Gambling in the Pitcairn Islands: Laws and Online Play

Published by Casino News Daily editorial teamReviewed byFilip RadulovicOur editorial approach

The Pitcairn Islands are a British Overseas Territory in the South Pacific with a resident population that the territory’s government describes as “only around fifty”. They have no gambling legislation of their own. The published laws contain no gaming, betting or lottery ordinance, no licensing authority for gambling and no tax on gambling, and we found no casino, lottery or betting operation on the islands. This guide explains how the territory’s legal system works, why that silence matters, how English law may fill gaps, what the position is for residents and visitors who gamble online, and what has changed in Pitcairn’s law in recent years. Because the law is thin, several sections below say plainly what could not be verified rather than filling the gap with assumptions.

Key points

No Pitcairn ordinance regulates gambling. The government’s list of laws, based on the Revised Edition of the Laws (2017 revision) and later ordinances, contains no gaming, betting or lottery title.
The Summary Offences Ordinance, the main code of minor offences, contains no gambling offence.
Under paragraph 42 of the Constitution of Pitcairn, English common law, equity and statutes of general application apply only so far as local circumstances permit. No decision we found applies English gambling statutes to Pitcairn.
The UK Gambling Act 2005 extends only to Great Britain (with two sections extending to Northern Ireland) and does not extend to Pitcairn.
There is no licensing regime, regulator or gambling tax, and the official immigration website states that “there is no taxation”.
There is no local gambling-support service or self-exclusion scheme. Internet access is by satellite, and most homes now connect through Starlink.

Last reviewed: 14 October 2026.

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Historical development

Pitcairn was settled on 15 January 1790 by the mutineers of HMAV Bounty and their Tahitian companions, who burned the ship in what is now Bounty Bay. According to the Government of the Pitcairn Islands history page, the islanders date their formal connection with Britain from 30 November 1838, when a Royal Navy captain helped them draw up a constitution and code of laws. That early code provided for an annually elected magistrate and a small council. It gave the vote to women as well as men and made schooling compulsory. The British Settlements Act 1887 later provided the legal basis on which Pitcairn was governed as a British settlement.

Two features of the island’s social history help explain why gambling never became a subject of legislation. First, the community has always been very small: the same government page records a rise from 35 people to 66 over 17 years in the early nineteenth century, and a population that later passed one hundred. In 1856 the whole population of 194 moved to Norfolk Island, and only some families later returned. Second, according to the government’s account, the islanders set aside Church of England practice in 1887 in favour of Seventh-day Adventism; they were already total abstainers from alcohol and gave up pork. The island’s institutions developed around church, family and communal work rather than commercial leisure. The government history also describes a firearms licence as Pitcairn’s only tax until 1968, an indication of how limited public revenue-raising has been.

In 1940 the constitution and laws were consolidated and expanded by an official representing the British High Commissioner in Fiji, and postage stamps were first issued in the same year. Today the territory is administered from Auckland, New Zealand, and its government’s official website describes the group of Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno as a British Overseas Territory in which only Pitcairn is inhabited. The most recent dated figure we found is in a United Nations Secretariat working paper of February 2024, which gives a population of 42 in 2022, a figure that includes people temporarily abroad. The government itself describes the population as around fifty.

Legal framework

Checking gambling legislation and licensing

The constitutional basis

Pitcairn’s current constitution is set out in Schedule 2 to the Pitcairn Constitution Order 2010 (SI 2010 No. 244), a UK Order in Council made on 10 February 2010 under the British Settlements Acts 1887 and 1945 and laid before Parliament on 17 February 2010 (introductory text). The Order came into force on 4 March 2010, the day appointed by a proclamation of the Governor. The Constitution contains a chapter of fundamental rights, provides for a Governor, an Attorney General, an Island Council, a Supreme Court and a Court of Appeal, and gives the Governor the power to make laws. Under paragraph 37, those laws are styled Ordinances, numbered consecutively in each year and enacted by the Governor. The office of Governor is held by the British High Commissioner to New Zealand, as a UK government announcement of the 2022 appointment confirms.

Reception of English law

The key provision for any question not addressed by a local ordinance is paragraph 42 of the Constitution, headed “Application of English law”. It provides that “the common law, the rules of equity and the statutes of general application as in force in and for England” are in force in Pitcairn. Under paragraph 42(2), they apply “so far only as the local circumstances and the limits of local jurisdiction permit” and “subject to any existing or future Ordinance”. They may also be read with the changes of names, courts and offices needed to fit local conditions. The Judicature (Courts) Ordinance (Cap. 2) sets up the Magistrate’s Court and links the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal to the Constitution. Its section 17 directs the Supreme Court to be guided by English practice and procedure “so far as the circumstances of the Islands permit”. That provision concerns procedure only; the Ordinance does not contain a general reception clause for substantive law.

Pitcairn ordinances

The territory’s legislation is published by the government on its laws page. That page lists the Revised Edition of the Laws, first issued in 2001 and annually revised up to the 2017 revision, which an order of February 2019 brought into force, followed by ordinances made since 2019. The government notes that the texts on the site “have no official status and are made available for information only”. The Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute (PacLII) publishes a parallel index of the revised laws.

The alphabetical list contains 47 titles, covering such matters as the courts, criminal justice, immigration, land, marriage, liquor, a marine protected area and the Post Office. None concerns gambling, gaming, betting, lotteries or raffles. The Summary Offences Ordinance (Cap. 5), originally Ordinance No. 15 of 2000, is the territory’s code of minor offences. Its offences deal with public order, offences against the person and property, and civic duties such as failing to vote or to ensure a child attends school. It contains no provision on gambling, gaming houses, betting or lotteries.

The Local Government Ordinance (Cap. 11), originally Ordinance No. 1 of 1964, lets the Island Council make regulations for administration, peace, order, public safety and welfare. The Ordinance lists subjects such as public health, planning, quarantine, wildlife, fishing and trade with visiting ships, and it allows regulations to impose penalties. The regulations published with the Ordinance cover public health and planning, animals and wildlife, public work, government vessels, the public telephone and electricity, and traffic. We found no regulation dealing with gambling, raffles or lotteries.

English gambling statutes

The UK’s main gambling statute does not apply to Pitcairn of its own force. Section 361 of the Gambling Act 2005 provides that, apart from sections 43 and 340, which also extend to Northern Ireland, the Act “shall extend only to” England and Wales and Scotland. The Act’s licensing system depends on the Gambling Commission and on British licensing authorities, which have no jurisdiction in Pitcairn.

A harder question is whether any English gambling rules could be received through paragraph 42 as “statutes of general application”. We found no Pitcairn court decision, ordinance or official statement on this point. In our assessment, the regulatory and licensing provisions of modern English gambling law are tied to British institutions and would be difficult to apply “so far as local circumstances permit”. Older English common-law rules on gaming contracts may in principle be relevant to private disputes. This is an unresolved legal question rather than settled law, and it has not been tested.

Regulator and licensing model

Pitcairn has no gambling regulator and no gambling licensing model. None of the three usual models applies: a state monopoly, in which one public operator holds an exclusive right; a licensing system, in which private operators apply for permission; or an express prohibition, in which statute bans gambling outright. Pitcairn law is simply silent. There is no gaming board, no licence category and no published register of operators.

The territory does regulate other activities by licence when it chooses to. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) notes in its travel advice on safety and security that it is illegal to import or sell alcohol without a licence. Longer-term visitors must also pass a short driving test set by the police officer before driving a quad bike. The Sale and Use of Liquor Ordinance 2009 and the driving-licence regulations show that Pitcairn has legislated for licensing where the community considered it necessary. Gambling has not been treated in that way.

Public institutions are on a very small scale. Under the Local Government Ordinance, the Island Council consists of a Mayor elected for three years, a Deputy Mayor and five councillors elected for two years, with the Governor, Deputy Governor and Administrator as non-voting ex officio members. Paragraph 34 of the Constitution requires that the Council’s members be chosen in free and fair elections. Any future gambling rule would most likely take the form of an Ordinance made by the Governor or, for local matters, a Council regulation.

Online gambling and enforcement

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No operator holds a Pitcairn licence to offer online gambling, because no such licence exists. Equally, no ordinance makes it an offence to offer online gambling to people on Pitcairn, and there is no blocklist of gambling websites, no direction to internet providers and no restriction on payments to gambling sites. Here, blocking means an order requiring internet or payment providers to stop access to listed services. Pitcairn has no legal mechanism of this kind for gambling.

Connectivity is itself a practical limit. The FCDO’s travel advice (accessed 14 October 2026) states that there is no mobile phone network on Pitcairn, that public internet access is available at the Landing and outside the grocery store, and that most homes have internet through Starlink, a low-earth-orbit satellite service. A UN Secretariat working paper of February 2024 described the island as relying on a satellite-based Wi-Fi system while testing a new internet service. We could not confirm the current commercial terms for internet access on the island.

The territory’s country-code domain, .pn, is operated by a UK-based registry company on behalf of the Government of the Pitcairn Islands. The .PN registry website states that there are no restrictions on who may register a .pn domain. Domain registration is a source of revenue for the government, but a website under .pn need not have any connection with the islands. A .pn address therefore does not indicate that a gambling site is licensed or supervised in Pitcairn, because Pitcairn issues no such licences.

Because there is no local consumer-protection framework for gambling, any online gambling by a resident takes place with operators licensed, if at all, elsewhere. Disputes would fall under the law and regulator of that other jurisdiction, and in practice a Pitcairn resident would have very limited means of pursuing a complaint.

Position of players

We found no provision of Pitcairn law that makes it an offence for an adult to gamble, whether privately on the island or online with an operator based elsewhere, and no record of any prosecution of a player. The Summary Offences Ordinance contains no gambling offence. In 2023, the Summary Offences (Penalties) Amendment Ordinance raised the existing maximum fines in that Ordinance, previously $25 to $250, to between $500 and $5,000, but it did not add any new offence.

This silence should not be overstated. Paragraph 42 leaves open the possibility that English rules of general application could be invoked in a particular case, and the Governor could make an ordinance at any time. Visitors should also remember that Pitcairn has its own laws, including licensing rules for alcohol. Players who use offshore sites have none of the protections that a licensing regime provides, such as age checks, dispute resolution, limits or self-exclusion supervised by a local authority.

Taxation

Pitcairn imposes no gambling tax, either on operators’ revenue or on players’ winnings, because there is no gambling legislation and no list of taxes that includes it. More generally, the official immigration FAQ, an older page that cites 2012 data, states that “there is no taxation”. We found no more recent official statement on taxation. The list of laws contains no income tax, company tax or sales tax ordinance. According to the UN working paper of February 2024, development assistance has met 90 to 95 per cent of the territory’s budget requirements since 2004, with the UK reporting a 2023/24 budget of £4.52 million; other income comes from sales of stamps and coins, landing fees and .pn domain names.

A Pitcairn resident who receives gambling winnings from an offshore operator would face no Pitcairn tax on them under the law as published. The operator’s own jurisdiction may, however, impose taxes or reporting duties. People who also have tax residence in another country, such as New Zealand or the United Kingdom, should check that country’s rules.

Consumer protection and responsible gambling

Pitcairn has no gambling-specific consumer-protection rules. There is no statutory minimum gambling age, no self-exclusion register, no advertising code and no gambling-support service on the island. These are not gaps in an otherwise complete regime. They reflect the absence of any lawful gambling market that would need such rules.

Support for residents therefore depends on general services. People who gamble online with overseas operators can use the account limits, time-outs and self-exclusion tools that well-regulated operators provide, and can contact gambling-support services in the jurisdiction where the operator is licensed. Remote online help from organisations in New Zealand or the United Kingdom may be available, although freephone numbers in those countries are not normally designed for callers on Pitcairn. Our responsible gambling guide sets out general steps for keeping gambling under control and recognising when it has become a problem.

Recent and upcoming developments

None of the legislative activity we found between 2023 and 2026 concerns gambling. The following items show the direction of Pitcairn law-making during that period, as recorded on the government laws page:

March 2023. The Local Government (Remote Participation in Council Meetings) Amendment Ordinance 2023 provides, as its title indicates, for remote participation in Island Council meetings.
May 2023. The Summary Offences (Penalties) Amendment Ordinance 2023 (No. 2 of 2023), made on 19 May 2023, raised maximum fines under the Summary Offences Ordinance to between $500 and $5,000. It also raised the Island Magistrate’s fine limit to $5,000.
March 2024. The Biosecurity Ordinance 2024 was made and published.
May 2024. The Ombudsmen (Retirement Age) Amendment Ordinance 2024 was made and published.
September 2025. The Justice (Persons of Unsound Mind) Amendment Ordinance 2025 was made and published.
2026. A Post Office amendment ordinance on the designated universal postal service operator (made 12 January), a notice appointing a court registry (March) and the Immigration Control Amendment Ordinance 2026 (made 15 April, published 5 May) were published.

No gambling bill, consultation or policy statement was published as of 14 October 2026. Given the islands’ population and the absence of any local gambling activity, there is no sign that legislation is planned. Readers should check the government’s laws page for later ordinances.

Casino listings for players in Pitcairn Islands

The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database. They do not show that any operator is licensed or supervised in the Pitcairn Islands, which issue no gambling licences and have no gambling regulator or register to check. Readers should verify an operator’s licence with the regulator of the jurisdiction that issued it, and should note that Pitcairn law provides no local means of redress. The territory’s legislation can be consulted on the Government of the Pitcairn Islands laws page.

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Key points

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Historical development

Legal framework

The constitutional basis

Reception of English law

Pitcairn ordinances

English gambling statutes

Regulator and licensing model

Online gambling and enforcement

Position of players

Taxation

Consumer protection and responsible gambling

Recent and upcoming developments

Casino listings for players in Pitcairn Islands

Related country guides

Sources and further reading

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