Is online gambling legal in Moldova?

Legal overview

Gambling in Moldova is governed by Law No. 291 of 16 December 2016 on the organisation and conduct of games of chance, which took effect in early 2017 after a wave of licence suspensions in the sector. The law places almost the entire market under a state monopoly: lotteries, gaming rooms with slot machines, sports betting and games of chance offered through electronic communication networks may only be organised by the state through the joint-stock company National Lottery of Moldova. Only land-based casinos remain open to private companies, which need a licence and must meet strict capital and staffing conditions. The state regulates the sector through Parliament, the Government and the Public Services Agency, which keeps the registers of authorised organisers and gaming equipment. When the law was adopted, the participation age was set at 21.

The National Lottery runs its business through a public-private partnership for lotteries and sports betting. Its reported 2025 results list online lotteries, online sports betting, slot-machine gaming rooms and instant lotteries, but no online casino product. Private companies cannot obtain a licence for online casino or online betting, and websites run by foreign operators are not authorised to serve players in Moldova.

Under Article 50¹ of the law, the Public Services Agency publishes a list of websites, platforms and applications that offer gambling without authorisation, last updated in May 2026. The electronic communications regulator ANRCETI then instructs internet providers to block access to these sites for users in Moldova. A government draft under public consultation would go further and require payment service providers to refuse payments to unauthorised gambling operators.