Legal casino gambling age in Tonga
The Kingdom of Tonga has no licensing system for casinos, sports betting or online gambling. The general rule is set by the Criminal Offences Act, which dates from 1926: keeping a gaming house is an offence, and so is playing for money at a “game of mere chance”. The only lawful exceptions are games played under a licence issued under other legislation. In practice, that means raffles and lotteries, including lotto, bingo and scratch tickets, licensed by the Minister of Police under the Raffles and Lotteries Act. No casino has ever been licensed in Tonga, and no Tongan authority licenses online gambling. Several casino proposals have been debated since the 1990s, most recently in 2016–2017, and each failed. This guide explains the legal framework, the limited licensing that exists, the position of players, taxation, the support available and recent developments.
Key points
- Sections 82 and 83 of the Criminal Offences Act make it an offence to keep a gaming house or to play for money at a game of mere chance. In 2020 the Supreme Court quoted the section 83 penalty as a fine of up to TOP$1,000.
- Section 83A, added in 1999, exempts games played under a licence obtained under any legislation. Lotteries, including lotto and bingo, may be licensed by the Minister of Police under the Raffles and Lotteries Act.
- Tonga has no casino legislation and no gambling regulator. The government stated in January 2017 that a casino licence application would be “futile” because gambling is prohibited by law.
- No Tongan licence exists for online casinos or online betting. No website-blocking or payment-blocking regime for offshore gambling sites was identified.
- Players have been prosecuted for land-based gambling: in August 2019, 21 people arrested in a police raid pleaded guilty and were each fined TOP$300. No prosecution of a player for online gambling was found.
Last reviewed: 13 October 2026.
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Historical development
Tonga’s gambling law is one of the oldest parts of its criminal code. The Criminal Offences Act, an “Act relating to criminal offences” dated 6 September 1926, included sections on gaming houses and games of mere chance from the outset. A separate Raffles Act, in force since 24 November 1919, allowed the Minister of Police to license raffles, meaning schemes for giving away an item by chance (Raffles Act, Cap. 169, 1988 Revised Edition). Gambling policy has also been shaped by the place of Christianity in public life. Clause 6 of the Constitution of Tonga provides that “the Sabbath Day shall be kept holy in Tonga” and bars any person from practising a trade or conducting “any commercial undertaking” on Sundays except according to law.
The first serious attempt to open the country to casino gaming came in the 1990s. According to a 1999 report in Matangi Tonga magazine, a hotel being built near the international airport applied in 1995 to operate a casino. Its Tongan representative said the application was for foreign passport holders only. A casino bill was presented to the Legislative Assembly in 1998 and passed its first reading by nine votes to one. It was introduced only three days before the House closed, however, and never received a second or third reading. Church and community members objected to the proposal.
The most recent casino controversy came in 2016–2017. In November 2016 a foreign-backed consortium proposed a tourism investment project with three parts: an airport hotel and shopping mall, a luxury villa complex and a “tourism entertainment gaming resort”. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, as reported by Matangi Tonga, Cabinet initially supported the project on 4 November 2016. On 11 November 2016 it supported only the hotel, mall and villas and declined to support the gaming resort. In January 2017 a United States gaming company linked to the consortium announced that it had obtained an “exclusive national master gaming licence”. On 25 January 2017 the government denied that any such licence had been issued. It stated that gambling is prohibited by law, so that any application for a gaming licence “would be futile” (RNZ Pacific reported the same position on 27 January 2017).
The matter did not end there. Kaniva Tonga News reported in April 2017 on a letter dated 24 November 2016, apparently signed by the Minister of Finance, which said the government would grant an exclusivity right for gaming if suitable infrastructure were built within two years. Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pōhiva said publicly that he would not allow a casino. No casino legislation followed, and no casino has been built.
Legal framework
Tonga does not have a single gambling statute. The rules are found in two older laws, each amended several times, and in regulations made under one of them. The texts cited here are taken from the Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute (PacLII), which hosts the 1988 Revised Edition of the Laws of Tonga and the individual amending Acts.
Criminal Offences Act: the general prohibition
Two provisions of the Criminal Offences Act (Cap. 18 in the 1988 Revised Edition) form the core of the prohibition:
- Section 82 (gaming houses) makes it an offence to keep a gaming house. The section defines “gaming house” and “gaming”, and treats as keepers those who manage or assist in running a gaming house and those who knowingly permit their premises to be used as one. In the 1988 text, the penalty is imprisonment for up to one year.
- Section 83 (games of mere chance) makes it an offence for any person to play for money or other stakes at a game of mere chance. The Act does not define the phrase further, but section 82 distinguishes games of mere chance from games of mixed chance and skill. The 1988 text set a fine of only $10. The current penalty is higher: in Bin Huang and others v Police [2020]
TOSC 28
, the Supreme Court quoted section 83 as providing for “a fine not exceeding $1,000 and in default of payment thereof to imprisonment for any period not exceeding 3 months”.
Section 83A: the licensing exception
The Criminal Offences (Amendment) Act 1999 (Act 28 of 1999), passed on 15 November 1999 and assented to on 17 November 1999, inserted a new section 83A: “Sections 82 and 83 do not apply to any game played pursuant to a licence obtained under any legislation.” The exception is general in form. It would cover a casino or betting licence if Parliament were ever to create one. At present, however, the only legislation under which gambling-type licences are issued is the Raffles and Lotteries Act.
Raffles and Lotteries Act
The Raffles Act (Cap. 169) originally regulated raffles only. Under it, a person who wants to hold a raffle must apply to the Minister of Police, describing the prize, the price per chance and the total number of chances to be sold. The Minister may refuse a licence, or impose conditions set by Cabinet, if the amount to be raised appears excessive in relation to the value of the prize. Holding a raffle without a licence, selling more chances than authorised or breaching licence conditions are offences (Raffles Act, ss. 3–6).
Two amending Acts brought the law closer to its current form:
- The Raffles (Amendment) Act 1998 (Act 12 of 1998) provided that a prize (“article”) may include money, raised the maximum fine under section 6 from $50 to $1,000 and doubled the licence-fee percentages in the Schedule. It also required the Minister’s regulations to be made with the consent of Cabinet.
- The Raffles (Amendment) Act 1999 (Act 27 of 1999) renamed the statute the Raffles and Lotteries Act. It defined a “lottery” as a scheme or device in which direct or indirect consideration is paid to take part and prizes of money or money’s worth are distributed by draw, expressly including lotto, bingo and sweepstakes. A new section 4A requires anyone who wishes to hold a lottery to apply to the Minister of Police for a licence.
Instant lottery regulations
The Raffles (Instant Lottery) Regulations 1998, made by the Minister of Police on 28 July 1998, govern what the explanatory notes call “scratch lotto”. Applicants must describe the lottery and its term, tickets may be sold only at the declared price, and the method and place for claiming prizes must be advertised in a local newspaper before sales start. According to the Government Gazette of August 1998, separate amending regulations excluded instant lotteries and pool betting from the older Raffles Regulations. The explanatory notes said pool betting was excluded in anticipation of separate future regulations. No regulations on pool betting were found.
Regulator and licensing model
Tonga follows a prohibition model, meaning that gambling is unlawful unless a specific exception applies. This is distinct from a licensing model, in which private operators can obtain permission to offer gambling, and from a monopoly model, in which the state reserves gambling to one operator. Tonga has no dedicated gambling regulator, no gaming commission and no casino control authority.
The only licensing authority in the field is the Minister of Police, acting under the Raffles and Lotteries Act. Licences are issued case by case for individual raffles and lotteries, subject to any conditions Cabinet imposes. The Act does not limit licences to charities, and no public register of licensed lotteries or bingo operators was found. Bingo is a familiar activity: in a 2017 Matangi Tonga survey of public opinion on casinos, residents of Nuku’alofa referred to a bingo venue operating in the capital and to concerns about noise and children being brought to sessions.
There is no Tongan licence for casinos, gaming machines, bookmaking or online gambling, and no statute under which such a licence could be granted.
Online gambling and enforcement
Tongan legislation does not address online gambling specifically. The Criminal Offences Act predates the internet, and the Raffles and Lotteries Act provides only for licences to hold particular raffles and lotteries. As a result:
- no Tongan authority licenses online casinos, online sports betting or online poker;
- no Tonga-based operator may lawfully offer such services, because offering them would fall outside the section 83A exception; and
- no statutory rules on gambling advertising, website blocking or payment blocking were found.
Blocking means requiring internet service providers or banks to stop access to, or payments to, listed gambling sites. No Tongan law, regulation or official list providing for the blocking of gambling websites or payments was identified in the research for this guide, and no published enforcement action against an offshore online gambling operator was found.
Whether section 83 applies to a person in Tonga who plays a game of chance online with an offshore operator has not, as far as could be established, been decided by a Tongan court. The section’s wording (“any person who plays for money or other stakes at a game of mere chance”) is not limited to physical premises, but no reported case applying it to online play was found. Section 82 is framed around a physical “gaming house” and is less obviously suited to websites.
Police enforcement has focused on land-based gambling. The best documented case is the Tofoa raid of 18 August 2019. According to Matangi Tonga, the Police Drugs Enforcement Taskforce arrested 26 foreign nationals for playing games for money in a building at Tofoa and seized more than TOP$89,000 in cash. Five days later, at the Magistrate’s Court in Nuku’alofa, 21 defendants pleaded guilty and were each fined TOP$300, and the building’s owner was fined TOP$1,000 for keeping a gaming house (Matangi Tonga, 23 August 2019).
The seized cash then became the subject of a forfeiture dispute under the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act. In June 2020 the Supreme Court held that gambling under section 83 is not a “serious offence” for the purposes of that Act, that section 83 provides only for a fine and that there was no statutory power to confiscate cash used in playing games of mere chance. It found the seizure, detention and forfeiture of the cash unlawful and ordered the cash seized from the 13 applicants to be returned to them with accrued interest ([2020] TOSC 28
Position of players
Tonga is one of the jurisdictions in which the player, and not only the organiser, can commit an offence. Under section 83 of the Criminal Offences Act, anyone who plays for money or other stakes at a game of mere chance is liable to a fine of up to TOP$1,000, with up to three months’ imprisonment if the fine is not paid. The 2019 Tofoa prosecutions show that the provision is enforced against players in land-based settings, with fines in that case set at TOP$300 per person.
The position for online play is less clear. No Tongan court decision or official statement applying section 83 to online gambling was found, and no prosecution of a player for using an offshore website was identified. What can be said with confidence is that:
- no online gambling service is licensed in Tonga, so players have no Tongan regulator to complain to if an offshore operator refuses to pay or misuses their data;
- licensed raffles, lotteries, lotto and bingo are lawful to take part in, because section 83A exempts games played under a licence; and
- Sunday restrictions on commercial activity apply generally. In May 2025, Kaniva Tonga News reported that police had reinforced warnings against Sunday trading and that both vendors and customers could face consequences.
No statutory minimum age for licensed lotteries or bingo was found in the Raffles and Lotteries Act or the 1998 regulations.
Taxation
Because casinos, betting and online gambling are not licensed, Tonga has no gambling tax of the kind found in licensing jurisdictions, such as a levy on gross gaming revenue (GGR, the amount staked minus the amount paid out in prizes). No gambling-specific tax statute was identified.
The nearest equivalent is the licence fee under the Raffles and Lotteries Act. The original Schedule set the fee as a percentage of the total value of chances to be sold: 5% on the first $100 and 2.5% on the remainder, with a minimum of $2 (Raffles Act, s. 5 and Schedule). The 1998 amendment replaced these figures with 10%, 5% and $20 respectively.
No specific rule on the taxation of players’ winnings was found. Readers with questions about the tax treatment of particular income should consult the Ministry of Revenue and Customs.
Consumer protection and responsible gambling
Tonga relies mainly on prohibition to limit gambling harm, and there are few gambling-specific protections:
- No self-exclusion scheme. Self-exclusion lets a person ask to be barred from gambling venues or sites for a set period. No national self-exclusion register was found.
- No dedicated helpline. No gambling helpline based in Tonga was found. The international directory Find A Helpline lists the Women and Children Crisis Centre’s free 24-hour line (0800 444) as the only Tongan helpline in its database, and it is not gambling-specific.
- General addiction support. The Salvation Army in Tonga provides counselling and rehabilitation services for people with addictions, including referrals from the courts and from Vaiola Hospital’s psychiatric ward, according to a March 2025 Matangi Tonga report. The report concerns drug use, and it is not known whether the service accepts gambling-related referrals.
Churches have been the most consistent voice on gambling harm. During the 2017 casino debate, the treasurer of the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga told Matangi Tonga that a casino “might bring about problems in society that will affect the people”. General guidance on staying in control is available in our responsible gambling guide.
Recent and upcoming developments
No new gambling legislation, bill or official reform proposal was found for 2024, 2025 or 2026. The main points of recent context are:
- No casino legislation since 2017. After the government’s January 2017 denial that a gaming licence had been issued, and the Prime Minister’s statement that he would not allow a casino, no casino bill was introduced. The Finance Minister at the time had said that Tonga “should have learned from Samoa”, which restricts casino access to foreigners (Kaniva Tonga News, May 2017), but this did not lead to legislative change.
- Revised laws. Tonga’s laws have been republished in a 2020 Revised Edition, in which chapter numbers differ from the 1988 edition (for example, the Constitution is Cap. 1.01). Readers relying on the chapter numbers in this guide should check the current consolidated text.
- Proceeds of crime. In its 2020 judgment on the Tofoa raid, the Supreme Court recommended amending the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act to clarify the provisions on seizing cash (Matangi Tonga). No such amendment specific to gambling was found.
As at 13 October 2026, the legal position therefore remains as it has been since 1999: gambling is prohibited by the Criminal Offences Act except for raffles and lotteries licensed by the Minister of Police.
Casino listings for players in Tonga
The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database. They do not show that any operator is licensed or authorised in Tonga, where no authority licenses online casinos and no regulator’s register exists. Offering online casino games in Tonga cannot be licensed, and playing games of mere chance for money is an offence under section 83 of the Criminal Offences Act unless the game is licensed. The listings must not be read as an indication that playing is lawful.
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Related country guides
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Sources and further reading
- Kingdom of Tonga, via PacLII, Criminal Offences Act (Cap. 18), 1988 Revised Edition (accessed 13 October 2026).
- Kingdom of Tonga, via PacLII, Criminal Offences (Amendment) Act 1999 (Act 28 of 1999) (1999).
- Kingdom of Tonga, via PacLII, Raffles Act (Cap. 169), 1988 Revised Edition (accessed 13 October 2026).
- Kingdom of Tonga, via PacLII, Raffles (Amendment) Act 1998 (Act 12 of 1998) (1998).
- Kingdom of Tonga, via PacLII, Raffles (Amendment) Act 1999 (Act 27 of 1999) (1999).
- Kingdom of Tonga, via PacLII, Raffles (Instant Lottery) Regulations 1998 (1998).
- Government of Tonga, via PacLII, Tonga Government Gazette Supplement No. 5 (Raffles (Amendment) Regulations 1998) (3 August 1998).
- Kingdom of Tonga, Constitution of Tonga (Cap. 1.01), 2020 Revised Edition (accessed 13 October 2026).
- Supreme Court of Tonga, via PacLII, Bin Huang and others v Police [2020]
TOSC 28
(2 June 2020). - Matangi Tonga, Casino moves ahead (1 July 1999).
- Matangi Tonga, Tonga’s govt denies issuing casino license (25 January 2017).
- Matangi Tonga, Should casinos be allowed in Tonga? (26 January 2017).
- RNZ Pacific, Tonga stays open to development without casino (27 January 2017).
- Kaniva Tonga News, Still no clarity on casino issue: documents present conflicting evidence (April 2017).
- Kaniva Tonga News, Finance Minister appears at odds with PM Pohiva over Games host cancellation (20 May 2017).
- Matangi Tonga, Chinese nationals arrested for gambling (20 August 2019).
- Matangi Tonga, Chinese gamblers fined, others plead not guilty (23 August 2019).
- Matangi Tonga, Court orders release of money forfeited in gambling raid (9 June 2020).
- Kaniva Tonga News, Tonga police enforce Sunday trading ban in wake of King’s call for Sabbath observance (31 May 2025).
- Matangi Tonga, Tonga urgently needs a drug rehab centre (21 March 2025).
- Find A Helpline, Helplines in Tonga (accessed 13 October 2026).
