Legal casino gambling age in ZambiaZambia regulates gambling through several separate statutes, most older than independence in 1964. Betting is licensed by the Betting Control and Licensing Board under the Betting Control Act of 1957, lotteries fall under laws of 1957 and 1970, and casinos are licensed by the Ministry responsible for tourism. None of these laws was written for the internet. Since 2025 Parliament has addressed online betting mainly through tax law: first a 10% excise duty on stakes, challenged in the Constitutional Court and reportedly suspended in 2026, then a 5% betting levy on deposits and withdrawals from 1 January 2026. In June 2025 Cabinet approved in principle a bill to replace the older laws; as of 6 October 2026 we found no published text.
Key points
- The Betting Control Act, 1957 (Chapter 166) establishes the Betting Control and Licensing Board, bans unlicensed bookmaking and forbids betting with anyone under 18.
- Casinos are licensed by the Ministry responsible for tourism under casino provisions kept alive by the Tourism and Hospitality Act, 2015.
- No statute creates a licence for online casino games. Online betting operates under bookmakers’ licences issued under the 1957 Act, and since 2026 it has had its own tax regime.
- The Betting Levy Act, 2025 (Act No. 27 of 2025) imposes a 5% levy on deposits to and withdrawals from customers’ gaming accounts from 1 January 2026. Land-based betting companies are exempt.
- Winnings from gaming, lotteries and betting are subject to a 15% withholding tax, with winnings at land-based (“brick and mortar”) casinos excluded, according to a 2026 law-firm guide.
- In June 2025 Cabinet approved in principle a bill to repeal and replace the betting, lotteries and gaming laws. Its parliamentary status could not be confirmed.
Last reviewed: 6 October 2026.
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Historical development
The Lotteries Act (Act No. 8 of 1957) and the Betting Control Act (Act No. 27 of 1957) date from the colonial period, when the territory was Northern Rhodesia; the Betting Control Act came into force on 17 January 1958. The consolidated text of the Betting Control Act lists fourteen amending Acts between 1963 and 2021.
In 1970 the State Lotteries Act (Chapter 328) created a State Lotteries Board with authority “to promote and to conduct lotteries” and pools for the state. Casinos were legalised by the Casino Act, 1992 (Chapter 157), which commenced on 1 April 1992. Casino licensing was later brought into tourism legislation, first in the Tourism and Hospitality Act, 2007 and then, by a savings clause, under the Tourism and Hospitality Act, 2015.
The result is a framework that the government itself has described as fragmented. In a speech delivered on his behalf in November 2022, the Minister of Tourism, Rodney Sikumba, said that the sector was “regulated by six fragmented pieces of legislation and administered by different ministries”, which made monitoring “extremely difficult” (Lusaka Times, 17 November 2022).
Legal framework
All gambling legislation in Zambia is national. Penalties are expressed in “penalty units” and fees in “fee units”, whose kwacha values are set under the Fees and Fines Act.
Betting Control Act, 1957 (Chapter 166)
The Betting Control Act is the main law governing sports and other betting. Its key provisions are:
- Section 2 defines a “bookmaker” as “any person who by way of business bets with members of the public and includes any person operating a football pool”. The Act does not mention remote or electronic betting.
- Section 3 establishes “the Betting Control and Licensing Board”.
- Section 5 provides that “no person shall carry on the business of a bookmaker otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of a licence issued to him under this Act”. A first offence carries a fine of up to 100 penalty units and a subsequent offence up to 5,000 penalty units.
- Section 15 prohibits touting (personally soliciting custom for a bookmaker) outside licensed premises or race meetings.
- Section 22 prohibits a bookmaker or its agents from betting with any person under 18 or allowing such a person on licensed premises.
The Betting Control (Amendment) Act, 2021 (Act No. 50 of 2021) revised licence fees and the validity period of licences, according to the National Assembly’s record of the bill. Under section 14 as amended, a bookmaker pays 500,000 fee units on first issue of a licence and 250,000 fee units on each renewal, with lower fees for small business enterprises.
Lotteries Act, 1957 (Chapter 163) and State Lotteries Act, 1970 (Chapter 328)
Under section 3 of the Lotteries Act, “any lottery promoted or conducted otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of this Act shall be deemed to be an unauthorised lottery”. Promoting one is punishable by a fine of up to 2,500 penalty units or two years’ imprisonment, and publishing advertisements for one by a fine of up to 1,500 penalty units. Lotteries may be authorised mainly for social welfare, public relief or recreational purposes. The “controlling authority” is a Lotteries Control Board, or the police for small lotteries.
Casino legislation
The Casino Act, 1992 allows the Minister to grant casino licences and temporary casino licences of up to 30 days. A licensee must “carry on and maintain, on the licensed premises a hotel of such size and standard as may be specified in the casino licence”. The Act made it an offence to play any game with, or permit gaming by, a “young person”, defined as anyone under 18, and charged a quarterly fee of 20% of gross revenue.
The current legal basis for casino licensing is unclear. The Tourism and Hospitality Act, 2015 (Act No. 13 of 2015) repealed the Tourism and Hospitality Act, 2007, but provides that “Part VI of that Act relating to licensing of casinos shall continue in force and be administered and implemented by the Ministry until such a time as Parliament enacts a law dealing with casinos”. A 2019 presentation by the Ministry of Tourism and Arts confirmed that the Ministry still applied the casino sections of the 2007 Act. Some secondary sources still treat the 1992 Act as the governing law. We could not confirm from a primary source whether it was repealed in 2007.
Other relevant laws
The CMS expert guide (August 2023) also lists the Pools Act (Chapter 165) and the Gaming Machines (Prohibition) Act (Chapter 92) as part of the framework.
Regulator and licensing model
Zambia follows a licensing model. Private operators may offer betting and run casinos if licensed, and there is no general state monopoly, although state lotteries are reserved to the State Lotteries Board. Responsibility is divided:
| Activity | Statute | Licensing authority |
|---|---|---|
| Betting (land-based and online) | Betting Control Act, 1957 | Betting Control and Licensing Board |
| Casinos | Part VI of the Tourism and Hospitality Act, 2007, kept in force by the 2015 Act; Casino Act, 1992 | Ministry responsible for tourism |
| Lotteries | Lotteries Act, 1957; State Lotteries Act, 1970 | Lotteries Control Board or police (private lotteries); State Lotteries Board (state lotteries) |
The Betting Control and Licensing Board. Under section 3 of the Act the Board consists of a chairperson nominated by the Minister, the Inspector-General of Police or a police representative of at least the rank of superintendent, and up to five other members appointed by the Minister. It examines applications, imposes conditions, may suspend or cancel licences, and deals with bookmakers who fail to pay betting debts. Licences last one year. The Board does not publish a register of licensed bookmakers on a website that we were able to locate.
Casino licensing. According to the 2019 Ministry of Tourism and Arts presentation, casinos were licensed by the Tourism Enterprises Authorisation and Licensing Committee, whose eleven part-time members are appointed by the Minister, with the Department of Tourism acting as secretariat. The same committee also acted as the anti-money-laundering supervisor for casinos. The Ministry recorded 24 licensed casinos at that time, with licence fees, including charges for tables and machines, of under K100,000 in total. It described the framework as “out of date”, noting weak anti-money-laundering rules, no regulation of online gaming and no responsible gambling provisions, and proposed higher fees, minimum capital and central monitoring of gaming machines. We found no evidence that these proposals had been enacted by October 2026.
Online gambling: what is permitted and how it is enforced
No Zambian statute expressly permits or prohibits online gambling. The CMS guide states that “online gambling is not a regulated activity”, but the state now taxes online betting by locally licensed companies. The Betting Levy Act, 2025 defines a “betting company” as “a person licensed under the Betting Control Act or any other written law to provide betting services”. It exempts “brick and mortar betting companies”. According to Chambers and Partners’ Corporate Tax 2026 guide for Zambia (Mulenga Mundashi Legal Practitioners, March 2026), the levy applies to “all online betting and gaming activities”.
- Online sports betting is offered under bookmakers’ licences issued by the Betting Control and Licensing Board. Unlicensed bookmaking is an offence under section 5.
- Online casino games have no dedicated licence. Casino licences are tied to physical premises, and the 1992 Act links them to a hotel. Online betting companies have nevertheless offered casino-style games in Zambia: in October 2025 one large operator was reported to have “paused casino services” in response to the excise duty (Focus Gaming News), and the tax legislation now refers to online “gaming” as well as betting. We found no regulatory statement setting out the licensing basis for such games.
Offshore operators and enforcement
We found no published blocklist, no website-blocking programme and no rule on payment blocking aimed at offshore gambling sites in Zambia. The main tools used since 2025 have been fiscal. In September 2026 the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) included the “Presumptive Tax on Gaming and Betting and Betting Levy” in a voluntary disclosure scheme running from 17 September to 31 December 2026, which waives penalties and interest for operators that pay outstanding principal tax (Focus Gaming News, 22 September 2026). How far Zambian law reaches an offshore operator that has no presence in the country has not, as far as we could find, been tested in court.
Advertising
Zambia has no gambling-specific advertising code in the statutes we reviewed. The Betting Control Act prohibits touting outside licensed premises, and the Lotteries Act makes it an offence to publish advertisements for an unauthorised lottery. We found no published licence conditions or broadcasting guidance on gambling advertisements. In October 2025 the Zambian Premier League ended its sponsorship agreement with one large betting operator after the operator suspended its services in response to the excise duty (Focus Gaming News).
Position of players
The offences in the Betting Control Act are aimed at bookmakers, their agents and touts. Our review of the Act found no provision making it an offence for an adult to place a bet, including with an unlicensed bookmaker, and section 20 treats betting debts as civil matters that can be enforced. The Lotteries Act likewise targets promoters and advertisers of unauthorised lotteries. Section 27 of the Betting Control Act disapplies the Penal Code provisions on “common betting houses” to activity carried on under the Act. We did not review the Penal Code’s gaming provisions in detail, and we found no reported prosecution of a player for betting or gaming online.
The minimum age is 18 under both the Betting Control Act (section 22) and the Casino Act.
Players who use unlicensed operators have no access to the Board’s procedures on unpaid betting debts. Players with licensed operators bear part of the tax burden. The ZRA described the 10% excise duty of 2025 as “a consumption tax borne by bettors, not operators”, and tax is withheld from winnings (see below).
Taxation
Gambling taxation has changed several times since 2019 and now differs between online and land-based operators. Gross gaming revenue (GGR) means the amount staked by players less the winnings paid out to them. The ZRA’s term “gross takings” has the same meaning.
Presumptive tax (from 2019). From 1 January 2019 gaming and betting businesses moved to a presumptive tax regime, a simplified tax calculated on a fixed basis instead of on profits. A ZRA guide gave rates of 20% of gross takings for casino live games, 35% for casino machine games, 25% for betting and 35% of net proceeds for lotteries. According to Chambers, before the 2025 reforms land-based betting paid 15% of gross takings, online betting 25%, and casinos ZMW 5,000 per table and ZMW 500 per gaming machine.
The 10% excise duty (2025). In the June 2025 supplementary budget, the Minister of Finance and National Planning, Situmbeko Musokotwane, proposed a 10% excise duty on betting (Focus Gaming News). The Customs and Excise (Amendment) Act, 2025 (Act No. 11 of 2025) received assent on 8 August 2025, and trade reports describe the duty as levied on “the total amount staked by players”. It was thus a tax on turnover, not GGR, and in October 2025 several large operators suspended some or all of their services. Two of them petitioned the Constitutional Court, arguing that the duty breached Articles 8, 9, 10, 89 and 198 of the Constitution (iGaming Afrika). In October 2025 (on 3 October, according to Focus Gaming News) the Court refused their application for an interim injunction suspending collection. It held that they had “failed to demonstrate a sufficiently serious constitutional issue to justify suspending the law” (Phoenix FM; Focus Gaming News). The ruling concerned interim relief only; the main petition was to proceed to a full hearing. The Minister announced talks with the industry on 4 November 2025 (Focus Gaming News).
The betting levy (from 2026). The Betting Levy Bill, 2025 was presented to the National Assembly in its Fifth Session of the Thirteenth Assembly. The Betting Levy Act, 2025 received assent on 23 December 2025 and came into force on 1 January 2026. It provides that “a betting levy at the rate of 5 percent shall be charged, levied, collected and paid by a betting company”, calculated “on all deposits made to a customer’s gaming account and on all withdrawals from a customer’s gaming account”. Returns and payment are due to the ZRA monthly. According to Chambers, the excise duty on betting services “was subsequently suspended through Statutory Instrument No 1 of 2026”, and the Income Tax (Amendment) Act No. 17 of 2025 removed online betting and gaming from the presumptive tax schedule, leaving that regime for land-based operators only. We could not read the instrument, and a June 2026 trade report still listed the excise duty among betting operators’ obligations (Focus Gaming News, 11 June 2026), so operators should confirm the current position with the ZRA.
Tax on players’ winnings. Winnings from gaming, lotteries and betting are subject to withholding tax, which the operator deducts before paying the player. Chambers gives the rate as 15% and states that this “excludes brick and mortar casinos”; it does not give a separate rate for non-residents. When Cabinet revised the 2026 budget in April 2026, it kept the 15% rate (Focus Gaming News). The State Lotteries Act separately provides for a 15% charge on large state lottery prizes.
| Tax | Applies to | Rate and base (as reported) |
|---|---|---|
| Betting levy (from 1 January 2026) | Online betting and gaming companies | 5% of deposits and 5% of withdrawals |
| Presumptive tax | Land-based betting, casinos, gaming machines, lotteries | Percentage of gross takings or fixed amount per table or machine |
| Excise duty (2025) | Betting stakes | 10% of stakes; reported suspended in 2026 |
| Withholding tax | Players’ winnings (excluding land-based casinos) | 15% |
Consumer protection and responsible gambling
The statutes reviewed for this guide contain no duty on operators to offer deposit limits, reality checks or self-exclusion, and we found no national self-exclusion scheme and no publicly funded gambling helpline. The Ministry of Tourism and Arts identified the absence of responsible gambling provisions as a gap in casino regulation in 2019. The main statutory protections are the age limit of 18, the Board’s powers over unpaid betting debts and the ban on touting.
The government has linked its tax measures to concern about gambling harm. Announcing talks with the industry in November 2025, the Minister of Finance said the excise duty was designed “to address the growing social problems associated with betting and gambling addiction” and spoke of balancing revenue “with measures to protect citizens from the negative consequences of addictive betting”. People affected by gambling problems can find general guidance in our responsible gambling guide.
Recent and upcoming developments
- Consolidated gaming bill (pending). Cabinet approved in principle the introduction of a bill to repeal and replace the laws on betting, lotteries and gaming. The Chief Government Spokesperson, Cornelius Mweetwa, said Cabinet regarded the framework as obsolete because of economic change and rapid technological advancement (News Diggers, 27 June 2025). Gambling Talk reported that Cabinet met on 23 June 2025 and that the laws to be repealed included the Lotteries Act, the State Lotteries Act, the Pools Act, the Gaming Machines (Prohibition) Act and the Tourism and Hospitality Act, 2007. Its title and proposed regulator have not been published. As of 6 October 2026 we found no record of it being tabled in the National Assembly.
- Excise duty litigation (pending). The Constitutional Court refused interim relief on 3 October 2025. We found no report of a final judgment on the operators’ petition.
- Taxes (2026). The 5% betting levy applies from 1 January 2026; the excise duty is reported to have been suspended.
Casino listings for players in Zambia
The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database. They do not show that an operator holds a licence from the Betting Control and Licensing Board or the Ministry responsible for tourism. Zambian law provides no licence for online casino games, so the listings must not be read as an indication that offering or playing such games is authorised in Zambia.
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Sources and further reading
- Republic of Zambia, Betting Control Act, 1957 (Chapter 166) (ZambiaLII, accessed 6 October 2026).
- ZambiaLaws, Betting Control Act, Chapter 166 (consolidated text to Act No. 50 of 2021) (accessed 6 October 2026).
- National Assembly of Zambia, The Betting Control (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (2021).
- Republic of Zambia, Lotteries Act, 1957 (Chapter 163) (ZambiaLII, accessed 6 October 2026).
- Republic of Zambia, State Lotteries Act, 1970 (Chapter 328) (ZambiaLII, accessed 6 October 2026).
- Republic of Zambia, Casino Act, 1992 (Chapter 157) (ZambiaLII, accessed 6 October 2026).
- Republic of Zambia, Tourism and Hospitality Act, 2015 (Act No. 13 of 2015) (ZambiaLII, accessed 6 October 2026).
- Republic of Zambia, Betting Levy Act, 2025 (Act No. 27 of 2025) (ZambiaLII, 2025).
- Republic of Zambia, Customs and Excise (Amendment) Act, 2025 (Act No. 11 of 2025) (ZambiaLII, 2025).
- National Assembly of Zambia, The Betting Levy Bill, 2025 (2025).
- Ministry of Tourism and Arts, Proposal on the revision of the casino regulatory framework (case study) (2019).
- Zambia Revenue Authority, Presumptive Tax on Gaming and Betting (accessed 6 October 2026).
- Chiteba, M., Mwango, C. N. and Chisale, D. (Mulenga Mundashi Legal Practitioners), Corporate Tax 2026: Zambia, Chambers and Partners (2026).
- CMS, Gambling law and regulation in Zambia (2023).
- Lusaka Times, Government concerned about fragmented laws on gambling in Zambia (2022).
- News Diggers, Cabinet moves to overhaul betting, lotteries laws (2025); Gambling Talk, Zambia Cabinet approves bill to overhaul outdated gaming framework (2025).
- Phoenix FM, ConCourt dismisses betting companies’ case against 10% betting tax (2025).
- iGaming Afrika, Zambia Court Upholds 10% Betting Excise Duty as Operators Halt Operations (2025).
- Focus Gaming News, Zambia proposes 10% excise duty on betting services (2025); Zambia constitutional court dismisses challenge to 10 per cent betting tax (2025).
- Focus Gaming News, Operators and players urged to comply with 10 per cent betting tax (2025); Zambia government offers talks with betting industry over excise tax row (2025).
- Focus Gaming News, Zambia revised budget sharpens betting and lottery compliance oversight (2026); ZRA flags June tax obligations for betting sector (2026); Zambia tax relief scheme covers gaming and betting liabilities (2026).
