Is online gambling legal in Paraguay?

Legal overview

Paraguay treats games of chance as a state-controlled activity under Ley No. 1016/1997, which sets the legal regime for operating them. Private companies may run casinos, lotteries, the quiniela, bingo and sports betting only under concessions or permits granted by the authorities, and gambling that has not been authorised is prohibited. The regulator is the National Gambling Commission, CONAJZAR.

Ley No. 7438/2025, promulgated on 3 January 2025, amended the 1997 law. It ended the single-concession model for sports betting and the quiniela, widened the list of recognised games, and placed CONAJZAR under the national tax administration, DNIT. A law-firm summary of the reform lists online casinos among the modalities to be awarded through national public tenders. However, no source checked for this page identified an online casino concession that is active today, and the regulations and tenders for the new licences were still pending when the reform was reported. Until an online casino concession is awarded and operating, there is no confirmed local licensed option for online casino play.

Enforcement has been tightened. CONAJZAR says the reform allows it to block clandestine gambling platforms and websites, it has filed complaints with the Public Ministry, and illegal gambling is punishable by up to five years in prison. In October 2026 the government sent the Senate a bill to replace CONAJZAR with a new authority, DINAJZAR, with wider inspection, sanctioning and blocking powers; the bill keeps online casino as a tender-based modality. Offshore sites are not authorised to serve Paraguayan players.