Online gambling in Mauritius: regulation, licence and market guide

Is online gambling legal in Mauritius?

The Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) licenses casinos, gaming houses, gaming and limited payout machines, bookmakers, totalisators, pool promoters and the Mauritius National Lottery operator under the Gambling Regulatory Authority Act 2007. Part XVIII on interactive gambling is marked not in operation, so there is no general online casino or online sportsbook licence; remote communication is permitted for licensed bookmakers on local horse races and, since amendments enacted in 2025, for the national lottery and for digital games offered by licensed casino and gaming house operators. Bookmakers pay 14% of gross stakes plus a 2.5% responsible gambling levy, casinos pay 15% of table takings and 35% of machine takings, and the 2026/27 budget repeals hotel casino licences and connects every casino and betting server to the Revenue Authority's monitoring system.

Partially regulated: Some verticals are licensed (usually betting); others are prohibited or unaddressed.

Who regulates gambling in Mauritius?

• Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) — Licenses and supervises all gambling activities, approves premises, terminals and rules of betting, and houses the Responsible Gambling Board created in 2025
• Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) — Collects gambling taxes, betting duty, the responsible gambling levy and withholding tax on winnings, and operates the Central Electronic Monitoring System

Mauritius gambling licence: how it works

The Act sets out licence categories with fees in its Third Schedule: casino and hotel casino, gaming house A and B, gaming machine and limited payout machine operators, bookmakers (at the racecourse, at one place outside it, through remote communication for local races, or for other events at approved premises), totalisator operators, horse racing organiser, local pool promoter and agent of a foreign pool promoter, lottery games and the national lottery operator. Bookmaker licences under the remote communication and other-events routes are issued only to companies, and no bookmaker may operate both at and outside the racecourse. The interactive gambling part (sections 91 onward) requires ministerial regulations that have never been made, so an international online casino cannot obtain a Mauritian licence; the 2025 amendments instead allowed licensed casino and gaming house operators to add digital games, and the 2026/27 budget extends that to limited payout machine operators and inserts a statutory definition of digital games. Licences generally run for a calendar year or a defined period and renew annually.

What an applicant needs

• Mauritian company for bookmaker licences through remote communication or on non-racing events
• Payment of the Third Schedule licence fee for each licence and each place of business or terminal
• Approved premises, betting terminals registered with the MRA and connected to the Central Electronic Monitoring System
• Compliance with GRA rules of betting, anti-money-laundering obligations and responsible gambling requirements
• Existing casino, gaming house or limited payout machine licence to offer digital games
• Annual renewal and weekly or monthly tax returns to the MRA

Gambling taxes in Mauritius

• Operators: Casino: 15% of gross takings on table games and 35% on gaming machines; hotel casino 20% of gross takings; gaming houses 30% to 35%; bookmakers 14% of gross stakes per week whether at premises or through remote communication; all plus a 2.5% responsible gambling levy on gross gambling yield and corporate tax at 15%. The 2026/27 budget moves horse race betting tax to stakes net of winnings paid.
• Players: 10% withholding tax on any single payout above MUR 100,000 by the national lottery operator, casinos, hotel casinos and gaming houses under section 111O of the Income Tax Act; operators also report winners paid more than MUR 20,000.
• Also: Late returns attract penalties of MUR 2,000 per month (maximum MUR 20,000) and late payment MUR 50,000 per month (maximum MUR 500,000). Lottotech reports a 2% fair share contribution introduced in 2025 on top of its Consolidated Fund payments.

Advertising, player protection, KYC and payments

Advertising

Gambling advertising is controlled through licence conditions and GRA approval; promoting unlicensed gambling, including interactive gambling, is an offence, and the Responsible Gambling Board established by the 2025 amendment oversees prevention and awareness funded by the responsible gambling levy.

Responsible gaming

Minors may not enter gaming areas, bet with a bookmaker or totalisator or play limited payout machines, and bets by minors are void. The 2.5% levy funds the Responsible Gambling and Capacity Building Fund administered by the Responsible Gambling Board.

Identity and age verification

Licensees are subject to Mauritius' Financial Intelligence and Anti-Money Laundering Act, must identify customers for large transactions and winner reporting, and register terminals and servers with the MRA for real-time monitoring.

Payments

Retail betting and casinos are cash and card based; remote communication betting on local races and the national lottery's forthcoming digital channels use bank cards, bank transfer and mobile wallets such as MCB Juice and my.t money. Payouts above MUR 100,000 from casinos and the lottery are subject to withholding.

Notable restrictions

• Interactive gambling part of the Act not in operation: no online casino or online sportsbook licence for new entrants
• Remote communication betting limited to licensed bookmakers on local races and, from 2025, digital games by licensed land-based operators
• No bookmaker may operate both at the racecourse and outside it
• Hotel casino licences repealed under the 2026/27 budget measures
• All betting terminals and casino servers must connect to the MRA Central Electronic Monitoring System

Mauritius iGaming market: size, players and payments

No reliable public estimate for the whole market. Lottotech, the national lottery operator, generated MUR 578 million for the Consolidated Fund in the nine months to September 2025 and targets MUR 4 billion in annual revenue; horse racing, casinos and betting shops are the other established segments.

Mobile banking apps and wallets are widespread, but regulated remote betting is still limited to local racing and the lottery's planned digital channels.

Land-based casinos and gaming houses, licensed bookmakers around Champ de Mars racing, and Lottotech as exclusive national lottery operator; no licensed online casino brands exist.

Timeline: how Mauritius got here

1. 2007-12Gambling Regulatory Authority Act 2007 consolidates gambling law and creates the GRA
2. 2009Mauritius National Lottery launched under an exclusive operator licence held by Lottotech
3. 2016-09Act 18 of 2016 amends the Gambling Regulatory Authority Act with effect from 7 September 2016
4. 2025-07Gambling Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Act 2025 restructures the GRA, creates the Responsible Gambling Board and halves Category 3 fees for 2025
5. 2025-08Finance measures enact a remote communication framework for the national lottery and digital games for licensed casino and gaming house operators
6. 2026-072026/27 budget repeals hotel casino licences, extends digital games to limited payout machine operators and mandates CEMS connection

Outlook

The 2026/27 Finance Bill and Economic and Financial Measures (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026 complete the shift to a monitored, digitally connected land-based sector, and Lottotech expects its digital channels to contribute from 2027. There is no announced plan to bring the interactive gambling part of the Act into operation for new online operators, so the online market will grow through existing licensees' digital games and the lottery rather than an open licensing round.

Launching in Mauritius with GameBridge

Model decided with counsel. Mauritius has no online licence for new entrants and its interactive gambling provisions are not in force, so the only realistic GameBridge deployment is a turnkey digital games platform for an existing licensed casino or gaming house operator, subject to GRA approval and the operator's counsel; GameBridge holds no Mauritian licence.

GameBridge treats Mauritius as a market that is served only by locally licensed land-based operators adding digital games. For such an operator, the platform is configured in English and French with a MUR wallet, geo-controls limited to Mauritian residents, age and identity checks, and card, bank transfer and local wallet rails connected through the operator's own agreements; the reporting layer is designed to connect to the MRA Central Electronic Monitoring System and the wallet models the gross takings taxes, the 2.5% levy and winner withholding. International brands on GameBridge geo-block Mauritius by default until the operator's counsel confirms residents may be served, and the catalog for a licensed digital games deployment is curated to titles whose certification the GRA accepts, with GameBridge Studios and Originals shipping their certification package.

• MUR wallet with card, bank transfer and local wallet rails through the operator's agreements
• Geo lists limited to Mauritian residents with age and identity gates
• Reporting feed designed for the MRA Central Electronic Monitoring System
• Gross takings tax, responsible gambling levy and winner withholding modeled in-wallet
• Default geo-block of Mauritius on international brands pending counsel's confirmation
• Certification package with every GameBridge Studios and Originals release

Horse racing and the national lottery dominate; for a licensed digital games deployment the aggregated catalog of {providersAvailable} game providers is filtered to certified slots and table games, with GameBridge Studios exclusives built to the operator's brief.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and review

Reviewed against the sources below on 11 September 2026. Regulation changes; confirm the current position with local counsel before launch.

• Gambling Regulatory Authority Act 2007 (consolidated) — MauritiusLII, accessed 2026-09-11
• Gambling Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Act 2025 (Act 14 of 2025) — Laws of Mauritius, accessed 2026-09-11
• Gambling Taxes — Mauritius Revenue Authority, accessed 2026-09-11
• Mauritius budget scraps hotel casino licences and expands casino tax monitoring — iGB, accessed 2026-09-11
• Lottotech Ltd abridged unaudited financial statements, nine months to 30 September 2025 — Stock Exchange of Mauritius, accessed 2026-09-11
• Mauritius iGaming Market Regulation Overview — SOFTSWISS, accessed 2026-09-11

Regulatory summaries are provided for orientation only and are not legal advice. Licensing requirements change; we validate them with you during scoping.