Legal casino gambling age in San Marino
San Marino, a small republic entirely surrounded by Italy, operates a state monopoly over gambling. The Law of 25 July 2000 No. 67 sets out which games of chance, lotteries and bets may lawfully be organised. The Law of 27 December 2006 No. 143 created the Ente di Stato dei Giochi (State Gaming Entity, ESG), which holds the exclusive right to run them. In practice the land-based market consists of one company with a majority state shareholding, Giochi del Titano S.p.A., which operates electronic gaming rooms and a keno hall at Rovereta and draws most of its customers from Italy. Online gambling cannot be licensed to private operators: the current regulations allow it only for publicly controlled entities with a specific ESG authorisation. This guide explains how the system developed, how it is regulated, the position of players, taxation and the protection measures in place.
Key points
- Gambling is governed by Law No. 67 of 25 July 2000 and Law No. 143 of 27 December 2006, which established the State Gaming Entity (ESG) with an exclusive right over games, lotteries and betting.
- The permitted games, tax rates and technical rules are set by delegated decree. The decree in force at the time of our research is Delegated Decree No. 177 of 7 December 2023.
- Online gambling “is not authorisable”, except for publicly controlled entities with specific ESG authorisation. The ESG can order internet providers to block unauthorised gaming.
- Giochi del Titano S.p.A., majority-owned by the state, has been the only operator authorised to run gaming in permanent form since May 2007. Most of its customers come from Italy.
- Operators pay a special gaming tax ranging from 3% to 40% depending on the game. All forms of gambling are prohibited for under-18s.
Last reviewed: 7 October 2026.
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Historical development
San Marino’s first experiment with a casino was short-lived. Writing in The Spectator in May 1954, Constantine FitzGibbon described a modern casino opened on Mount Titano that “flourished for one year only”. Italy, which saw it as competition for its own gaming houses, imposed a customs cordon around the republic for about eighteen months. According to the same account, the San Marino government “gave in” in April 1953.
The undertaking was formalised in treaty law. An Italian Senate bill of 1961 ratifying later agreements between the two states records that, under a 1953 supplementary agreement to the 1939 Convention of Friendship and Good Neighbourliness, San Marino committed itself not to permit “the installation or operation of gambling houses or similar centres in any form” on its territory.
A statutory regime for lawful gaming was introduced only in 2000, with Law No. 67 (see below). The 2006 law creating the ESG followed. According to a report on the gaming sector presented to the Great and General Council in February 2014, Giochi del Titano S.p.A. began operating in May 2007 as “the only entity authorised to manage games in permanent form”. It succeeded an earlier company, Giochi San Marino S.p.A. In its first years the business depended almost entirely on keno, which produced 91.7% of revenue in 2008 and 94% in 2009. Management installed in October 2009 then introduced slot-type gaming machines, which came to dominate revenue.
The same report put the sector’s contribution to the public finances at €29.533 million over 2010–2012. This included €18.363 million in gaming tax and €6.623 million in operating profit. It also noted that 93% of customers were Italian, and identified the lack of a distinctive product, in competition with a liberalised Italian market and online gaming, as the main weakness. Proposals to expand the sector have recurred. A 2011 bill asked the government to plan new “prestigious” venues and to offer 30% of Giochi del Titano’s shares to San Marino citizens and residents. We found no evidence that this proposal was enacted.
Legal framework
Law No. 67 of 2000
The base statute is the Law of 25 July 2000 No. 67, “Rules for the operation of games, prize competitions, lotteries, lotto, games of chance and skill and betting”. It keeps a general prohibition on gioco d’azzardo, meaning gambling for profit in which the outcome depends on chance, outside the forms the law authorises. It then sets out the lawful categories of games, prize competitions, lotteries and betting.
In its original text, the law required operators to be companies (S.r.l. or S.p.A.) with minimum share capital, and it provided for concessions of up to five years granted by the Congress of State, San Marino’s government. It set a 12% tax on gaming revenue and provided administrative fines ranging from €258.22 to €5,164.56 (tripled for serious infringements), while unauthorised operation was punishable by arrest or a fine. The law has been amended several times since 2000. The ESG’s exclusive right, the current tax rates and the blocking power described below come from later legislation, so the original text should not be read alone.
Law No. 143 of 2006 and the State Gaming Entity
The Law of 27 December 2006 No. 143 established the Ente di Stato dei Giochi, implementing an earlier Law of 2 December 2005 No. 173. Under Article 3, the ESG is responsible for “the exclusive operation of games, prize competitions, lotteries, lotto, games of chance”, for supervising gaming activities, and for measures aimed at “safe and transparent” gaming and “the prevention of the socially harmful consequences of gambling”. The ESG works under the oversight of the Great and General Council (the parliament) and the Congress of State, and may issue binding regulations.
Article 5 is the key to the market structure. The ESG does not run games itself: it exercises its exclusive right by contracting with private-law companies in which the state (the Eccellentissima Camera) holds a majority. Article 12 requires part of gross gaming revenue to be used for social and humanitarian purposes.
Delegated decrees on permitted games
The detailed rules are set by delegated decree under Law No. 67/2000. A delegated decree is a legislative measure issued by the Captains Regent, San Marino’s joint heads of state, on the basis of powers conferred by statute. The series of decrees titled “Identification and regulation of permitted games” has been replaced several times, including by Delegated Decree No. 169 of 28 October 2014 and Delegated Decree No. 69 of 2018. In 2023 three decrees followed in quick succession: No. 95 of 9 June 2023, No. 131 of 8 September 2023 and No. 177 of 7 December 2023. Article 20 of Decree No. 177 repeals Decree No. 131. We found no later replacement, but readers should check the Council’s legislative archive for amendments.
Decree No. 177/2023 lists the permitted categories:
| Category | Games |
|---|---|
| A | Tombola, bingo and similar number-draw games |
| B, B1, B2 | Lotteries, including instant lotteries (B2) |
| C, C1 | Lotto and similar draws |
| D | Automatic entertainment machines with prizes in kind |
| E | Betting |
| F, F1 | Card-based games, including poker tournaments |
| G, G2 | Automatic machines with cash prizes, in permanent (G) or temporary (G2) form |
| H | Promotional prize competitions |
Category G machines in permanent form are limited to a maximum stake of €20 and a minimum payout of 85%. Article 18 states that “all forms of gaming” in the decree “are prohibited for minors under eighteen”. Under Article 3(3), an authorisation can be issued only if the operator’s management systems and operational structure are “permanently and actually” located in San Marino.
Relationship with Italy and the EU
San Marino is not a member of the European Union, although it has had a customs union with the EU since 1991. An association agreement was negotiated between 2015 and December 2023 and, according to a summary of EU–San Marino relations, still required ratification by the member states in late 2025. EU single-market rules on services therefore do not currently shape San Marino’s gambling law in the way they do for member states. The more important external relationship is with Italy, discussed below.
Regulator and licensing model
San Marino uses a monopoly model: the right to organise gambling is reserved to the state, which exercises it through a single regulator-operator structure rather than through competing private licences. The ESG holds the exclusive right, authorises and supervises the games, sets technical rules and collects taxes and supervision fees. The 2023 decrees gave it direct, real-time software access to the gaming terminals of Giochi del Titano S.p.A., as explained in the explanatory report on Decree No. 95/2023.
Giochi del Titano is the operating company. According to il Resto del Carlino (September 2018), it was then 76% owned by the San Marino government and 24% by the local Chamber of Commerce, employed about 115 people and reported a net profit of €2.4 million for 2017. The same report described its premises at Rovereta as themed electronic gaming rooms and a keno hall, with electronic poker tables as the only table-based games. In July 2023 the Secretariat of State for Finance “categorically” denied online reports that the company was about to close, describing them as false content created “for speculative purposes”. The state has also supported the company directly: Law No. 196 of 9 November 2020 authorised the transfer to it of real estate in the Centro Diamond complex, formerly owned by Stelabar S.p.A. and valued at €2.15 million, and extended the payment deadlines for the special gaming tax by thirty days for 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic.
Other operators may be authorised only for limited, mostly temporary activities. Since 2023, Category G2 allows temporary cash-prize machines in licensed bars, tobacconists and hotels, with a maximum of two machines per venue. Category B2 allows instant lotteries by businesses with a permanent establishment in San Marino and a bank guarantee for prizes. Under the 2018 rules, the ESG may authorise up to 12 poker events a year, organised in hotels of four stars or above and subject to identification and payment controls; Decree No. 177/2023 retains the limit of twelve events a year. Temporary and occasional authorisations must be confirmed by the ESG every year (Article 3(4) of Decree No. 177/2023). We did not find a published public register of authorisations.
Online gambling: what is permitted and how it is enforced
San Marino does not issue online gambling licences to private operators. Article 2(2) of Delegated Decree No. 177/2023 states that “online gaming activities are not authorisable”, subject to one exception. Under Article 3(2), the permitted games may, “with specific authorisation from the ESG”, be offered “through the internet and other telematic or telecommunications networks” by the publicly controlled entities referred to in Laws No. 67/2000 and No. 143/2006. The authorisation also requires the systems and operational structure to be located in San Marino. We found no published information that any such online authorisation has been granted.
The decree also provides an enforcement tool. Under Article 3(5), where an activity lacks the required authorisation or annual confirmation, the ESG, relying on Article 15(4) of Law No. 67/2000, “orders the providers of telematic services” to block publication of, and access to, the gaming activity. This is a form of ISP blocking, meaning an order requiring internet service providers to stop users reaching a website. We did not find a published list of blocked sites, figures on how often the power has been used, or specific rules on payment blocking or gambling advertising.
Because San Marino’s population is small and the large majority of gaming customers are Italian, Italian online regulation is also relevant. In Italy, online gambling is lawful only through concessions awarded by the Customs and Monopolies Agency (Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli, ADM). According to CMS’s guide to Italian online gambling regulation, Legislative Decree No. 41/2024 introduced a new concession regime for remote gaming. Concessions last up to nine years without renewal, are awarded by public tender and carry an entry fee of €7 million each. ADM launched the tender on 17 December 2024, and 46 operators had been admitted to its first phase by 2 July 2025. A San Marino authorisation does not give an operator any right to serve players in Italy.
Position of players
In the San Marino legislation we reviewed, the sanctions are aimed at operators: fines and criminal penalties for unauthorised operation under Law No. 67/2000, and blocking orders under Decree No. 177/2023. We found no provision penalising a player for gambling online with a foreign operator, and no record of players being prosecuted for doing so. The absence of a penalty is not an authorisation. No private online operator holds a San Marino authorisation, so such services fall outside the San Marino regulatory system and its protections.
Most players at Giochi del Titano are visitors from Italy. While physically in Italy they are subject to Italian law, which limits online gambling to ADM concessionaires. Readers in Italy should consult ADM’s own guidance.
San Marino residents may play at Giochi del Titano. In February 2025, il Resto del Carlino reported that the Great and General Council had rejected, by 28 votes to none, a citizens’ petition (istanza d’Arengo) to bar San Marino citizens and residents from the casino. The Secretary of State, Marco Gatti, said that residents had made up 3.97% of customers since 1 January 2024. He argued that gambling problems also arise through internet platforms and retail outlets, so coordination with health services would be more effective than an entry ban.
Players’ disputes go to the San Marino courts. In a case reported by il Resto del Carlino in October 2024, an Italian player had won about €958,000 on a keno jackpot in 2018 but received only €250,000. The company argued that identical bets placed for him by friends from several terminals had altered the game’s randomness. A San Marino court rejected his claim to the remaining €708,000 and ordered him to pay costs.
Taxation
Operators
Operators pay a special gaming tax and supervision fees to the ESG. Article 5 of Decree No. 177/2023 sets the rates for games in permanent form as follows:
| Category | Tax base | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| A: tombola and bingo | Gross takings | 40% |
| B: lotteries | Gross takings | 12% |
| C: lotto | Gross takings | 12% |
| E: betting | Gross takings minus prizes | 12% |
| F: card games | Gross takings minus prizes | 3% |
| G: cash-prize gaming machines | Gross takings minus prizes | 40% |
“Gross takings minus prizes” is equivalent to gross gaming revenue (GGR): the amount staked minus the winnings paid out. For temporary activities introduced in 2023, the explanatory report on Decree No. 95/2023 gives a tax of 12% of amounts wagered on B2 instant lotteries and 11% on G2 machines. Supervision fees are added on top: for G2 machines, 4% of amounts wagered. Small occasional events below set daily and monthly prize limits are exempt from some obligations.
Players
The gaming decrees we reviewed contain no tax on players’ winnings, and we could not verify from a primary source how San Marino’s income tax law treats gambling winnings. Italian residents should note that the tax position of winnings from a foreign venue is a matter of Italian law; we did not verify it for this guide.
Consumer protection and responsible gambling
Protection rests on several layers:
- Age limit: all permitted forms of gambling are prohibited for under-18s (Article 18 of Decree No. 177/2023).
- Machine limits: under Article 12 of the decree, temporary G2 machines must stop with a warning message after 360 games an hour, display the age restriction, and limit losses to €50 an hour. The explanatory report notes that the corresponding Italian limit is €315 an hour.
- Self-exclusion: according to the February 2025 report in il Resto del Carlino, Giochi del Titano runs a responsible gambling office and a self-exclusion scheme, used by 51 people over the period reviewed. We found no national, cross-operator self-exclusion register comparable to those in Italy or the Czech Republic.
- Prevention programme: Law No. 143/2006 makes prevention of the socially harmful effects of gambling part of the ESG’s remit. The 2014 Council report describes a “responsible gaming” project in the sector including a helpline and staff training.
Treatment and support are provided through the public health and social care body, the Istituto per la Sicurezza Sociale (ISS). In October 2025 the ESG and ISS launched a joint information campaign on pathological gambling aimed at young people aged 16 to 18. The ISS can be contacted on 0549 994111 or at [email protected]. General guidance is also available in our responsible gambling guide.
Recent and upcoming developments
- 2023 regulatory overhaul. Three delegated decrees (Nos. 95, 131 and 177 of 2023) reorganised the permitted games, introduced instant lotteries and temporary G2 machines, and gave the ESG real-time access to Giochi del Titano’s terminals. Decree No. 177 of 7 December 2023 was the version in force when we reviewed the legislation.
- October 2024. A San Marino court ruled against a player claiming the balance of a 2018 keno jackpot.
- February 2025. The Great and General Council rejected a proposal to bar residents from Giochi del Titano by 28 votes to none.
- October 2025. The ESG and ISS launched a youth prevention campaign on pathological gambling.
We found no bill or decree from 2026 changing San Marino’s position on online gambling. Readers should check the Council’s legislative archive for later decrees.
Casino listings for players in San Marino
The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database. They do not show that an operator is authorised in San Marino. Online gaming is not authorisable for private operators under Delegated Decree No. 177/2023, and no online operator holds a San Marino authorisation, so the listings must not be read as an indication that a service is lawful or regulated in San Marino. Players located in Italy should also check that an operator holds an ADM concession.
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Sources and further reading
- Consiglio Grande e Generale, Legge 25 luglio 2000 n.67: Disciplina per l’esercizio dei giochi, dei concorsi a premi, delle lotterie, del lotto, dei giochi della sorte e dell’abilità e delle scommesse (2000).
- Consiglio Grande e Generale, Legge 27 dicembre 2006 n.143: Istituzione Ente di Stato dei Giochi (2006).
- Consiglio Grande e Generale, Decreto Delegato 7 dicembre 2023 n.177: Individuazione e regolamentazione dei giochi ammessi (2023).
- Consiglio Grande e Generale, Decreto Delegato 8 settembre 2023 n.131 (2023).
- Consiglio Grande e Generale, Decreto Delegato 9 giugno 2023 n.95 (2023).
- Consiglio Grande e Generale, Relazione al Decreto Delegato 9 giugno 2023 n.95 (2023).
- Consiglio Grande e Generale, Decreto Delegato n.69/2018: Individuazione e regolamentazione dei giochi ammessi (2018).
- Consiglio Grande e Generale, Decreto Delegato 28 ottobre 2014 n.169 (2014).
- Consiglio Grande e Generale, Relazione sullo stato e sulle prospettive del settore dei giochi (February 2014).
- Consiglio Grande e Generale, Progetto di legge: Potenziamento del settore dei giochi della sorte e attività connesse (2011).
- Consiglio Grande e Generale, Legge 9 novembre 2020 n.196 (2020).
- Segreteria di Stato per le Finanze e il Bilancio, Smentita chiusura Giochi del Titano (2023).
- Senato della Repubblica, Disegno di legge n.1547: ratifica degli accordi tra l’Italia e San Marino del 20 dicembre 1960 (1961).
- FitzGibbon, C. (The Spectator), San Marino (1954).
- Istituto per la Sicurezza Sociale, Ente di Stato dei Giochi e ISS insieme contro il gioco patologico (2025).
- Filippi, D. (il Resto del Carlino), Accesso vietato ai sammarinesi (2025).
- il Resto del Carlino, Bingo milionario, parte della vincita “in fumo” (2024).
- Gradara, M. (il Resto del Carlino), Vincita al bingo (2018).
- CMS (Campo, M. and Mazzaferro, V.), Online gambling law and regulation in Italy (accessed 7 October 2026).
- Wikipedia, San Marino–European Union relations (accessed 7 October 2026).
