Gambling in Saint Barthélemy: Laws and Online Gambling

Published by Casino News Daily editorial teamReviewed byFilip RadulovicOur editorial approach

Saint Barthélemy (often written Saint-Barthélemy, and widely known as St Barts) is a small French island in the Caribbean. It is an overseas collectivity of the French Republic under Article 74 of the Constitution, which means it has its own institutions and its own tax rules, but French national law applies there automatically in most fields. Gambling is one of them: the island follows the French model of a general prohibition with a short list of exceptions. The French lottery operator, La Française des Jeux (FDJ), sells its games on the island under a convention with the collectivity dated 5 July 2011, and its online offer is open to adult residents. Online casino games are not an authorised category anywhere in France. This guide explains how the French framework reaches the island, which questions official sources leave open, and what that means for players.

Key points

• Saint-Barthélemy is an Article 74 overseas collectivity. Under the General Code of Local Authorities, national laws and regulations apply there “de plein droit” (automatically), except in matters reserved to the organic law or to the collectivity’s own list of powers, which does not include gambling.
• The Internal Security Code applies a general ban on games of chance for money (Article L.320-1), with exceptions set out exhaustively in Article L.320-6. Online casino games are not among them.
• FDJ games are sold at approved points of sale on the island under a convention between the collectivity and FDJ dated 5 July 2011. ANJ decision 2023-PR-017 of 16 February 2023 opens FDJ’s online offer to players aged 18 or over who live in Saint-Barthélemy.
• Official sources do not mention any authorised casino on the island, and the national casino-siting article does not name Saint-Barthélemy. Whether the island could meet its criteria is an open legal question.
• The collectivity’s Code des contributions, in the version published to 6 August 2021, contains no gambling levy. The treatment of gambling winnings is not addressed in the texts cited here.
• The organic bill “PPLO n° 51” that is sometimes mentioned in connection with Saint-Barthélemy concerns health insurance only. It has no gambling content.

Regional overview: Gambling laws in the Caribbean puts all 29 countries and territories on one map, grouped by how they regulate gambling.

Last reviewed: 2 November 2026.

Historical development

Saint-Barthélemy is governed by the Sixth Part of the General Code of Local Authorities (Code général des collectivités territoriales, CGCT), the part of the code devoted to overseas collectivities under Article 74 of the Constitution. Légifrance shows that part as in force on 2 November 2026.

The texts do show how far the island controls its own affairs. The collectivity adopted its own tax code, the Code des contributions, by deliberation No. 2007-018 CT of 30 October 2007. The version published by the collectivity records amendments up to deliberation No. 2021-047 CT of 6 August 2021. A 2010 Senate report on the island’s tax system states that there is no corporate income tax and no personal income tax in the collectivity. Gambling is not among the matters the collectivity regulates itself, as the next section explains.

On gambling, the recent changes are changes to national law. The Internal Security Code was reformed by Ordinance No. 2019-1015 of 2 October 2019, published on 3 October 2019. Law No. 2023-1178 of 14 December 2023 amended the casino-siting article. Law No. 2026-725 of 3 August 2026 rewrote the voluntary-exclusion rule. None of these texts creates a special gambling regime for Saint-Barthélemy.

Legal framework

Status and division of powers

Article LO 6213-1 of the CGCT provides that legislative and regulatory provisions “sont applicables de plein droit à Saint-Barthélemy”, with two exceptions: matters that fall to the organic law under Article 74 of the Constitution, and matters within the collectivity’s own competence under Article LO 6214-3. In practice, a national statute does not need an express “applicable à Saint-Barthélemy” clause to take effect on the island. An express mention is needed only for the entry and stay of foreigners and for asylum.

The list in LO 6214-3 sets out the matters in which the collectivity itself makes the rules. It includes taxes, duties and levies, urban planning, road traffic, ports, the environment, energy and tourism, among others. Gambling, casinos and games of chance do not appear in it. The same article also provides that the State remains competent to set the rules on the investigation, recording and punishment of criminal offences, even in the matters listed. Criminal law and its enforcement therefore stay with the State. Separately, Article LO 6214-1 says the collectivity exercises the powers that the laws give to communes, and those given to the department and region of Guadeloupe.

The national gambling rules

The Internal Security Code (Code de la sécurité intérieure, CSI) opens its gambling title with a prohibition. Article L.320-1, in the version resulting from the 2019 ordinance, states that, subject to Article L.320-6, games of chance for money are prohibited. Article L.320-2 places their operation under a regime of exclusive rights, authorisation or approval “délivrés par l’Etat” (granted by the State). Article L.320-6 then lists the permitted categories exhaustively: casinos, certain games run by non-operators, lotteries under exclusive rights (the FDJ), physical sports betting and physical horse-race betting (the latter handled by the PMU, Pari mutuel urbain), and, under approvals issued under the 2010 law, online horse-race betting, online sports betting and online poker (jeux de cercle). Online casino games such as slots, roulette and blackjack are not in the list.

Book III of the CSI also has an overseas title. Its chapter covering Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Réunion, Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin contains a single article, L.341-1. It states that, in applying Book III in Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin, references to the department and to the State’s representative in the department are replaced by references to the collectivity and the State’s representative in the collectivity. Book III includes the title on games of chance and casinos. The text of L.341-1 shows no Saint-Barthélemy-specific gambling exception.

Ordinance No. 2019-1015, published in the Journal officiel of 3 October 2019, has an overseas title (Articles 40 to 43). It extends the revised gambling provisions expressly to French Polynesia (CSI Article L.344-1), New Caledonia (L.345-1), Wallis and Futuna (L.346-1) and the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (L.347-1). Saint-Barthélemy is not named there. That is consistent with the automatic-application rule above, which makes an express extension unnecessary. Readers sometimes assume that the L.344 to L.346 chapters apply to Saint-Barthélemy; they concern other territories. The ordinance also excludes Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon from its Article 3, which is a different case.

One point remains open. Whether the territorial clauses of the 2010 online-gambling law expressly mention Saint-Barthélemy has not been confirmed from official texts.

Casinos

Article L.321-1 of the CSI allows casino authorisations only for casinos in certain categories of commune, such as classified seaside, thermal or climatic resort communes (before 3 March 2009), qualifying tourist-resort towns, and communes where a casino was already operating on 3 March 2009. The text as amended by Law No. 2023-1178 of 14 December 2023 does not name Saint-Barthélemy or Saint-Martin. Under Article L.321-2, authorisation is granted by order of the Interior Minister after an inquiry, on a specification drawn up by the municipal council and approved by the minister, and only after a binding opinion (avis conforme) of the municipal council.

Saint-Barthélemy is a single collectivity without communes, and tourism is a matter for the collectivity. Whether the island could qualify under L.321-1, and which body would give the opinion required by L.321-2, is not answered in the texts cited here. The island’s powers include those the laws give to communes (LO 6214-1), but how that applies to casino opinions is an inference, not a published rule. This guide therefore treats it as an open question. Official sources do not mention any authorised casino on the island. Tourism-oriented commercial pages say there is no casino, but they are not authoritative.

Regulator and licensing model

The model on the island is the national one. Rights and authorisations are granted by the State (CSI L.320-2), not by the collectivity. The Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ), the French gambling regulator, homologates (approves) the rules of FDJ’s games, including those that apply on the island. For the purposes of Book III, the State’s representative in the collectivity takes the place of the departmental prefect (L.341-1). The collectivity appears in the licensing picture through the convention with FDJ described below.

FDJ

ANJ decision 2023-PR-084, which homologates the rules of the EuroMillions game, states that the rules apply to players at approved FDJ points of sale in several territories, including Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin. For Saint-Barthélemy, it refers to “la convention signée entre la collectivité de Saint-Barthélemy et La Française des Jeux, le 5 juillet 2011”. The same wording appears in the FDJ Loto rules applicable from 14 August 2024. The convention itself is not published in the sources cited, so its financial terms are not known. The number and names of FDJ outlets on the island are not stated in official sources either.

Comparison with Saint-Martin

Saint-Martin, the French half of the neighbouring island, sits in the same CSI chapter (L.341-1) and is also named in the EuroMillions rules. Its FDJ convention is dated 28 June 2013, against 5 July 2011 for Saint-Barthélemy. L.321-1 does not name Saint-Martin either. No casino on the French side of Saint-Martin is mentioned in the official sources cited here. See also our Saint Martin guide.

PMU and other operators

The PMU general rules approved by the ANJ (decisions 2025-PR-040 and 2026-PR-088) do not mention Saint-Barthélemy or overseas territories, and no PMU convention or point of sale for the island is mentioned in official sources. Whether PMU betting is available on the island is therefore not established. The same applies to other ANJ-licensed operators: the legal framework is national, but no ANJ document lists Saint-Barthélemy for sports betting, horse-race betting or poker operators, and no official statement on residents of the island is published in the sources cited.

Online gambling: what is permitted and how it is enforced

The only online offer confirmed by an official source for residents is FDJ’s. The general conditions approved by ANJ decision No. 2023-PR-017 of 16 February 2023 reserve FDJ’s online lottery, sports betting and poker offer to people aged 18 or over who live in a list of territories that includes Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin, alongside metropolitan France, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Réunion and Mayotte.

Online sports betting, horse-race betting and poker are open to operators holding an ANJ approval. Whether any given operator accepts customers from Saint-Barthélemy is a commercial decision that official sources do not document. Online casino games are different: they are not in the list of authorised categories in Article L.320-6, so no operator can be licensed for them under current law.

The criminal penalties apply nationally and, through the automatic-application rule, on the island. Under CSI Article L.324-1, carrying out gambling operations in breach of Article L.320-1 is punishable by three years’ imprisonment and a fine of EUR 90,000, rising to seven years and EUR 200,000 where committed by an organised gang. These provisions target the operation of games. How the ANJ’s orders against illegal sites reach internet users on the island is not described in the texts cited.

Position of players

Article L.320-7 of the CSI bars minors, even emancipated ones, from taking part in games of chance whose public offer is authorised by law, and requires operators to prevent minors from taking part. Age 18 is also the threshold in FDJ’s online conditions. The text of L.320-7 is national and applies on the island under the automatic-application rule.

Article L.324-1 concerns those who carry out or cause gambling operations. Penalties for an individual who plays on an unlicensed site are not addressed in the texts cited here. That is not the same as approval: online casino games sit outside the legal market.

For residents, the practical position is straightforward. The online gambling that official sources confirm as lawful and open to them is FDJ’s offer, together with any ANJ-licensed betting or poker operator that accepts residents. Online casino play is outside the licensed market in every case.

Taxation

Operators

Taxation is a competence of the collectivity (LO 6214-3 I and LO 6214-4). The Code des contributions, created by deliberation No. 2007-018 CT of 30 October 2007 and published by the collectivity in a version amended to 6 August 2021, contains no gambling levy, no tax on winnings and no casino or lottery provision. Later amendments were not part of the version cited.

The State may also institute taxes for its own general-interest missions, without prejudice to the collectivity’s powers (LO 6214-4 III). National levies on casino gross gaming revenue (stakes minus winnings paid out) are fixed by CSI Article L.321-6 by reference to the metropolitan CGCT and social-security provisions. Whether any such levy would apply on the island is not stated. The financial terms of the FDJ convention are not published.

Players

A 2010 Senate report states that there is no corporate income tax and no personal income tax in the collectivity. That statement dates from 2010. Fiscal domicile in Saint-Barthélemy requires at least five years’ residence (CGCT LO 6214-4 I 1°); people who have lived on the island for less than that are treated for tax purposes as domiciled in metropolitan France. The treatment of gambling winnings for individuals is not addressed in the texts cited here. Anyone with a significant win, or unsure of their position, should seek advice from the collectivity’s tax services or a qualified adviser.

Consumer protection and responsible gambling

The main national tool is voluntary exclusion. Under CSI Article L.320-9-1 II (as rewritten by Law No. 2026-725 of 3 August 2026), anyone may apply to the competent administrative authority, the ANJ, to be barred from gambling. According to the ANJ’s FAQ, a voluntary ban lasts at least three years and is tacitly renewable, and since November 2025 requests can be made through an online service at interdictiondejeux.anj.fr that includes identity checks. The ANJ’s data-protection notice names FDJ, PMU, casinos, gaming clubs and licensed operators as recipients of the register, on the basis of L.320-9-1, R.321-27 and R.321-28.

No ANJ document states specifically that the register is applied to residents of Saint-Barthélemy. The ANJ’s FAQ speaks of casinos “en France”, and the island is not mentioned. Because the law applies on the island automatically and FDJ’s online offer is open to residents, the register should logically reach FDJ’s online accounts, but that is an inference and the position should be confirmed with the ANJ before relying on it. See also our responsible gambling guide.

Anti-money laundering

The Monetary and Financial Code (Code monétaire et financier, CMF) applies “de plein droit” in Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon under its Article L.711-2, subject to the provisions of the relevant book. Article L.561-2 9° of the same code makes gambling operators authorised under CSI Articles L.321-1 and L.321-3 reporting entities for anti-money-laundering purposes. Article L.323-2 of the CSI requires casinos and gaming groups to record the names and addresses of players in the cases provided for in CMF Article L.561-13. TRACFIN is the national financial-intelligence unit; its specific role on the island is not stated in the texts cited.

Recent and upcoming developments

• Law No. 2026-725 of 3 August 2026. This law on the organisation, management and financing of professional sport rewrote the administrative-exclusion rule in CSI Article L.320-9-1 (its Article 37) and the anti-money-laundering scope in CMF Article L.561-2 (its Article 26). It is the latest change to the national gambling provisions that apply on the island.
• Casino-siting article (2023). Law No. 2023-1178 of 14 December 2023 amended CSI Article L.321-1. The consolidated text still does not name Saint-Barthélemy or Saint-Martin.
• The organic bill PPLO n° 51 concerns health insurance, not gambling. The Senate adopted the bill on 14 March 2023; it is registered at the Assemblée nationale as No. 946 and, after the dissolution, again as No. 106 on 23 July 2024. It is the same bill. Its adopted text, Senate text No. 70, would allow the collectivity to adopt its own acts in the fields of health insurance and the financing of health establishments and services, as a five-year experiment. It contains no provision on games or casinos, so reports linking it to gambling on the island should be treated with caution. The Senate dossier, last updated on 30 January 2025, shows no later stage.
• Online casino legalisation. A deputy’s bill (No. 1248, registered on 23 May 2023) would let casino operators offer online casino games. Its status is not confirmed, and no legalisation has been adopted: Article L.320-6 still lists no online casino games. Commercial sites report a debate on the subject in 2026, but those reports are not confirmed by an official source.

Related country guides

• Gambling laws in the Caribbean (regional overview)
• Saint Martin gambling guide
• Guadeloupe gambling guide
• France gambling guide
• Sint Maarten gambling guide

Sources and further reading

1. Code général des collectivités territoriales, Articles LO 6213-1, LO 6214-1, LO 6214-3 and LO 6214-4, consolidated edition read via codes.droit.org (accessed 2 November 2026).
2. Code général des collectivités territoriales, Sixth Part (Article 74 collectivities), Légifrance (accessed 2 November 2026).
3. Code de la sécurité intérieure, Articles L.320-1, L.320-2, L.320-6, L.320-7, L.320-9-1, L.321-1, L.321-2, L.321-6, L.323-2, L.324-1 and L.341-1, consolidated edition read via codes.droit.org (accessed 2 November 2026).
4. Code de la sécurité intérieure, Article L.320-1, Légifrance (accessed 2 November 2026).
5. Code monétaire et financier, Articles L.711-2 and L.561-2, consolidated edition read via codes.droit.org (accessed 2 November 2026).
6. Journal officiel, 3 October 2019, Ordonnance n° 2019-1015 du 2 octobre 2019 (accessed 2 November 2026).
7. Autorité nationale des jeux, Décision 2023-PR-084 (règlement EuroMillions) (accessed 2 November 2026).
8. Autorité nationale des jeux, Décision n° 2023-PR-017 du 16 février 2023 (conditions générales de l’offre en ligne de la FDJ) (accessed 2 November 2026).
9. Autorité nationale des jeux, Décision 2025-PR-040 (règlement général du PMU) (accessed 2 November 2026).
10. Autorité nationale des jeux, FAQ: interdiction de jeux (accessed 2 November 2026).
11. Autorité nationale des jeux, Information sur les traitements de données (accessed 2 November 2026).
12. Autorité nationale des jeux, anj.fr (accessed 2 November 2026).
13. La Française des Jeux, Règlement des jeux Loto et 2nd Tirage (accessed 2 November 2026).
14. Collectivité de Saint-Barthélemy, Code des contributions (accessed 2 November 2026).
15. Sénat, Rapport n° 273 (2009-2010): la fiscalité de Saint-Barthélemy (accessed 2 November 2026).
16. Sénat, Texte adopté n° 70 (2022-2023), PPLO sur Saint-Barthélemy (accessed 2 November 2026).
17. Sénat, Dossier législatif PPLO n° 51 (accessed 2 November 2026).
18. Assemblée nationale, PPLO n° 946 (XVIe législature) (accessed 2 November 2026).
19. Assemblée nationale, PPLO n° 106 (XVIIe législature) (accessed 2 November 2026).
20. Assemblée nationale, Proposition de loi n° 1248 (XVIe législature) (accessed 2 November 2026).

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