Bangladesh Gambling Laws: Online Offences, Promotion and Blocking

Is Online Gambling Legal in Bangladesh?

Is online gambling legal in Bangladesh? No. Gambling in Bangladesh is governed by a law on the prevention of gambling, Act No. 98 of 2026, and under section 5 of that Act any person involved in online or remote gambling commits an offence. None of the Act’s fifty sections provides for a licence, so there is no licence for online casinos in Bangladesh.

Is gambling legal in Bangladesh on a licensed website? Not online: with no licence in the Act, no online casino holds a Bangladeshi licence that would take it outside section 5, and the legal status of online gambling is the same for every website. For anyone comparing online gambling laws by country, Bangladesh is one of the countries where online gambling is an offence with no licensing route beside it.

What the Gambling Law Says

Bangladesh gambling laws reach the person who plays as well as the business that runs the game. The offence in section 5 applies to any person involved in online or remote gambling, and the Act’s definition of online gambling includes opening, running or using an online gambling account. Opening an account to play is therefore within the definition in the same way as running one.

The same definition covers money and intermediaries. Depositing, withdrawing or transferring money for online gambling is part of it, and so is acting as a representative or agent of a foreign online gambling platform. The gambling laws in Bangladesh therefore reach the transactions around a bet and the people who act for a platform abroad, and online gambling under section 5 is punishable by imprisonment, a fine, or both.

This legislation reaches promotion separately. Under section 11, it is an offence for any person, organisation, media outlet, digital platform, influencer, artist, sportsperson or celebrity to carry out, for gambling purposes, misleading promotion, false promises of gain, inducing advertising, sponsorship, affiliate marketing or referral campaigns. The offence concerns publicising gambling, so it does not depend on whether the person promoting it ever places a bet.

The Historical Act and Subsequent Online Gambling Provisions

The Public Gambling Act 1867 no longer governs gambling in Bangladesh: Act No. 98 of 2026 repealed it. The online gambling prohibition in Bangladesh therefore does not depend on reading a nineteenth-century statute against websites and apps. It sits in section 5 of the 2026 Act, which names online and remote gambling directly, so the prohibition comes from the replacement Act’s own words rather than from the age of the earlier one.

Enforcement and Website Blocking

Section 38 of the Act gives the gambling ban an online enforcement power. Under it, the government or an authority it designates may block, remove or ban gambling and betting websites, mobile apps, servers, domain names, IP addresses and URLs, as well as social media pages, groups and channels, so the power reaches the technical addresses behind a service and not only its public pages. Section 40 adds a separate measure: a national digital blacklist database.

Proposed Changes to Gambling Laws

The 2026 change to Bangladesh’s gambling laws is enacted legislation rather than proposed legislation. The law on the prevention of gambling that replaced the 1867 Act is a numbered Act with a date, and it took effect immediately, so its offences, from involvement in online gambling under section 5 to gambling promotion under section 11, are law and not proposals.

• Act number: Act No. 98 of 2026.
• Date: 1 July 2026.
• Commencement: the Act took effect immediately.

Responsible Gambling

Gambling-related harm can affect finances, relationships and emotional wellbeing, often before a person recognises a loss of control. For someone in Bangladesh worried about their own gambling or a relative’s, the starting point is the behaviour and its effects, and responsible gambling tools are there to support stopping, never to make room for more play.

Warning signs deserve attention when gambling starts displacing everyday responsibilities or feels difficult to stop. A person does not need to experience every sign before seeking help or discussing the problem with someone they trust. Understanding what self-exclusion is can support that discussion, but recognising harm comes first. The following behaviours can indicate that gambling is becoming difficult to control rather than remaining a voluntary activity.

• Repeatedly trying to stop but returning to gambling.
• Continuing to gamble in an attempt to recover losses.
• Spending money needed for food, housing or other essentials.
• Hiding gambling or neglecting sleep, work and relationships.

A supportive conversation can focus on the behaviour and its effects rather than blame or embarrassment. Learning how to block gambling sites can form part of a plan to disengage, alongside seeking help from a qualified healthcare professional. Someone experiencing distress can describe changes in sleep, mood or daily responsibilities when asking for support. Protective barriers should accompany attention to the underlying harm, not replace it.

Personal Limits and Self-Exclusion

Personal limits and self-exclusion are harm-protection measures, not legal permission to gamble. Their purpose is to help someone step away from gambling and reduce its effects on daily life. They change what a person allows themselves, or what a service allows them, and leave the legal status of online gambling in Bangladesh exactly as the Act sets it.

Personal Limits

In this context, personal limits should support stopping gambling rather than setting an allowance for continued play. A practical boundary might include avoiding gambling-related content, protecting time for sleep and family, and telling a trusted person about the decision to stop. Writing these boundaries down can make the intended actions clearer when urges return. If keeping those boundaries becomes difficult, seeking help from a qualified healthcare professional is a constructive next step rather than repeatedly adjusting the limits.

Self-Exclusion

Self-exclusion means asking to be prevented from participating in gambling for a defined period, rather than relying solely on willpower. The scope depends on the arrangement: exclusion from a particular service should not be assumed to cover other services. Alongside that boundary, support from a trusted person or healthcare professional can help address recurring urges and the effects of gambling on everyday life.

Gambling Blocking Software

Personal gambling blocking software is designed to restrict gambling content on a person’s devices as a voluntary protective measure. The software adds a barrier between an urge to gamble and online gambling content, but coverage depends on the product and its settings. A person choosing this protection should consider which devices the software supports, rather than assume that installing a blocker provides complete protection across every device.

Software of this kind is chosen by the person and set on their own devices. The blocking in section 38 of the Act is different in both respects: it is a power of the government or an authority it designates, and it acts on gambling and betting services themselves, from websites and apps to social media channels, whatever any one person has installed.

Neither kind of block is a test of legal status. A gambling website that still loads in Bangladesh has not been approved by that fact, and a website that a personal blocker stops is not thereby shown to be unlawful: the offence in section 5 applies whether or not any block has reached a site.

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