Gambling in Wallis and Futuna: Laws and Online Casinos

Published by Casino News Daily editorial teamReviewed byFilip RadulovicOur editorial approach

Wallis and Futuna is a French overseas collectivity in the South Pacific, with 11,150 inhabitants at the 2023 census. It has no casino, no locally licensed online gambling operator and no published gambling regulator of its own. Its legal position is shaped by a rule that sets it apart from mainland France: under its 1961 statute and Article 74 of the French Constitution, national laws apply in the territory only when they say so expressly. This is known as the principle of legislative specialty. Whether, and how far, the French gambling framework reaches the islands therefore depends on the wording of each text. The territory’s own institutions, its three customary chiefdoms and the State’s representative also play a part in deciding what is permitted locally. This guide explains what can be established from official and parliamentary sources, and identifies the points that remain unclear.

Key points

Wallis and Futuna is governed by Law No. 61-814 of 29 July 1961 and is an overseas collectivity under Article 74 of the Constitution; French laws apply there only where they are expressly extended.
The Code de la sécurité intérieure (Internal Security Code), which contains France’s general gambling rules, has a dedicated chapter for Wallis and Futuna (Articles L. 346-1 and L. 346-2) that lists the provisions applicable there.
No legislative text was found authorising FDJ, which holds the statutory lottery monopoly in France, or the horse-race betting operator PMU to operate in the territory, unlike French Polynesia (1989) and New Caledonia (2010).
No operator is licensed to offer online casino games to residents, and online casino games are not licensable in mainland France either.
No provision or recorded case penalising individual players was found; the territory levies no personal income tax.

Last reviewed: 13 October 2026.

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Historical development

Wallis and Futuna consists of three main islands: Wallis (Uvea), and Futuna and Alofi further south-west. Before French administration the islands were organised into customary kingdoms, and these structures survive. In 1959 the three customary kings asked for a change of status, and Parliament responded with the statutory law of 29 July 1961. Michel Jeanjean, a former State representative in the territory, described this law in a 2026 lecture for the Académie des sciences d’outre-mer as a statute “still applied today without major modification”.

The 1961 law made the islands an overseas territory, with a State-appointed senior administrator, an elected Territorial Assembly and a recognised place for customary authority. Jeanjean notes that the kings had asked that French laws should apply only once approved locally. As the Senate’s Law Committee noted in its 2013 budget opinion on the overseas collectivities, Wallis and Futuna is now “a collectivité d’outre-mer within the meaning of Article 74 of the Constitution”, still governed by Law No. 61-814.

Gambling has never been a significant economic activity in the territory. Its economy is small and dominated by the public sector, and the same Senate opinion said the non-market sector alone accounted for 75% of total value added. The few public records on gambling concern two questions: whether casinos could operate on cruise ships registered in Wallis and Futuna (discussed in Parliament between 2013 and 2016), and the local legalisation of bingo, reported in 2015. Both are discussed below.

Legal framework

Checking gambling legislation and licensing

Legislative specialty

In mainland France, a new law applies automatically unless it says otherwise. In collectivities governed by Article 74 of the Constitution the opposite rule applies: a national law takes effect only if it contains an express provision extending it, or if it falls within a small group of sovereign subjects that apply everywhere. In practice, French codes contain overseas chapters that list, article by article, which provisions apply in each collectivity, often fixing the version applicable “in its wording on the date of entry into force” of a named law. A 2016 Senate committee amendment, for example, used this formula to update Article L. 346-1 of the Internal Security Code, which opens: “Sont applicables à Wallis-et-Futuna, dans leur rédaction à la date d’entrée en vigueur de la loi…” (“The following are applicable in Wallis and Futuna, in their wording on the date of entry into force of the law…”).

The national gambling rules

French gambling law starts from a general prohibition, which dates back to the Lottery Prohibition Act of 21 May 1836, with exceptions for casinos, lotteries, horse-race betting and, since 2010, certain forms of online gambling. In 2012 the 1836 law, the 1907 casino law and the 1983 law on gaming were codified “without change of substance” in Book III, Title II of the Code de la sécurité intérieure (CSI), as the law firm Squire Patton Boggs explained at the time. The Ordinance of 2 October 2019 (No. 2019-1015) reformed the system and created the Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ).

The CSI’s overseas title contains a separate chapter for Wallis and Futuna, made up of Articles L. 346-1 and L. 346-2, as shown in the consolidated text of the Code. These articles determine which provisions of Book III, the book that also contains the gambling title, apply in the territory and with what adaptations. The current wording of these articles could not be retrieved from the official Légifrance portal for this review, so this guide does not state which gambling provisions they list. Readers who need a definitive answer should consult the current version of Article L. 346-1 on Légifrance.

When the government asked Parliament to ratify the 2019 ordinance, its explanatory memorandum stated that the ordinance’s provisions “have been made applicable in the overseas collectivities, in compliance with the competences of the State and the specificities and legislative regime that distinguish each of these collectivities”. It did not specify how this was done for each territory.

The 2010 online gambling law

Law No. 2010-476 of 12 May 2010 opened online sports betting, horse-race betting and poker to licensed competition. The authoritative interpretation for a comparable territory comes from the Conseil d’État. In an advisory opinion of 20 May 2025 (No. 409474), requested by the President of French Polynesia, the Conseil d’État noted that the provisions of the 2010 law had not been the subject of an express provision of application to that territory. The opinion did not concern Wallis and Futuna. No express extension of the 2010 law to Wallis and Futuna was found in the sources reviewed for this guide, but this could not be confirmed against the consolidated text of the law, and should be treated as unverified.

Local institutions and customary authority

Three sets of institutions matter in the territory:

The State, represented by the prefect who acts as senior administrator (administrateur supérieur) and head of the territory. According to Jeanjean, the prefect makes the Territorial Assembly’s deliberations enforceable and publishes them.
The Territorial Assembly, the territory’s deliberative body, which votes the budget and sets the rates of the local consumption tax. It has 20 members elected for five years, according to the Senate Law Committee’s 2017 budget opinion, the prefecture’s presentation of the Assembly (six seats for Mua, four for Hahake, three for Hihifo, four for Alo and three for Sigave) and Jeanjean. The 2013 Senate opinion gave a figure of 21.
The three customary chiefdoms: Uvea (Wallis), headed by the Lavelua, and Alo and Sigave on Futuna, headed by the Tuiagaifo and the Tamolevai. The chiefs are chosen by aristocratic families, not by heredity. Jeanjean records that their authority rests on control of land, an in-kind customary levy and a customary police that is “little visible, without uniform, but real”.

No published instrument was found giving the customary chiefdoms a formal role in licensing or prohibiting gambling. Their influence over social life, however, means that local practice cannot be understood from written law alone.

Regulator and licensing model

There is no gambling regulator based in Wallis and Futuna, and no register of locally licensed gambling operators was found. The ANJ’s published remit covers online and retail gambling and responsible gambling in casinos in France. Its 2022 presentation brochure does not mention the overseas collectivities, and a search of its website found no reference to Wallis and Futuna.

The model is therefore best described as one of limited, local authorisation within a general prohibition, rather than a licensing market. Three points support this:

No State monopoly operator. In mainland France, FDJ holds the monopoly on lotteries and retail sports betting, and PMU on retail horse-race betting. Their presence overseas has required express legislation. An amendment to the Supplementary Finance Law for 2010, adopted in December 2010, authorised FDJ to offer its games in New Caledonia under an agreement approved by the territory’s Congress. Its explanatory statement noted that a similar provision had been passed for French Polynesia in 1989, where FDJ has operated through a subsidiary since 1991. No equivalent provision for Wallis and Futuna was found.
No casino. No land-based casino operates in the territory, and no local authorisation for one was found.
Local games. On 22 October 2015 the public broadcaster’s local service, La 1ère, published a report headlined “Le bingo légalisé à Wallis et Futuna” (“Bingo legalised in Wallis and Futuna”). The text of the report and of the underlying territorial instrument could not be retrieved for this review, so its conditions (who may organise bingo, prize limits, any authorisation procedure) are not described here.

Casinos on ships registered in Wallis and Futuna

Wallis and Futuna has its own ship register for French-flag vessels. Whether casinos could open on board such ships was debated in Parliament. In written answers published on 18 February 2014 (Question No. 43901 and Question No. 45008), the Ministry of Transport, the Sea and Fisheries explained that Article L. 321-3 of the CSI allowed casinos on passenger ships registered in the French International Register, but not on ships on the Wallis and Futuna register. Extending the rule would require amending that article, after study with the Interior and Economy ministries and consultation of the advisory committee on gaming. The answer cited concerns about gambling addiction, fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing.

In 2015, during debate on the bill to modernise overseas law, a deputy for Wallis and Futuna tabled an amendment describing a provision of the bill intended “to authorise the opening of casinos on ships registered in Wallis and Futuna”; the amendment itself was withdrawn. The Blue Economy bill, enacted as Law No. 2016-816 of 20 June 2016, provided for “the widening of the authorisation of games of chance on board all French passenger ships”, according to a June 2016 summary in Le Monde du Droit. During the same bill, an amendment tabled by the rapporteur, Arnaud Leroy, in January 2016 proposed amending Article L. 321-3 so that ships on regular intra-EU passenger routes could operate casinos in territorial waters. Whether the final text expressly covers ships on the Wallis and Futuna register could not be confirmed from the sources reviewed. Shipboard casinos operate under national rules and do not create a gambling market in the territory itself.

Online gambling: what is permitted and how it is enforced

Online casino games on mobile devices

No operator holds any authorisation, territorial or national, to offer online casino games to people in Wallis and Futuna. Online casino games are not licensable in mainland France either. The Ministry of the Economy’s June 2026 guide, Comment sont contrôlés les jeux et paris en ligne ?, states that only horse-race betting, sports betting and poker may be offered online by ANJ-licensed operators, that draw and scratch games fall within FDJ’s monopoly, and that “online casino games are prohibited”.

The enforcement tools used in mainland France are blocking orders (court or administrative orders requiring internet providers to prevent access to unlicensed sites), fines and withdrawal of licences. No blocking order, enforcement action or public warning specific to Wallis and Futuna was found. Given the doubt over whether the 2010 law extends to the territory, it is unclear whether these tools are available there at all.

In practice, residents with internet access can reach websites based abroad, many of them licensed in other jurisdictions. Such licences have no legal effect in Wallis and Futuna. Players using them have no access to a local complaints body, and winnings, deposits and personal data are protected only by the rules of the foreign licensing jurisdiction, if any.

Position of players

The sources reviewed describe sanctions against operators and organisers of unauthorised gambling, not against players. The Ministry of the Economy’s 2026 guide warns that unauthorised offers expose players to “non-payment of winnings and theft of personal data”, but mentions no penalty for the player. No provision of territorial law, no court decision and no press report was found in which a resident of Wallis and Futuna was prosecuted or fined for gambling online.

That is not the same as lawful participation. The general prohibition of gambling is part of French law, local gambling is authorised only within narrow limits, and no operator is authorised to serve residents online. Readers should also bear in mind that customary authorities may regard gambling differently from written law, and that local social sanctions are not recorded in official sources.

Taxation

No gambling-specific tax in Wallis and Futuna was found. The territory’s tax system is unusual by French standards. According to the territorial chamber of commerce’s investment guide, “there is no income tax, corporate tax, capital gains tax, wealth tax or value-added tax”. Most territorial revenue comes from indirect levies, chiefly customs duties, worth about XPF 2.5 billion a year. Jeanjean adds that the Territorial Assembly also sets the rates of a local consumption tax.

Because there is no personal income tax, gambling winnings received by residents are not taxed as income locally. The local currency is the Pacific franc (CFP franc, ISO code XPF), issued by the Institut d’émission d’outre-mer (IEOM), which describes itself as the central bank of the Pacific franc. According to Jeanjean, it is pegged to the euro at 1,000 XPF = EUR 8.38.

Anti-money laundering

French anti-money-laundering (AML) law, set out in Title VI of Book V of the Monetary and Financial Code, applies in Wallis and Futuna through the code’s overseas book and through specific extension instruments. An order of 22 November 2010 applied implementing orders under that title in New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna, including one applicable only to Wallis and Futuna. In October 2019 the Council of Ministers examined a bill ratifying Ordinance No. 2019-741, which extended further provisions of the Monetary and Financial Code to the three Pacific collectivities (Council of Ministers report, 2 October 2019).

The IEOM, which has an agency in Mata’Utu, follows the situation of credit institutions and acts as an economic observatory for the Pacific collectivities. For gambling, the practical consequence is that payments between local bank accounts and foreign gambling sites pass through a small, closely supervised banking system subject to French customer due diligence rules. No AML guidance specific to gambling in the territory was found.

Consumer protection and responsible gambling

There is no gambling regulator, no locally licensed operator and therefore no local framework of operator duties such as age checks, deposit limits or player accounts. The main French protection tools exist, but it could not be confirmed that they cover the territory:

Voluntary gambling ban. France’s national self-exclusion scheme, the interdiction volontaire de jeux, is run by the ANJ. According to the ANJ’s brochure, registration is done online, lasts at least three years and bars access to casinos, gaming clubs, licensed online betting and poker sites, and FDJ and PMU games played through an account. It covers operators authorised under French law; whether it has any practical effect in Wallis and Futuna could not be confirmed.
Helpline. Joueurs Info Service runs France’s national gambling helpline on 09 74 75 13 13, with chat and information online. Its website lists support contacts for the overseas departments but none for the Pacific collectivities, and its phone number is a mainland number.

No gambling-specific support service based in the territory was identified. General guidance on managing gambling risk is available in our responsible gambling guide.

Recent and upcoming developments

Conseil d’État opinion on French Polynesia (May 2025). The opinion clarified the division of gambling powers between the State and an Article 74 collectivity: the State sets the general prohibition and the exceptions to it and designates holders of exclusive rights, while French Polynesia remains competent for rules on how casinos operate, such as the games offered. Its reasoning is relevant to Wallis and Futuna by analogy, but it did not address the territory directly.
Statutory stability (2026). In his March 2026 lecture, Jeanjean described the territory’s “statutory immobility”, which he attributed to opposition from the customary chiefdoms. No reform of the 1961 statute and no gambling legislation for the territory was found in 2023–2026.
Population. According to Jeanjean, the 2023 census recorded 11,150 inhabitants (8,088 on Wallis and 3,063 on Futuna), after some 25 years of steady decline, although he notes possible recent returns to the territory.

Casino listings for players in Wallis and Futuna

The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database. They do not show that any operator is licensed or authorised in Wallis and Futuna. No operator is authorised to offer online casino games to residents of the territory, no local licensing register exists, and online casino games are not licensable under French law. The listings must not be read as an indication that playing is lawful.

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Key points

Top Rated Online Casinos for Wallis and Futuna

Historical development

Legal framework

Legislative specialty

The national gambling rules

The 2010 online gambling law

Local institutions and customary authority

Regulator and licensing model

Casinos on ships registered in Wallis and Futuna

Online gambling: what is permitted and how it is enforced

Position of players

Taxation

Anti-money laundering

Consumer protection and responsible gambling

Recent and upcoming developments

Casino listings for players in Wallis and Futuna

Related country guides

Sources and further reading

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