Legal casino gambling age in Palau
Palau, a small island republic in the western Pacific, prohibits gambling in general and has no lawful casinos. The prohibition rests on the gambling offences in the Penal Code (Title 17 of the Palau National Code). Repeated attempts to legalise casinos have failed: presidents have vetoed or returned casino bills, and in a national referendum held on 22 June 2011 about three-quarters of those voting rejected casino gaming. The one statutory exception is unusual. Since 2000, Palau law has allowed the Minister of Finance to grant a small number of concessions for internet-based “virtual pachinko” and “internet digits lottery” games, but only for players outside Palau. Operators must block access from within the country, and Palauan citizens may not take part. This guide explains the legal framework, the offshore concession scheme, enforcement against unlicensed online gambling operations, the position of players, taxation and the main developments up to October 2026.
Key points
- Gambling is a criminal offence under the Penal Code. A 2018 regional anti-money-laundering assessment reported that “there are no casinos in Palau and gambling is strictly prohibited by law”.
- Voters rejected casino gaming in a national referendum on 22 June 2011, by 3,349 votes (75.5%) to 1,085 (24.5%). The enabling law said that a “no” vote meant the legislature would not again consider establishing casino gaming.
- Chapter 14 of Title 11 of the Palau National Code allows up to two virtual pachinko and up to two internet digits lottery concessions. These are offshore-facing only: sites must be inaccessible from Palau.
- There is no licensed online casino, sportsbook or lottery available to people in Palau. Large unlicensed online gambling operations aimed at foreign players were raided in 2019–2020, leading to arrests, fines and deportations.
- Bills to expand online gaming (2020–2021) and to legalise “controlled gaming” at integrated resorts (December 2024) did not become law, as far as the sources reviewed show.
Last reviewed: 13 October 2026.
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Historical development
Palau’s gambling policy has developed largely through a contest between economic arguments for gaming and strong social and cultural opposition. Proposals for casinos have been tied repeatedly to tourism development, particularly on the outlying island of Angaur, while traditional leaders, churches and successive presidents have argued that gambling conflicts with Palauan values.
In 2000 the national legislature, the Olbiil Era Kelulau (OEK), passed a law authorising internet-based virtual pachinko and internet digits lottery concessions, cited in later legislation as RPPL 5-45. When signing it, then-President Kuniwo Nakamura said the Republic “could serve as an example of the right way for a developing island nation” (Island Times, December 2019). The initial concession fee in 2000 was reported as US$2.5 million (Island Times, October 2024).
Land-based casino proposals met resistance. In May 2002, Cultural Survival reported that President Tommy Remengesau Jr. had returned to the OEK a bill to raise revenue through poker machines, pachinko and a casino, citing traditional values and the need for public debate. Marianas Variety, in an undated report that may concern the same or a later bill, described his veto of a bill that would have authorised slot machines, pachinko and a casino on Angaur, open only to tourists and non-Palauans. Remengesau warned that “once the genie is out of the bottle, it can be very hard to put him back” and recommended a nationwide referendum before any further step.
A later casino bill was vetoed by President Johnson Toribiong. According to an undated Marianas Variety report, he considered it hastily drafted and said that “gambling will not augment our tourist industry”. He objected that a single state could permit a casino whose effects would be felt across the whole country, and he said Palauans themselves should decide (Marianas Variety). The OEK then passed RPPL 8-22, approved on 29 December 2010, which required the Election Commission to hold a national referendum on the question: “Do you approve of the establishment of casino gaming in the Republic of Palau?”
The referendum took place on 22 June 2011. According to the results published by IFES ElectionGuide, 3,349 voters (75.53%) voted against and 1,085 (24.47%) in favour, with 4,437 ballots cast from 14,163 registered voters (a turnout of about 31.3%). Under section 2(i) of RPPL 8-22, a majority “no” vote meant that “the Olbiil Era Kelulau will not again consider the establishment of casino gaming”. Because this undertaking is contained in an ordinary statute, a later legislature could in principle amend or repeal it, but it has framed every subsequent debate.
Legal framework
The Penal Code
The general prohibition is criminal. The PacLII index of the Palau National Code lists a gambling chapter in the Penal Code, Title 17, and a separate “Gaming Business” chapter in Title 11. Palau re-enacted its Penal Code in 2014 through RPPL 9-21 (Human Dignity Trust). The revised Penal Code places the gambling provisions in Chapter 50, “Gambling Offenses” (sections 5000 to 5011). The full text of Chapter 50 could not be retrieved for this review, so its definitions and penalty grades are not set out here.
Secondary sources confirm the main features. The Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), in its 2018 mutual evaluation of Palau, stated that “there are no casinos in Palau and gambling is strictly prohibited by law”, citing section 5004 of the criminal code, and described the prohibition as covering both land-based and online gambling. In 2019 the Bureau of Revenue and Taxation, as reported by Island Times, said that the Penal Code “criminalizes gambling of all sorts” and that promoting or facilitating gambling is punishable. The same notice described a statutory exception for internet digits lottery and virtual pachinko, available only where the sites are inaccessible from Palau and Palauan citizens are barred from playing. Prosecutions reported in 2020 used the charge of “Promotion of Gambling in the Second Degree” (Island Times, August 2020).
The Constitution and the 2011 referendum
Palau’s Constitution does not mention gambling, casinos or lotteries. Local press reports have sometimes referred to a constitutional prohibition of gambling (for example Island Times, August 2021), but the text of the Constitution does not contain one. The 2011 vote was a statutory referendum held under RPPL 8-22, not a constitutional amendment. The prohibition is therefore a matter of ordinary legislation, reinforced by the political weight of the referendum result.
Title 11, Chapter 14: Gaming Business
The only lawful commercial gaming activity is authorised by 11 PNC sections 1401 to 1403. RPPL 8-21 (approved 29 November 2010) rewrote sections 1402 and 1403 to allow the Minister of Finance, with presidential approval, to grant up to two Virtual Pachinko Concessions and up to two Internet Digits Lottery Game Concessions. Each agreement may run for up to ten years, with up to five more by agreement, and concessions may not be transferred without the Minister’s written consent. A December 2012 amendment (cited by the Ministry of Finance as RPPL 8-54) reduced the annual licence fee to US$45,000. It also kept the core condition that the operator must “make it impossible for a computer located in Palau to access the internet site or sites”, and it required the Palau National Communications Corporation to block those sites.
Regulator and licensing model
Palau follows a prohibition model: gambling is unlawful unless a statute expressly authorises it. There is no gambling commission. The 2010 referendum law provided for a Casino Gaming Commission only if voters approved casinos, which they did not. Later proposals for an Offshore Internet Gaming Commission (2021) and a Gaming Commission (2024) were not enacted, as far as the sources reviewed show.
The narrow offshore concession scheme is administered by the Ministry of Finance. In its press release of 11 October 2024, the Ministry said it had opened applications on 7 October 2024 under RPPL 8-54 and new Online Gaming Concession Agreement Regulations. The Ministry had proposed those regulations on 9 February 2024 under the Administrative Procedure Act, and President Surangel Whipps Jr. approved them on 22 April 2024. The main terms are:
- Number of concessions: up to two virtual pachinko and up to two internet digits lottery concessions, granted by the Minister with the President’s approval.
- Duration: up to ten years, extendable by up to five years by mutual agreement.
- Fees: an annual licence fee of US$45,000 (reduced from US$250,000) and a minimum annual concession fee of 4% of gross revenue, calculated after winners’ payouts and salaries.
- Scope: one game type per licence. The release states that “appropriate controls must be implemented to prevent access to gaming sites from within Palau and its citizens”.
According to Island Times, the Ministry vets applicants with the Financial Intelligence Unit, the Financial Institutions Commission and the Attorney General’s Office. The Attorney General said operators must be based in Palau. Esports are excluded from the scheme. Concessions granted in 2019 were terminated after the holders could not make the required payments during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry had not published a register of concession holders as of this review, and no announcement of new awards after the 2024 call was found.
Earlier concessions never started operating. In December 2019 the Minister of Finance said that licensees “need to pay annual licenses and start operation within 3 years-time or the licenses will be revoked”, and the newspaper reported that no gaming tax had been collected because no operations had begun (Island Times, December 2019).
Online gambling and enforcement
No online casino, poker, sports betting or lottery service is licensed to serve people in Palau. The offshore concessions are export products by design: they cover only two game formats, and access from inside Palau must be blocked. The APG’s 2018 report therefore recorded online gambling as prohibited in Palau’s domestic market (APG, 2018).
Enforcement has focused on unlicensed operations run from Palau rather than on foreign websites used by residents. In November 2019 the Ministries of Finance and Justice set up an investigative unit after what the Bureau of Revenue and Taxation called the “potential commercial misuse of the internet by both licensed and unlicensed entities” (Island Times, November 2019). On New Year’s Eve 2019, police and immigration officers raided three sites in Koror and Airai and arrested more than 142 Chinese nationals suspected of running online gambling. According to a police report cited by the newspaper, all were in Palau on tourist visas and none held a work permit. The Narcotics Enforcement Agency said the targeted players were Chinese-language speakers, judging by the language and programming of the seized devices (Island Times, January 2020).
In January 2020 the Minister of Justice told lawmakers that 105 people had been apprehended. He estimated that nearly 1,000 people in Palau were involved in online gaming, and said those arrested would be fined and deported because prosecutors and detention space were limited (Island Times, January 2020). In July 2020, 57 defendants pleaded guilty to promotion of gambling in the second degree and working without a permit. Each was fined US$100, required to forfeit equipment, and required to leave Palau (Island Times, August 2020).
Palau has no published list of blocked gambling websites, and no statutory scheme for blocking payments to foreign gambling operators was found. The only blocking obligation in the gaming legislation is the duty to stop Palau-based users reaching the licensed concessionaires’ own sites. No specific rules on gambling advertising were identified. Because gambling is generally unlawful, promotion of unlawful gambling falls within the Penal Code’s promotion offences.
Position of players
The sources reviewed show a general criminal prohibition on gambling. The Bureau of Revenue and Taxation has described it as covering “gambling of all sorts”, and Palauan citizens are expressly excluded from the internet pachinko and digits lottery concessions. Because the text of Chapter 50 of the Penal Code could not be retrieved, this guide cannot say exactly how the Code treats a person who only places bets, as distinct from one who promotes or profits from gambling. Readers should not assume either way without checking the current text.
No reported prosecution of a Palau resident for using a foreign online gambling website was found. The prosecutions reported in 2019–2020 concerned foreign nationals who ran unlicensed gambling operations in Palau. Residents cannot lawfully gamble online with any locally licensed service, because none exists for them, and the concessionaires are required to block Palau users. Anyone who uses a foreign website does so outside Palau’s legal framework and without local consumer protection or dispute resolution.
Taxation
Palau has no general gambling tax, because gambling is not a lawful domestic industry. The internet gaming concessions carry their own charges set by statute: a minimum concession fee of 4% of gross revenue, payable quarterly, and an annual licence fee of US$45,000 (RPPL 8-54). Under RPPL 8-21, gross revenue means receipts less payouts to winners and less salaries paid to resident citizen employees. The Act divides the 4% fee three ways: 50% to the general fund, 25% to the Ministry of Education for school materials and 25% to the Hospital Trust Fund.
The general tax system was reformed by RPPL 11-11, signed by President Whipps in September 2021. It introduced a 10% Palau Goods and Services Tax (PGST) from January 2023 and a business net income tax. Businesses not registered for PGST and earning more than US$50,000 a year remain liable to the 4% gross revenue tax (Island Times, October 2021). No provision on the taxation of individual gambling winnings was identified; given the prohibition, the question has little practical relevance for residents.
Consumer protection and responsible gambling
Because there is no lawful domestic gambling market, Palau has no gambling regulator, no national self-exclusion register and no gambling helpline. The protective approach is prohibition itself, together with the requirement that offshore concessionaires exclude Palau users. Opponents have consistently grounded their objections in social harm. In a September 2021 letter, the Council of Chiefs (Rubekul Belau) said gambling, “online or onsite”, is “not consistent with our values as Palauans”. The Council cited financial ruin, addiction, money laundering, human trafficking and prostitution (Island Times, October 2021).
Support for addiction is provided by the Division of Behavioral Health of the Ministry of Health and Human Services. Its work includes “preventing and intervening in substance abuse or other addictions” and mental health services (Island Times, November 2021). It does not run a dedicated gambling programme. General information is available in our responsible gambling guide.
Anti-money-laundering law also bears on the issue. The APG noted in 2018 that Palau’s Anti-Money Laundering Act lists casinos as a designated non-financial business category, although “they are not legal in Palau” (APG, 2018). The 2023 FATF/APG follow-up report recorded upgrades on several recommendations, including Recommendations 22 and 23 (which concern designated non-financial businesses and professions), and placed Palau in enhanced follow-up. The money-laundering risk of large-scale gambling operations was a central argument in the 2019–2021 debates.
Recent and upcoming developments
- Remengesau and Angaur (2019). In April 2019 President Remengesau said a casino in Palau is illegal and that his office would not endorse one, after reports linked a former Macau triad leader to casino plans (Island Times, April 2019). Island Times reported that the governor of Angaur had told potential investors that “casino remains illegal in Palau” and that the state would not pursue one unless legislation made it legal (Island Times, April 2019).
- Online gaming expansion bills (2020–2021). House Bill 10-124-12 proposed raising the number of internet gaming licences from four to ten and renaming the internet digits lottery game “Internet Gaming” (Island Times, January 2020). The proposal lapsed at the end of the 10th OEK. In August 2021 the House of Delegates re-introduced and passed an “Offshore Internet Gaming Business” bill providing for 30 licences (covering e-casino, lottery, sports betting and virtual pachinko), an Offshore Internet Gaming Commission, a US$150,000 application fee, a US$750,000 concession agreement fee and a US$250,000 annual fee (Island Times, August 2021). In a letter of 30 September 2021 the Council of Chiefs told the Senate it could not support House Bill No. 11-4-1, HD1. No enactment was found.
- Concession regulations and call (2024). New Online Gaming Concession Agreement Regulations were approved on 22 April 2024, and the Ministry of Finance opened applications for up to four offshore concessions on 7 October 2024 (Ministry of Finance). Island Times reported that three companies had expressed interest. No award had been publicly announced as of this review.
- “Controlled gaming” bill (December 2024). In the final weeks of the 11th OEK, the Speaker of the House of Delegates and a fellow delegate introduced the “Palau Tourism Enhancement Act of 2024”. It would have legalised controlled gaming at integrated resorts and family-oriented theme parks under a new Gaming Commission. Island Times judged it unlikely to pass before the term ended (Island Times, December 2024). No record of the bill being enacted, or carried forward into the 12th OEK, was found.
- 2025–2026. No new gambling legislation, casino referendum or published concession award was identified for 2025 or 2026 up to 13 October 2026. Gambling and the 2011 referendum result remain the reference points for any future proposal.
Casino listings for players in Palau
The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database and do not show that an operator is licensed in Palau. Gambling is generally prohibited by Palau’s Penal Code, and no online casino is authorised to serve people in Palau; the only online concessions permitted by law must block access from within the country. The listings must not be read as an indication that playing is lawful. The legal basis for the concession scheme is set out in the Ministry of Finance’s 2024 release.
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Related country guides
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Sources and further reading
- Republic of Palau, Ministry of Finance, Opening of Applications for Online Gaming Concessions (press release) (2024).
- Olbiil Era Kelulau / PacLII, RPPL 8-22: An Act to establish a public referendum for the establishment of casino gaming in the Republic of Palau (2010).
- Olbiil Era Kelulau / PacLII, RPPL 8-21: An Act to amend 11 PNC § 1402 and § 1403 to facilitate additional Pachinko Concession and Internet Digits Concession contracts (2010).
- Olbiil Era Kelulau / PacLII, An Act to amend Sections 1402 and 1403 of Title 11 of the Palau National Code to reduce the annual license fee (RPPL 8-54) (2012).
- PacLII, Palau National Code Index (accessed 13 October 2026).
- Republic of Palau, Penal Code, Title 17 of the Palau National Code (RPPL 9-21) (2014).
- Human Dignity Trust, Reform of discriminatory sexual offences laws: case study of the Republic of Palau (2014 Penal Code) (accessed 13 October 2026).
- Constitute Project, Palau’s Constitution of 1981 with Amendments through 1992 (accessed 13 October 2026).
- Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering, Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures: Palau, Mutual Evaluation Report (2018).
- FATF / APG, Palau’s progress in strengthening measures to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing (Follow-Up Report) (2023).
- IFES ElectionGuide, Palau Referendum, June 22, 2011 (accessed 13 October 2026).
- Wikipedia, 2011 Palauan casino referendum (accessed 13 October 2026).
- Marianas Variety, Palau’s Toribiong vetoes casino bill (accessed 13 October 2026).
- Marianas Variety, Remengesau vetoes gambling bill (accessed 13 October 2026).
- Cultural Survival, News report on President Remengesau returning Palau’s gambling bill (2002).
- Island Times, MOF, MOJ to crack down on internet gambling (2019).
- Island Times, Internet gaming licenses issued, not active (2019).
- Island Times, Over 142 Chinese nationals seized during an online gambling raid (2020).
- Island Times, Internet gaming law amendment mulled (2020).
- Island Times, 57 charged with gambling promotion (2020).
- Island Times, Online gaming bill resurrected by HOD (2021).
- Island Times, Council of Chiefs forbids online gambling again! (2021).
- Island Times, Online gaming concessions in Palau: a push for transparency and economic growth (2024).
- Island Times, Palau House proposes “Controlled Gaming” bill in final weeks of 11th Government (2024).
- Island Times, Casino illegal in Palau: Remengesau dispels reports of him promoting casino (2019).
- Island Times, Angaur State is not betting on casino (2019).
- Island Times, Palau ditches GRT for VAT system (2021).
- Island Times, MHHS Division of Behavioral Health receives donation from Senate President (2021).
