Legal casino gambling age in VenezuelaVenezuela regulates gambling through a set of sector-specific statutes rather than a single gambling code. Casinos, bingo halls and slot machines are governed by a 1997 law and supervised by the Comisión Nacional de Casinos, Salas de Bingo y Máquinas Traganíqueles (CNC). Lotteries fall under the Ley Nacional de Lotería and the Comisión Nacional de Lotería (CONALOT). A separate 2007 statute taxes all games of chance. The land-based casino sector has passed through sharp policy swings: most casinos and bingo halls were closed in 2010 and 2011 under President Hugo Chávez, and a limited reopening began under President Nicolás Maduro in 2020 and 2021. No statute that we identified expressly addresses online gambling. Since 2025, however, the CNC has published a list of online casinos and bingo platforms it describes as authorised, while industry analyses written in 2025 still described online gambling as unregulated. The legal basis of those online authorisations has not been published in a form we could locate, so the position should be treated as unsettled.
Key points
- The Ley para el Control de los Casinos, Salas de Bingo y Máquinas Traganíqueles (Official Gazette No. 36.254, 23 July 1997) created the CNC, limits casinos to five-star hotels in declared tourist zones and bans advertising of the games it covers.
- Most casinos and bingo halls closed in 2010 and 2011 after the CNC tightened licensing; about 30 venues were reported as authorised to reopen in 2021.
- Lotteries are run by official public benefit institutions, largely linked to the states, under CONALOT supervision. CONALOT continues to inspect and close unregistered betting outlets.
- The Ley de Impuesto a las Actividades de Juegos de Envite o Azar (Official Gazette No. 38.698, 5 June 2007) taxes operators; players’ prizes are subject to income tax withholding of 16% (lotteries and racing) or 34% (other games and bets).
- The CNC’s website lists 28 online casinos and 3 online bingo platforms as authorised (checked October 2026), but no statute or published regulation on online gambling was found.
Last reviewed: 6 October 2026.
Top Rated Online Casinos for Venezuela
Vegas Casino Online
Sign Up400% up to
$500
Liberty Slots Casino
Sign Up100% up to
$259
Sloto'Cash Casino
Sign Up100% up to
$500
Lucky Tiger Casino
Sign Up250% up to
$1,000
Shazam Casino
Sign Up250% up to
$2,500
Casino Brango
Sign Up500% up to
$/€100
+ 500 Spins
Vegas Casino Online
Sign Up400% up to
$500
Liberty Slots Casino
Sign Up100% up to
$259
Sloto'Cash Casino
Sign Up100% up to
$500
Lucky Tiger Casino
Sign Up250% up to
$1,000
Shazam Casino
Sign Up250% up to
$2,500
Casino Brango
Sign Up500% up to
$/€100
+ 500 Spins
Historical development
Modern casino regulation began with the Ley para el Control de los Casinos, Salas de Bingo y Máquinas Traganíqueles, published in Official Gazette (Gaceta Oficial) No. 36.254 on 23 July 1997. The law was designed to channel commercial gambling into tourism. Article 23 requires casinos to be located in hotels classified as five-star, and Article 25 requires all casinos, bingo halls and slot machine venues to be in geographical zones “previously declared tourist zones”. Article 3 created the CNC as a deconcentrated body (órgano desconcentrado, meaning an agency with functional autonomy inside a ministry) of the Ministry of Finance.
In 2010 the government moved to restrict the sector. Decree No. 7.710 (Official Gazette No. 39.524, 5 October 2010) moved the CNC from the Ministry of Tourism to the Ministry of the Interior and Justice, where it remains. Earlier that year the CNC and the ministry issued a package of instruments published in Official Gazettes No. 39.448 and 39.449 on 17 and 18 June 2010. According to a summary by the tax blog Mundo Tributario Venezuela, Resolution No. 060 suspended new permits and licence renewals except in officially designated tourist zones and froze share transfers for six months while the legality of existing licences was reviewed. Other instruments imposed anti-money laundering programmes (Providencia No. 064), financial reporting and external audits (No. 062) and duties to inform customers about gambling addiction (No. 058).
By 2011 almost all bingo halls and most casinos had closed. Press accounts attribute the closure to President Hugo Chávez, who described the venues as “places of perdition” that enriched the “bourgeoisie” (Confirmado, 2021). A 2021 column in El Nacional by Juan Cristóbal Carmona describes the closures as enforcement actions by the CNC under the 1997 law, based on alleged irregularities such as unlicensed operation, clandestine machines and tax and labour breaches, after which only casinos in five-star hotels remained. The casino and bingo workers’ union (STBCV) estimated that about 100,000 direct and indirect jobs were lost. We did not find a single published decree ordering a general closure; the available sources describe a combination of licensing restrictions, non-renewals and inspections.
The policy reversed under President Nicolás Maduro. On 17 January 2020 he announced an “international casino” at the Hotel Humboldt in Caracas, saying bets would be placed in the state-backed cryptocurrency, the petro, and that proceeds would go to health and education (CalvinAyre, January 2020). The same report notes that illegal gaming venues had continued to operate during the closure. In September 2021 trade publication Yogonet reported that about 30 casinos in Caracas and several states had been authorised to reopen, with a casino in Maracay (Aragua) reopening on 31 August 2021. No official list of the licences or the instrument granting them was published in the sources we reviewed.
Legal framework
Venezuela is a federal republic, but gambling legislation is national. The main instruments are:
- Ley para el Control de los Casinos, Salas de Bingo y Máquinas Traganíqueles (Official Gazette No. 36.254, 23 July 1997), with its regulations and CNC administrative orders (providencias).
- Ley Nacional de Lotería. CONALOT states that it was created by this law, published in Official Gazette No. 38.270 of 12 September 2005 (CONALOT). CONALOT’s legal library lists the text published in Official Gazette No. 38.480 of 17 July 2006 (CONALOT).
- Ley de Impuesto a las Actividades de Juegos de Envite o Azar (IAJEA), first published in Official Gazette No. 38.670 of 25 April 2007 and republished with corrections in No. 38.696 (1 June 2007) and No. 38.698 (5 June 2007).
- Income tax legislation, under which payers of gambling prizes withhold tax under Decree No. 1.808 of 1997 (Moore Venezuela).
The 1997 casino law
The 1997 law defines a casino as an establishment open to the public where games of chance (juegos de envite y azar) are played. Its main rules are as follows:
- Licences are granted by the CNC, are non-transferable and last ten years, and may be renewed (Article 18).
- Capital requirements: casinos need an investment of 300,000 tax units (U.T.) plus 200,000 U.T. in operating capital; bingo halls need at least 100,000 U.T. (Article 16).
- Location: casinos must be in five-star hotels with at least 200 rooms (Article 23); bingo halls in three- to five-star hotels or specially authorised premises (Article 24); all in declared tourist zones (Article 25).
- Slot machines may be operated only together with a casino or bingo hall (Article 27).
- Advertising: it is “expressly prohibited” to advertise, promote or market the games controlled by the law “through any of the media” (Article 29).
- Entry restrictions: minors, “even if emancipated”, may not enter casinos or bingo halls; nor may intoxicated or armed persons or, except on duty, members of the police, security bodies, armed forces and judiciary (Article 30). Public officials and persons with criminal records may not own or manage licensees (Article 22).
- Offence: anyone who “in any way sponsors, facilitates or operates” the establishments or machines covered by the law without a prior licence faces three to four years’ imprisonment (Article 54).
The law contains no provisions on internet or remote gambling.
Regulator and licensing model
Venezuela operates a licensing model for land-based casinos and bingo halls, and a state-controlled model for lotteries. A licensing model means that private companies may operate if they obtain a licence from the regulator; a state-controlled model reserves the activity to public bodies.
The Comisión Nacional de Casinos
According to its own description, the CNC is a deconcentrated body with functional and budgetary autonomy under the interior ministry. It issues and manages licences and authorisations for casinos, bingo halls and slot machines, supervises and inspects licensees, sets technical rules, and applies anti-money laundering and gambling-addiction prevention measures. Under Article 4 of the 1997 law, a representative of the Presidency of the Republic chairs the commission. The CNC’s website publishes a series of administrative orders, including rules on the possession, transport and operation of slot machines, procedures for collecting royalties, and Providencia DE-19-01 of January 2019 on preventing money laundering and terrorist financing (CNC providencias).
When casinos reopened in 2021, Yogonet reported that the interior ministry required licensed venues to install an integrated monitoring system connecting gaming machines online in real time, operated through a designated technology partner (Yogonet, September 2021). The CNC does not publish a register of land-based licensees on the pages we reviewed. In September 2026 the general manager of a Caracas casino told Bloomberg Línea that about 15 casinos were active; this is an industry estimate, not an official figure.
CONALOT and lotteries
Lotteries are supervised by the Comisión Nacional de Lotería, which marked its 21st anniversary on 12 September 2026. Its stated functions are the inspection, oversight and supervision of lottery games, the fight against illegal gambling, the protection of bettors and ensuring that lottery revenues fund public charity and social assistance. Lotteries are operated by official public benefit institutions (Instituciones Oficiales de Beneficencia Pública y Asistencia Social, IOBPAS), which Altenar describes as operated by state governments, and which license the betting centres that sell their products. Betting centres must also be entered in CONALOT’s national register (RUNLOT). Horse-race betting falls under a separate national authority, according to the industry overview by Altenar (2025).
Online gambling: what is permitted and how it is enforced
No Venezuelan statute expressly authorises, licenses or prohibits online gambling. The 1997 law regulates physical establishments and machines, the lottery law regulates lottery games and their sale, and the 2007 tax law taxes gambling activities generally. The position of online casinos therefore depends on how regulators apply these laws to internet platforms, and the evidence points in different directions.
The CNC’s list of authorised online platforms
The CNC’s website has a page headed “Casinos y Bingos Online con Autorizaciones” (CNC). When checked for this review, it listed 28 online casinos and 3 online bingo platforms by company name and authorisation code. Codes take the form CNC-OL-25 or CNC-OL-26 followed by a sequential number for casinos, and CNC-BO-26 for bingos, suggesting that authorisations were issued in 2025 and 2026. The page does not cite the legal instrument under which these authorisations were granted, and we did not find an online gambling regulation among the CNC’s published orders. Trade publication Focus Gaming News reported the publication of the list on 24 June 2026, when it contained 28 casinos and two bingo operators, and quoted the CNC as advising players to check that operators appear in the official register before depositing. In August 2026 the Caracas newspaper Últimas Noticias reported that internationally licensed sites, such as those licensed in Malta, Curaçao or the United Kingdom, are not registered with the CNC.
Industry analyses published shortly before these lists appeared reached a different conclusion. Platform provider Altenar wrote in November 2025 that online gambling was “legally undefined”, “neither licensed nor expressly prohibited”, and that no licensing framework existed for online sportsbooks or casinos. SOFTSWISS also describes online gambling as unregulated, noting that a few local operators hold licences. Readers should therefore treat the CNC list as an administrative practice whose statutory footing has not been publicly explained, rather than as a full online licensing regime.
Offshore operators and enforcement
We found no published blocklist of gambling websites, no reported orders to internet service providers to block unlicensed gambling sites and no rules requiring banks or payment providers to refuse gambling transactions. Foreign-licensed sites that accept Venezuelan players operate outside the CNC’s supervision. Article 54 of the 1997 law, which punishes anyone who operates or facilitates covered establishments “without a prior licence”, was written for physical premises; we found no reported case applying it to an online operator.
Enforcement is visible mainly in the land-based and lottery sectors. CONALOT reported on 1 October 2026 that it had inspected 34 betting centres in four Caracas parishes, finding 29 operating without RUNLOT registration and closing nine immediately for lacking IOBPAS licences or failing to display gaming rules (CONALOT).
Advertising
Article 29 of the 1997 law prohibits advertising, promoting or marketing the games it controls through any media. The ban was framed for casinos, bingo halls and slot machines; whether and how the CNC applies it to the online platforms it lists has not been published. We did not find a specific advertising code for lotteries in the sources reviewed.
Position of players
The offence in Article 54 of the 1997 law targets those who sponsor, facilitate or operate unlicensed establishments or machines. It does not penalise people for playing. We found no record of a player being prosecuted or fined for gambling online with a foreign operator. We did not verify whether other legislation, such as the Penal Code, contains provisions on participation in unlawful games, and readers should not take the absence of a player offence in the gambling statutes as a guarantee that playing with unauthorised operators is lawful.
The practical consequences matter. A player using a site that is not on the CNC list has no Venezuelan regulator to complain to and no local route to recover unpaid winnings. Minors may not enter casinos or bingo halls under Article 30 of the 1997 law, but we did not find published age-verification rules for online platforms.
Taxation
Operators
The 1997 law imposes levies specific to licensed venues. Under Article 38, casinos pay 10% of gross gaming profits, and bingo halls pay 12% of revenue not returned as prizes, with a minimum prize payout of 70%. Article 41 sets a monthly royalty of 40 U.T. for each casino table and 10 U.T. for each slot machine, and Article 11 a special contribution of 0.20 to 0.30 per thousand of the licensee’s assets to fund the CNC (1997 law).
The Ley de Impuesto a las Actividades de Juegos de Envite o Azar adds a national tax on the operation or organisation of games of chance, administered by SENIAT. Article 4 lists the taxable activities: lotteries, horse-race betting, casinos, bingo halls and slot machines, sports betting, and the organisation of games of chance in general. Article 10 sets minimum and maximum rates, and under the law’s Fifth Final Provision the applicable rates are to be fixed in the annual budget law. Tax periods are monthly (Article 12).
| Activity | Rate range under Article 10 |
|---|---|
| Lotteries | 10% to 15% of gross income |
| Horse-race betting | 10% to 15% |
| Casinos | 120 to 320 tax units (U.T.) per gaming table |
| Bingo halls | 12% to 20% |
| Slot machines | 40 to 200 U.T. per machine |
| Organisation of games of chance in general | 30% to 50% |
| Sports betting | 6% to 10% |
Amounts in the law are expressed in tax units, and the 2021 El Nacional column described the rates as outdated. The law does not expressly address internet gambling, although Article 16 refers to automated online systems.
Players
Prizes are taxed under income tax rules as fortuitous gains (ganancias fortuitas), collected by withholding when the prize is paid. According to the withholding table published by Moore Venezuela (in force from 2 June 2025, based on Decree No. 1.808), the rates are 16% for lottery and horse-racing prizes and 34% for winnings from other games and bets, applied to every payment. In 2007 SENIAT officials explained that lottery agencies registered with CONALOT withhold 16%, and that a 34% rate applies to games outside that category (Yogonet, 2007). We did not find guidance on how winnings from foreign websites, where no Venezuelan withholding agent exists, should be declared.
Consumer protection and responsible gambling
Venezuela has no national self-exclusion register that we could identify, and no statutory self-exclusion scheme for casinos or online platforms. The main protections are the age and entry restrictions in Article 30 of the 1997 law and the 2010 order (Providencia No. 058) requiring venues to display information about gambling addiction (ludopatía), maintain information stands and run prevention activities (Mundo Tributario).
The CNC runs an “observatory” section on gambling addiction, with a self-assessment test and links to support groups (CNC). It refers people to the national care centre of Fundaribas and to Gamblers Anonymous groups in Venezuela (Jugadores Anónimos). The CNC also lists a toll-free line, 0800-CNCDENU (0800-262-33-68), which, as its name suggests, is mainly a line for reporting irregularities. CONALOT has a responsible gambling section on its website. We did not find a dedicated, publicly funded gambling helpline. See also our responsible gambling guide.
Recent and upcoming developments
- Online authorisations (2025 to 2026). The CNC began publishing online casino and bingo authorisations with 2025 and 2026 codes. As of October 2026 its list showed 28 casinos and 3 bingos (CNC). No law, regulation or published order establishing an online licensing regime had been found, and the conditions for obtaining an authorisation, fees and player protection standards are not public.
- Land-based sector (2026). The reopened casino sector remains small. Bloomberg Línea reported in September 2026 that around 15 casinos were active and that poker tournaments had become a significant part of the business (Bloomberg Línea).
- Lottery enforcement (2026). CONALOT continued inspections of betting centres in Caracas and Carabobo in September and October 2026, focused on registration and IOBPAS licensing (CONALOT).
- Political context. In 2026 the CNC’s own news pages refer to Delcy Rodríguez as president and report a government restructuring plan (CNC). We found no change to gambling legislation, and no published gambling bill, at the time of review. Given the pace of institutional change, readers should recheck the status of the CNC’s online authorisations and any new legislation.
Casino listings for players in Venezuela
The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database. They do not show that an operator is authorised by Venezuela’s Comisión Nacional de Casinos, and Venezuelan law does not provide a clear statutory licensing regime for online casinos. Readers should check whether an operator appears on the CNC list of authorised online platforms, and should not read the listings as an indication that playing with any particular operator is lawful.
Vegas Casino Online
No Deposit Bonus
$ 20
Liberty Slots Casino
No Deposit Bonus
$ 18
Slots.lv
100% up to
$2,000
+ 20 Spins
Sloto'Cash Casino
100% up to
∞
Casino Extreme
200 Spins
Bovada Casino
100% up to
$1,000
Casino Brango
500% up to
$/€100
+ 500 Spins
Shazam Casino
Exclusive No Deposit Bonus
$ 50
Lucky Tiger Casino
No Deposit Bonus
$ 55
Red Stag Casino
25% up to
∞
Rich Palms Casino
250% up to
∞
Miami Club Casino
50 Spins
Highway Casino
$ 30
Lincoln Casino
No Deposit Bonus
$ 18
Yabby Casino
202% up to
∞
DuckyLuck Casino
500% up to
$/€2,500
+ 150 Spins
PlayCroco Casino
300% up to
∞
+ 60 Spins
Fair Go Casino
200% up to
∞
Uptown Aces
250% up to
∞
Las Vegas USA Casino
No Deposit Bonus
$ 20
Drake Casino
300% up to
$2,000
Sun Palace Casino
No Deposit Bonus
$ 20
Slots Plus
No Deposit Bonus
$ 20
Ignition Casino
200% up to
$100
.jpg?x83485){kind=logo}
Everygame Classic Casino
200% up to
∞
+ 50 Spins
Slots And Casino
500% up to
∞
+ 150 Spins
Slotsroom Casino
400% up to
∞
+ 20 Spins
Casino Max
400% up to
∞
+ 20 Spins
El Royale Casino
230% up to
∞
Black Lotus Casino
300% up to
$7,000
+ 45 Spins
Red Dog Casino
Slots Empire
230% up to
$7,500
Lucky Creek
50 Spins
Spinfinity Casino
400% up to
∞
+ 20 Spins
Jackpot Capital
25% up to
∞
Ripper Casino
25% up to
∞
Las Atlantis Casino
$ 2,500
Slotastic
250% up to
∞
Grand Eagle
200% up to
$5,500
+ 30 Spins
Cherry Jackpot
400% up to
∞
+ 20 Spins
Grande Vegas
150% up to
$300
LadyLuck Casino
100 Spins
Roaring 21 Casino
400% up to
∞
+ 20 Spins
Ozwin Casino
$ 10
Treasure Mile
200% up to
$/€4,000
+ 50 Spins
TropicanaCasino
Borgata Online Casino
BetOnline Casino
100 Spins
Grand Rush
200% up to
$4,000
+ 40 Spins
Jazz Casino
10% up to
$250
BetMGM Casino NJ
100% up to
$1,000
Sources and further reading
- Republic of Venezuela, Ley para el Control de los Casinos, Salas de Bingo y Máquinas Traganíqueles, Gaceta Oficial No. 36.254 (1997; copy hosted by Justia).
- Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (text via Pandectas Digital), Ley de Impuesto a las Actividades de Juegos de Envite o Azar, Gaceta Oficial No. 38.698 (2007).
- Comisión Nacional de Lotería, Ley de Impuestos a las Actividades de Juegos de Envite o Azar (legal library entry) (accessed 6 October 2026).
- Comisión Nacional de Lotería, Ley Nacional de Lotería, Gaceta Oficial No. 38.480 (legal library entry) (accessed 6 October 2026).
- Comisión Nacional de Lotería, Comisión Nacional de Lotería conmemora 21 años de trayectoria (2026).
- Comisión Nacional de Lotería, CONALOT despliega operativo de fiscalización en Caracas y supervisa 34 centros de apuestas (2026).
- Comisión Nacional de Casinos, ¿Qué es la CNC? (accessed 6 October 2026).
- Comisión Nacional de Casinos, Casinos y Bingos Online con Autorizaciones (accessed 6 October 2026).
- Comisión Nacional de Casinos, Ludopatía (accessed 6 October 2026).
- Comisión Nacional de Casinos, Decreto N° 7.710 de fecha 5-10-2010 (accessed 6 October 2026).
- Comisión Nacional de Casinos, Providencias (accessed 6 October 2026).
- Comisión Nacional de Casinos, Noticias (accessed 6 October 2026).
- Mundo Tributario Venezuela, G.O. Nros 39.448 y 39.449 publican normativa en materia de bingos y casinos (2010).
- Moore Venezuela, Tabla de retenciones I.S.L.R., vigencia 02/06/2025 (2025).
- Carmona, J. C. (El Nacional), Apostándole al azar: reapertura de bingos y casinos (2021).
- Confirmado, A una década de la clausura ordenada por Chávez, comienzan a reabrir casinos en Venezuela (2021).
- CalvinAyre, Venezuela okays casino that will run on petro cryptocurrency (2020).
- Yogonet, El Gobierno de Venezuela accedió al regreso de sus casinos y habilita 30 licencias de juego (2021).
- Yogonet, El Gobierno de Venezuela decretó la interconexión como sistema de control de máquinas de casinos (2021).
- Yogonet, El Seniat informó los alcances de Ley de Juegos de Envite o Azar a loterías en Venezuela (2007).
- Focus Gaming News, La Comisión Nacional de Casinos de Venezuela publica una lista oficial de plataformas de juego autorizadas (2026).
- Últimas Noticias, El registro oficial de casinos online en Venezuela no incluye a los operadores internacionales (2026).
- Bloomberg Línea, El póquer mueve hasta US$100.000 al mes en Venezuela (2026).
- Altenar, Overview of Gambling Laws and Betting Regulations in Venezuela (2025).
- SOFTSWISS, Venezuela Gambling Laws and Licensing Overview (accessed 6 October 2026).
