Is online gambling legal in Tajikistan?

Legal overview

Tajikistan does not allow casino gambling, either in venues or online. Casinos and slot machine halls were outlawed in the late 2000s and early 2010s: one overview dates the criminal ban on running casinos and slot halls to Penal Code amendments reported in March 2009, while another describes a 2011 law that closed all casinos in Dushanbe and banned almost every type of gambling. Either way, no Tajik licence exists for online casino games or online poker, and no operator may lawfully offer them to residents.

The position of other products is less clear. Several secondary sources report that sports betting and lotteries are permitted under licences issued by the Ministry of Finance. Other overviews describe the state lottery as the only legal form of gambling. We could not read an official statute or a Ministry of Finance register to settle this, so the exact scope of legal betting should be treated as unconfirmed. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and local executive authorities are reported to be responsible for closing illegal gambling operations.

Offshore online casinos have no legal standing in Tajikistan. Secondary sources say the authorities work with telecom providers to block unlicensed gambling sites, particularly online casinos, and that penalties for illegal gambling include fines, confiscation and, for organisers, imprisonment. Players who use foreign sites have no local regulator or complaint body to turn to if a dispute arises.

Verification status: this overview is based on secondary sources and has not yet been checked against the official law text or the regulator. Confirm the details with the national authority before relying on them.