taxable income, which is defined by reference to gross income above RO 42,000 a year. Article 22 lists income from prizes won in draws conducted by legally licensed entities as a category of income. We did not find prize income among the exemptions listed in Article 25, but the treatment of particular prizes will depend on the executive regulations and on guidance from the Tax Authority, which should be consulted before 2028. The law does not contemplate any taxation of gambling winnings, since gambling itself is unlawful.
Consumer protection and responsible gambling
Prohibition jurisdictions typically lack the tools found in regulated markets, such as a national self-exclusion register, deposit limits or operator duties of care, because there are no licensed operators to which such duties could apply. Oman follows this pattern. We found no national self-exclusion scheme, no gambling-specific helpline and no publicly funded gambling-treatment programme in Oman.
The practical consequence is that a resident who gambles with an offshore website has no recourse in Oman if winnings are withheld or an account is closed: the contract is unenforceable and the activity itself is an offence. People affected by gambling-related harm can seek help through general medical and mental-health services. General guidance on recognising and limiting gambling harm is available in our responsible gambling guide.
Recent and upcoming developments
- New cybercrime law (June 2026). Royal Decree No. 61/2026, issued on 1 June 2026 and published on 7 June 2026, replaced the 2011 Cyber Crime Law. Article 47 now governs the use of websites and information technology for gambling, with a lower maximum penalty than before. The Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology said the law seeks to reinforce cybercrime deterrence and protect information systems and digital infrastructure (Times of Oman). Executive measures and the first cases under the new law should be monitored.
- Penal Law amendment (June 2026). Royal Decree No. 66/2026 of 23 June 2026 amended the Penal Law to add private-sector bribery offences. It did not change the treatment of gambling.
- Personal income tax (2028). The Personal Income Tax Law will apply from 1 January 2028, including its provisions on prize income from licensed draws.
- Policing. Royal Oman Police announcements of gambling arrests continued through 2024. We found no reform proposal to license any form of gambling, and none is expected.
Casino listings for players in Oman
The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database and do not show that any operator is licensed or permitted in Oman. Oman has no gambling regulator and no licensed online gambling of any kind, and using a website or app for gambling is an offence under Article 47 of the Law on Combating Information Technology Crimes. The listings must not be read as an indication that playing is lawful for people in Oman.
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Sources and further reading
- Sultanate of Oman (Decree.om), Royal Decree 7/2018 Promulgating the Penal Law (accessed 7 October 2026).
- Sultanate of Oman (Qanoon.om), Royal Decree No. 12/97 Amending Certain Provisions of the Omani Penal Law (1997, accessed 7 October 2026).
- Sultanate of Oman (Qanoon.om), Royal Decree No. 61/2026 Promulgating the Law on Combating Information Technology Crimes (2026, accessed 7 October 2026).
- Sultanate of Oman (Qanoon.om), Royal Decree No. 12/2011 Issuing the Cyber Crime Law (2011, accessed 7 October 2026).
- Asian School of Cyber Laws, Cyber Crime Law of Oman (English translation of Royal Decree No. 12/2011) (accessed 7 October 2026).
- Sultanate of Oman (Qanoon.om), Royal Decree No. 6/2021 Promulgating the Basic Statute of the State (2021, accessed 7 October 2026).
- Sultanate of Oman (Qanoon.om), Royal Decree No. 66/2026 Amending Certain Provisions of the Penal Law (2026, accessed 7 October 2026).
- Sultanate of Oman (Qanoon.om), Royal Decree No. 30/2002 Promulgating the Telecommunications Regulatory Act (accessed 7 October 2026).
- Sultanate of Oman (Qanoon.om), Royal Decree No. 66/2014 Promulgating the Consumer Protection Law (2014, accessed 7 October 2026).
- Sultanate of Oman (Qanoon.om), Royal Decree No. 56/2025 Promulgating the Personal Income Tax Law (2025, accessed 7 October 2026).
- Oman Observer, Cybercrime law: jail, fines for gambling and pornography offences (7 June 2026).
- Muscat Daily, Law on Combating Cybercrime in Oman issued (1 June 2026).
- Times of Oman, New cyberlaw to enhance Oman’s digital security (1 June 2026).
- Oman Daily, Law on Combating Information Technology Crimes: an integrated legislation and wider protection for society (in Arabic) (7 June 2026).
- Muscat Daily, 25 expats arrested for gambling (29 May 2022).
- Muscat Daily, 19 expatriates arrested for gambling in South Sharqiyah (3 April 2024).
- Gulf News, Oman police crackdown on crime: vandalism, gambling, and theft (28 May 2024).
- Gulf News, Oman police bust gambling den in Qurum area of Muscat (15 September 2018).
- Times of Oman, Group of expats arrested for violating Supreme Committee decisions (14 March 2021).
- OpenNet Initiative, Internet Filtering in Oman (2009, accessed 7 October 2026).
