Gambling in Western Sahara: Law, Status and Online Play

Published by Casino News Daily editorial teamReviewed byFilip RadulovicOur editorial approach

Western Sahara is a territory whose international status is disputed. The United Nations has listed it as a Non-Self-Governing Territory since 1963 (UN Special Committee on Decolonization, 2026). Morocco administers the larger part of the territory, west of the berm, and regards it as part of its national territory. The Frente POLISARIO, which proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), is present in the areas east of the berm, the sand wall that separates the two sides’ forces (MINURSO). There is no gambling legislation specific to Western Sahara. In practice, the rules that matter are those of Moroccan law: a general criminal prohibition of unauthorised gaming houses and lotteries, with exceptions for state-controlled operators. This guide sets out that framework and states plainly where information about the territory itself could not be verified. It takes no position on the question of sovereignty.

Key points

No gambling law has been enacted specifically for Western Sahara. In the areas it administers, Morocco applies its national framework, whose starting point is the criminal prohibition of unauthorised gaming houses and lotteries in its Penal Code.
Lawful gambling under Moroccan law runs through state-controlled bodies: La Marocaine des Jeux et des Sports (MDJS) for sports betting, the national lottery, and the Société Royale d’Encouragement du Cheval (SOREC) for horse-race betting. Morocco also has a small number of land-based casinos; we found none in the territory.
Morocco has no licensing route for private online casinos or private online bookmakers. Online casino games are not permitted.
A Moroccan court ordered the blocking of 19 offshore betting sites in January 2026, but the order was stayed and then annulled on appeal in February 2026.
We found no gambling legislation adopted by the SADR. Its 2015 Constitution does not mention gambling.

Last reviewed: 14 October 2026.

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Historical development

Spain administered Western Sahara as a colony until 1976. Morocco and Mauritania both claimed the territory, and the Frente POLISARIO opposed those claims. After Mauritania withdrew, Morocco took over the part it had held. According to the UN mission’s own account, Morocco and the Frente POLISARIO accepted a UN settlement plan in August 1988, and in April 1991 the Security Council established the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to organise a referendum. The referendum has never been held. Since MINURSO deployed in September 1991, the ceasefire generally held until November 2020, when the Frente POLISARIO declared that it was resuming armed struggle (MINURSO, Background).

We found no sources describing a distinct gambling history in the territory, and no gambling legislation of the colonial period that remains in force. The relevant history is that of Moroccan law. Morocco’s Penal Code was approved by Dahir No. 1-59-413 of 26 November 1962 and took effect on 17 June 1963 (WIPO Lex). The same year, 1962, saw the creation of the body that became MDJS (MDJS). Law No. 23-71, published in 1972, created the national lottery (Law No. 23-71). SOREC, which manages horse-race betting, was founded in 2003 (SOREC).

Legal framework

Checking gambling legislation and licensing

Status of the territory and applicable law

The question of which legal order applies in Western Sahara is part of the wider dispute. Morocco regards the territory as part of its national territory and administers it as such. The Frente POLISARIO claims the territory for the SADR and seeks a referendum that includes independence as an option (Security Council Report). At a UN Special Committee on Decolonization debate in 2026, speakers divided between those positions (UN press release GA/COL/3399). For a reader concerned with gambling, the practical consequence is that the rules in force in the towns and cities west of the berm, including Laayoune and Dakhla, are those of Moroccan law. We found no gambling rules issued by any other authority for those areas.

Moroccan Penal Code

Moroccan law starts from prohibition. Articles 282 to 285 of the Penal Code make it an offence to keep an unauthorised gaming house or to run an unauthorised lottery; trade press summarises these provisions in that way (iGaming Business, September 2026). The Penal Code also provides for an authorisation: Article 8 of Law No. 23-71 states that the licence “provided for in Article 283 of the Penal Code” for lotteries is granted by decision of the Secretary General of the Government. Such licences are limited to legally recognised institutions and associations, for charitable, cultural, scientific or sporting purposes, and each covers a single draw (Law No. 23-71). We were not able to retrieve the full official text of Articles 282 and 283, so we do not quote their wording or penalties. Readers who need the exact text should consult the Penal Code on Morocco’s official legal portals.

Statutory exceptions

Lawful gambling therefore rests on a set of specific texts and state arrangements:

National lottery. Law No. 23-71 created the national lottery, provided that prizes must total 60% of each issue, and exempted lottery prizes from all taxes. Proceeds from state ticket sales are shared between a special Treasury account (75%) and the National Sports Development Fund (25%), according to the amended Article 3 (Law No. 23-71).
Sports betting. MDJS holds a monopoly on organising and operating betting on sports competitions, including virtual competitions, across Morocco; horse and greyhound racing are excluded (MDJS). According to Médias24, the monopoly rests on legislation dating from 1966, reinforced in 1970, and a 2016 convention with the state extended the exclusivity to 2036 and explicitly covers online betting (Médias24, December 2025).
Horse-race betting. SOREC manages betting on horse racing under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture (SOREC).
Casinos. We could not locate a published casino statute or a public register of casino authorisations. In May 2022 Médias24 counted seven casinos in Morocco, two in Marrakech, three in Agadir, one in El Jadida (Mazagan) and one in Tangier (Médias24). We found no evidence of a casino in Western Sahara.

Position of the SADR

The SADR has a constitution adopted by the 14th Congress of the Frente POLISARIO in December 2015. Article 2 declares Islam “the State religion and a main source of law”, and Article 1 defines the national territory as Saguia el Hamra and Río de Oro within their internationally recognised borders (SADR Constitution, 2015). The constitution does not mention gambling, lotteries or games of chance, and we found no SADR legislation on gambling. Any position on gambling in SADR-controlled areas or in the refugee camps administered by the SADR cannot be stated on the basis of published sources.

Regulator and licensing model

There is no independent gambling regulator for Western Sahara, and none for Morocco either. The Moroccan model is a set of state monopolies: each lawful channel is reserved to a state-controlled body rather than opened to licensed private competitors. MDJS is a public limited company with share capital of MAD 5 million, 90% owned by the Treasury and 10% by the Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion, and its board is chaired by the minister responsible for education and sport (MDJS, Governance). It pays all its results to the National Sports Development Fund (MDJS, Mission). Its commercial operation is run under a tendered management contract, not a licence (iGaming Business).

Oversight is therefore exercised through ministries and the state’s ownership of the operators, rather than through a licensing authority that issues and revokes licences. The Secretary General of the Government grants one-off lottery licences under Law No. 23-71. No register of licensed gambling operators is published.

We found no information on whether MDJS or the national lottery has retail outlets in Laayoune, Dakhla or other towns in the territory. MDJS describes its monopoly as covering the whole of Morocco’s national territory (MDJS), and Morocco treats the areas it administers in Western Sahara as part of that territory.

Online gambling

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Moroccan law does not provide any licence for private online gambling. The only lawful online product is sports betting offered by MDJS under its monopoly. A prospectus issued by a casino group operating in Morocco, quoted by trade press in September 2026, states that “online gaming only exists for betting, which is operated by a state agency” and that online casino games “are not allowed” (iGaming Business). Hespress reported in August 2026 that no private sports betting or online casino operator holds a Moroccan licence (Hespress).

Offshore sites are nonetheless widely used. MDJS’s director general told a parliamentary forum in December 2025 that illegal sports betting stakes reached about MAD 3.5 billion in 2024 (iGaming Business). Médias24 estimated the resulting losses at nearly MAD 500 million for the National Sports Development Fund and about MAD 200 million in tax revenue (Médias24). A 2024 report by the Royal Institute for Strategic Studies (IRES), as reported by Hespress, found that offshore platforms attracted about ten times more visitors than legal operators (Hespress English, October 2024). These figures are for Morocco as a whole; none is broken down for Western Sahara.

Blocking

Morocco has no statutory blocklist of gambling sites. In 2025 MDJS sought one through the courts. On 12 January 2026 the Casablanca Commercial Court, sitting in summary proceedings, ordered the three main internet access providers to block 19 betting sites and local payment intermediaries, with a penalty of MAD 10,000 for each day of non-compliance. The Commercial Court of Appeal stayed the order on 26 January 2026 (iGaming Business), and on 10 February 2026 it annulled it (Médias24). According to Médias24’s reading of the judgment, the court’s central reasoning was that an internet provider cannot be compelled to block sites whose content and legality it does not control (Médias24, 23 February 2026). Trade press reported in September 2026 that MDJS could still challenge the ruling (iGaming Business). We found no further ruling up to the date of review.

Payments and advertising

Enforcement has also targeted money flows. In June 2025 Morocco’s foreign-exchange regulator, the Office des changes, reported non-compliant transfers of more than MAD 7.2 million made on behalf of an offshore betting operator (Médias24). MDJS has also filed complaints against influencers and local intermediaries who promote offshore betting (Médias24). On broadcast advertising, Law No. 83-13 on audiovisual communication, adopted in 2014, bars gambling advertising on public and private radio and television, and the audiovisual regulator HACA is described as the competent authority (Médias24, 2018).

Position of players

The position of players in Western Sahara is the position of players under Moroccan law, as far as the areas administered by Morocco are concerned. Moroccan law does not license online casinos, so no online casino is lawfully available to residents. We found no provision, and no reported prosecution, that makes it an offence for an individual simply to place bets or play casino games on an offshore website. Enforcement so far has targeted operators, promoters, intermediaries and payment channels.

Land-based illegal gambling is a different matter. In 2021 a Marrakech court convicted 26 people in a case concerning a villa used as a clandestine casino. The defendants included managers, employees and customers; the charges included setting up premises for games of chance without authorisation, and sentences ranged from suspended terms to four months’ imprisonment and fines (Le360, April 2021). The report does not show which sentences were imposed on the customers. We found no comparable case from Western Sahara.

Players should also note that tax rules now reach winnings from offshore sites (see below), and that disputes with unlicensed operators over withdrawals or account closures fall outside the reach of Moroccan authorities (Hespress). For areas east of the berm, no gambling rules could be identified.

Taxation

No tax rule specific to gambling in Western Sahara was found. Moroccan gambling taxation applies in the areas Morocco administers. Under Article 5 of Law No. 23-71, national lottery prizes are exempt from all taxes (Law No. 23-71); we could not confirm whether that exemption was affected by the 2025 reforms. Morocco’s minister delegate for the budget has said that domestic gambling companies pay about MAD 2.5 billion in taxes a year, according to Hespress (Hespress).

The 2025 Finance Law changed the treatment of players. According to Hespress’s summary of the tax administration’s note on that law, winnings from foreign-source games of chance obtained online are subject to a final withholding tax of 30%, applied by credit institutions or any other person who pays or takes part in paying such winnings; Moroccan-source winnings are instead subject to a 2% social solidarity contribution paid by the gambling operators (Hespress, December 2024). The tax administration (DGI) began applying the withholding in July 2025, according to sources cited by Hespress (Hespress, July 2025). We did not read the Finance Law or the DGI’s note directly, so these points are stated as reported. We found nothing indicating a gambling-specific tax concession for the territory.

Gambling businesses are also subject to anti-money laundering rules. Law No. 43-05 on combating money laundering, amended notably by Law No. 12-18, set up the Autorité Nationale du Renseignement Financier (ANRF), Morocco’s financial intelligence unit, which replaced the earlier Unité de Traitement du Renseignement Financier (UTRF) (Ministry of Economy and Finance). In February 2023 the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) removed Morocco from its list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring, often called the grey list, after it completed its action plan (FATF).

Consumer protection and responsible gambling

Consumer protection is limited and depends largely on the state operators’ own policies. We found no national self-exclusion register, no statutory deposit limits and no national gambling helpline in Morocco, and none specific to Western Sahara. The available measures are:

Age limit. MDJS sets a minimum participation age of 18, with warnings on its communication and on tickets (MDJS, Responsible gaming).
Operator certification. MDJS holds the World Lottery Association’s level 4 responsible gaming certification, obtained in 2013 and renewed in 2016 and 2021, and a European Lotteries certificate (MDJS).
Support services. MDJS states that it supports medical structures that help people in difficulty with gambling, without naming a helpline (MDJS). A 2024 IRES report, as reported by Hespress, estimated that about 3.3 million Moroccans gambled in 2021 and that 40% of them were high-risk gamblers, and criticised Morocco’s 2018–2022 national addiction strategy for not addressing gambling adequately (Hespress English).

Players using offshore sites have none of these protections. General guidance on setting limits and recognising harm is available in our responsible gambling guide.

Recent and upcoming developments

UN Security Council resolution 2797 (31 October 2025). The Council renewed MINURSO’s mandate until 31 October 2026 by 11 votes to none, with China, Pakistan and the Russian Federation abstaining; Algeria did not participate (UN Digital Library). The resolution calls for negotiations “taking as basis Morocco’s Autonomy Proposal” towards a mutually acceptable political solution that “provides for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara” (UN press release SC/16208). Morocco regards its autonomy plan as the basis for a settlement, while the Frente POLISARIO maintains that any solution must be approved in a referendum that includes independence as an option (Security Council Report). Algeria said the text did not adequately reflect UN decolonisation principles (UN press release).
Mandate renewal pending. MINURSO’s mandate expires on 31 October 2026, and the Security Council is due to vote on its renewal before that date. No renewal vote had taken place at the date of review.
Special Committee on Decolonization (2026). The Committee’s 2026 session again debated Western Sahara, with speakers divided between support for a self-determination referendum and support for Morocco’s autonomy proposal (UN press release GA/COL/3399).
Blocking litigation (2025–2026). The January 2026 blocking order was annulled on appeal in February 2026; trade press reported in September 2026 that MDJS could still challenge the ruling (iGaming Business).
Taxation of offshore winnings (2025). The 30% withholding on winnings from foreign platforms has been applied since July 2025, according to Hespress (Hespress).
No licensing reform. As of August 2026 no reform introducing private online licences had been adopted, and its timing was uncertain (Hespress).

Any change in the territory’s status could in principle affect which legal order governs gambling there. None of the diplomatic developments described above has changed the gambling rules applied on the ground.

Casino listings for players in Western Sahara

The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database. They do not show that an operator is licensed or authorised in Western Sahara or in Morocco. There is no regulator’s register to check: Moroccan law, which is applied in the areas Morocco administers, provides no licence for private online casinos, and online casino games are not permitted. The listings must not be read as an indication that playing is lawful.

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Key points

Top Rated Online Casinos for Western Sahara

Historical development

Legal framework

Status of the territory and applicable law

Moroccan Penal Code

Statutory exceptions

Position of the SADR

Regulator and licensing model

Online gambling

Blocking

Payments and advertising

Position of players

Taxation

Consumer protection and responsible gambling

Recent and upcoming developments

Casino listings for players in Western Sahara

Related country guides

Sources and further reading

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