Is online gambling legal in Palau?

Legal overview

Gambling is a criminal matter in Palau. Chapter 16 of Title 17 of the Palau National Code, part of the penal code, criminalises gambling of all kinds, and promoting or facilitating gambling is also punishable. The only carve-out concerns two internet products, Virtual Pachinko and the Internet Digits Lottery Game, and it applies only to sites that cannot be reached from within Palau; the Code states that Palauan citizens shall not be allowed to play them.

These products are licensed under Title 11 of the Code. The Minister of Finance, with the President's approval, may grant up to two Virtual Pachinko concessions and up to two Internet Digits concessions. A 2012 amendment set the annual licence fee at 45,000 US dollars plus a concession fee of at least 4 percent of gross revenue, and it requires operators to make their sites impossible to access from computers located in Palau, with the national telecoms company also required to block them. In 2019 the Bureau of Revenue and Taxation said two licences had been issued but neither company had started operating, and the Ministry later invited new applications. There is no licence for online casino games, sports betting or poker aimed at people in Palau.

In November 2019 the Ministries of Finance and Justice set up an investigative unit to pursue people and businesses involved in illegal online gambling. A Palau Tourism Enhancement Act proposed in the House in December 2024 would have allowed a limited number of casinos in integrated resorts under a gaming commission, but it was not expected to pass before the legislative term ended, and no legalisation of online play has followed.