The Gaming Board for The Bahamas publishes a list of every gaming house licensed to take bets from residents, with a link to each one's website.[1] It tells you who is licensed and little more.
Here is the answer by product:
- Online casino — licensed, for residents only. The gaming houses sell slots, lotto and sports betting over the internet[2].
- Sports betting — licensed. Residents bet with the gaming houses, and the casinos run sports books for visitors[2].
- Poker between players online — not settled. The rules provide for it only on licences that serve players abroad or inside a casino resort[7][8].
- Land-based casinos — licensed, for visitors only. The Board lists 3[2].
- Lottery — licensed. The gaming houses sell lotto[2], and the Act lets them run the numbers game. It also allows a national lottery, and we found none[4].
Map status
Scored on online casino, and The Bahamas licenses it, for residents only.
The Gaming Act lets a gaming house operator offer gambling games over the internet to domestic players and to nobody else[4]. The Gaming Board lists 7 such operators, selling lotto, slots and sports betting[2].
Who you are decides what you may do:
- If you live in The Bahamas, you may gamble only with a gaming house. The casinos are closed to you, and so is any gaming no Bahamian licence covers[4].
- If you are visiting, you may play in the 3 casinos[2], but not with a gaming house[4].
- If you run a casino and want players abroad, the law offers proxy and restricted interactive gaming licences. They serve only citizens of countries whose laws do not forbid them to gamble online with an operator abroad[7].
Sports betting and land-based casinos are licensed. The lottery games on sale are the gaming houses' numbers games[4]. We could not settle whether residents may play poker against each other online.
The detail, section by section
The Gaming Board for The Bahamas grants the licences and regulates all licensed gaming in the country[9]. Its licence-holder page lists 3 casinos, 7 gaming houses, 33 suppliers and 5 testing laboratories[1]. 6 of the 7 gaming houses link to a website; the seventh's button leads nowhere.
The page gives no licence number, type of licence, date or status. You cannot tell from it whether a casino also holds an online licence.
A second page, Our Licensees, has figures current to August 2026[2]. It agrees with the first on 5 of the 7 gaming house names, and the other 2 differ.
The Gaming Act splits players into two groups[4]:
- Domestic players may gamble only with a gaming house, online or in its shops. They may not play in a casino. A domestic player is a citizen living in The Bahamas, a permanent resident, a work-permit holder, or the spouse of one.
- Everyone else may play in the casinos. They may not use a gaming house.
To open a gaming house account, you go in person to one of its licensed shops. Staff check your identity, address, age and residence against documents[6]. The account may never go below zero[4].
The Act also says a domestic player may not take part in gaming that no Bahamian licence covers[4]. On its words, that includes a foreign website. A breach is an offence with a fine of up to $20,000[4]. We found no case of it being used against a player.
The gaming houses serve residents only, so the route to players abroad runs through the casinos. A casino may hold a proxy gaming or restricted interactive gaming licence[4]. Either lets it take bets from citizens of countries whose laws do not forbid them to gamble online with an operator abroad[7].
If a foreign government objects, the Board must post a notice on its website. We found no such notice. The Board's lists do not say whether any casino holds either licence[1].
There is no list of blocked websites. Since 2019 the Board can ask a judge to order an internet provider to suspend service to a suspected unlicensed operator, for up to 90 days[5]. We found no such order published.
There is no record of fines or suspensions either. The only public notice on the Board's site, from July 2026, warns players not to use gaming accounts to move money for other purposes[3].
Self-exclusion exists in law. You can ask to be excluded for 1 year, 5 years or life by handing a signed form to a licensed operator[4]. The operator must send it to the Board, which keeps the register. The Board's website has no page or form for it.
Advertising or promoting gaming in The Bahamas without a licence is a criminal offence.[4] The rule covers anyone doing it on premises they control. The penalty is a fine of up to $10,000, up to 5 years in prison, or both.
The rule is written around premises in The Bahamas. It does not mention websites, and its words do not reach a publisher abroad.
A casino may hire marketing providers to bring it players from outside The Bahamas, and they need no Bahamian licence for that[8]. A casino's online promotions must be truthful[8], and no operator may send promotions to someone who has excluded themselves[4].
Promoting an unlicensed operator is an offence
A fine of up to $10,000 or imprisonment for up to five years, or both; on a second or later conviction the court may double the fine (section 66(9)).
- Curaçao licenses all 5 products. Promotion there is regulated through the licence, and the rule does not reach operators abroad.
- Puerto Rico licenses casinos and sports betting but prohibits online casino and online poker. Promoting gambling there is an offence that reaches operators abroad.
- Dominican Republic also licenses all 5 products. Promoting gambling there is an offence, though the rule does not reach operators abroad.
- If you live in The Bahamas, use only a gaming house on the Board's licence-holder page, and follow the link from there[1].
- Before you log in, a licensed site must show the operator's name and address, that the Board licenses it, its licence number, and that only adult domestic players may play[6].
- If you are visiting, the casinos are the lawful choice. A gaming house may not take your bets[4].
- If a dispute with a licensed operator is not settled, complain to the Board on 242 397 9200. It can investigate and hold a hearing[10].
Gaming Board for The Bahamas - the statutory body, first set up in 1969 and continued by the Gaming Act of 2014, that grants gaming licences and regulates all licensed gaming in The Bahamas: the casinos, which serve visitors, and the gaming houses, which serve residents online and in their shops. It answers to the Minister responsible for gaming.
- [1]Licensee register Licence Holder – Gaming Board Bahamas ↗
The Board's list of who holds a licence: three casinos, seven gaming houses, thirty-three suppliers and five testing laboratories. Each casino and gaming house has an address and a phone number, and six of the seven gaming houses link to a website. It gives no licence number, licence type, date or status, so it cannot show whether a casino also holds an online licence.
A plain web page with no login: one long list under four headings, with each website link behind a button marked Web. One gaming house's button leads nowhere. Two gaming house names differ from those on the Board's Our Licensees page, and nothing on the page says when it was last updated.
- [2]Licensee register Our Licensees – Gaming Board Bahamas ↗
The Board's overview of its two licensed sectors. It describes the market for residents as seven gaming house operators selling lotto, slots and sports betting over the internet, and the casino sector as three casinos for visiting tourists. Each entry has an address, a phone number and a staff figure. It names no website and no licence number.
A plain web page with no login, with long descriptions of each casino. A note at the end says the figures are current as of August 2026. The staff totals printed in the two introductions do not match the figures listed for each operator below them, so read the individual entries rather than the totals.
- [3]Penalties and sanctions Public Notices/Regulatory Advisory – Gaming Board Bahamas ↗ open the document ↗
Where the Board publishes notices to the public and advisories to the industry. On the day we read it there was one public notice, of July 2026, about misuse of gaming house accounts, and no advisory. It is the nearest thing to an enforcement record the Board has: there is no list of fines, suspensions, revoked licences or blocked websites.
A short page with no login. The notice opens as a one-page PDF with a text layer, and the same text appears as a news post. The Regulatory Advisories heading has nothing under it. The page carries no notice about a foreign government objecting to gaming offered to its residents.
- [4]The law Gaming Act - Chapter 388 of the Statute Law of The Bahamas, consolidated to 2017 ↗
The Act the whole regime rests on, as revised to 2017: the Gaming Board, the eleven kinds of licence, the gaming house licence for internet play with domestic players only, the casino-linked proxy and restricted interactive licences for players abroad, lotteries, the split between residents and visitors, self-exclusion, advertising, offences and penalties. It does not include the amendments of 2019 and 2022.
A PDF of one hundred and twelve pages with a text layer, on the government's legislation site. The browser tab may show the unrelated title Offshore Banking; that is a fault in the file's details, not a wrong file. The site's lists are reached through letter buttons rather than links. The Board's own copy, on its Legislation page, is a scan without a text layer.
- [5]The law Gaming (Amendment) Act, 2019 - the amendment that added court orders against internet providers ↗
The amendment of August 2019. It extends the Board's jurisdiction to unlicensed gaming, creates a special investigation unit with search warrants, lets gaming house servers sit in data centres the Board approves, and lets the Board ask a judge to make an internet provider suspend service to a suspected unlicensed operator. It also added a winnings tax, which an Act of 2022 removed.
A nine-page scan from the Official Gazette with no text layer, so it cannot be searched or copied, and nothing from it is quoted here. The government's legislation site lists it under the Gaming Act. The Board's Legislation page carries a copy too, but does not list the 2022 amendment.
- [6]The law Gaming House Operator Regulations - the rules for the licensed gaming houses, consolidated to 2017 ↗
The detailed rules for gaming houses: licences offered only by invitation, registration of players in person, player accounts and limits, problem gambling, complaints to the Board, what a website must display, and the gaming tax. It is the 2017 consolidation. Amending regulations of 2017, 2018 and two sets of 2019 are separate files, and those of 2018 and 2019 changed the tax.
A PDF of fifty-two pages with a text layer. The amending regulations of 2018 and the second set of 2019 are scans without a text layer, and the first set of 2019, later revoked, is a scan with a poor machine-read layer. Each amendment is a separate file, so a reader has to put the current text together.
- [7]The law Gaming Regulations - the regulations for casinos and the casino-linked licences, consolidated to 2017 ↗
The regulations for casinos and the licences tied to them: applications, casino operations, junkets, proxy gaming, mobile gaming inside a casino resort, restricted interactive gaming for players abroad, responsible gaming, appeals, fees and casino taxes. They set who may play under each licence, and require the Board to post a notice when a foreign government objects.
A PDF of one hundred and thirty pages with a text layer. The browser tab may show a stray file name, 1971-0054 (dragged).pdf, which is a fault in the file's details. It is the 2017 consolidation; an amending set of 2019, on the Board's Legislation page, changes one regulation.
- [8]The law Gaming Rules - the Board's rules for casinos, betting and the casino-linked online licences, consolidated to 2017 ↗
The Board's rules: casino internal controls, game rules, sports book and pari-mutuel wagering, and a part on proxy and restricted interactive gaming that covers poker between players, marketing providers who bring in players from abroad, and truthful advertising. The Rules never mention the gaming houses.
A PDF of two hundred and twenty-two pages with a text layer. There is no index beyond the arrangement of rules at the start, so use the reader's search. The part on proxy and restricted interactive gaming sits near the end.
- [9]The regulator About – Gaming Board Bahamas ↗
The Gaming Board for The Bahamas: its mission, its legal basis since 1969, its board of four members appointed by the Minister responsible for gaming, its two objectives of granting licences and regulating all licensed gaming, and its offices in New Providence, Grand Bahama, Bimini and Abaco.
A plain page with no login on the Board's own site, which is not on a government domain. Its pages carry no update dates and the footer still reads 2023. The email address printed on the Board's 2026 public notice uses a different domain from the website.
- [10]Complaints Patron Disputes Complaints – Gaming Board Bahamas ↗
How a registered player's complaint against a licensed operator is handled: an officer of the Board first tries to settle it by agreement, then the Board investigates and gives a preliminary decision, and the matter goes to a hearing if either side rejects it. The page reproduces the gaming house rule and gives no form, address or time limit.
A plain page with no login and no form. The Board's Contacts page has a general message form and the phone number 242 397 9200. The page quotes the regulation without naming it, and refers to a regulation 29 it does not reproduce.
Each statement below is what the official source says, with the date we last opened it.
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The Gaming Board describes the market for residents as an online one. It lists seven gaming house operators, licensed under the Gaming Act of 2014, selling lotto, slots and sports betting, and says all their transactions are made over the internet.
Our Licensees – Gaming Board Bahamas ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
Introduced under the Gaming Act 2014, the domestic gaming framework regulates the growing popularity of online gambling in The Bahamas, with all transactions conducted over the Internet. There are currently seven (7) Licensed Operators, known as Gaming House Operators, offering products such as Lotto, Slots, and Sports Book, and employing approximately 4,950 people whom the Board licenses:
Our Licensees – Gaming Board Bahamas · English -
Casino gaming is kept for visitors. The Board calls commercial casino gaming a form of entertainment available specifically to visiting tourists, and lists three casinos operating in The Bahamas, with figures it says are current as of August 2026.
Our Licensees – Gaming Board Bahamas ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
Commercial casino gaming is a unique form of entertainment in The Bahamas, available specifically to visiting tourists. It drives meaningful economic impact through investment, job creation, foreign exchange, and tax revenue, while also boosting the tourism industry. Three (3) casinos currently operate in The Bahamas, employing approximately 2,990 people licensed by the Board:
Our Licensees – Gaming Board Bahamas · English -
The Board's licence-holder page lists three casinos, seven gaming houses, thirty-three suppliers and five testing laboratories, each as a name with, for most, a link to a website, and gives no licence number, licence type, issue date or status for any of them.
Licence Holder – Gaming Board Bahamas ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
Testing Laboratories BMM Test Labs Web GLI Web eCOGRA Web NMi Web SIQ LJUBLJANA Web
Licence Holder – Gaming Board Bahamas · English -
The Gaming Act divides players by residence. A domestic player may gamble only with a gaming house and never in a casino, anyone else may not use a gaming house, and a domestic player may not take part in any gaming or betting that a Bahamian licence does not cover.
Gaming Act (Chapter 388), section 69(4) to (7) ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
no domestic player shall take part in any gaming or betting authorised by a licence issued under this Act, other than a gaming house operator licence, or on any premises in respect of which licences have been issued under this Act, other than premises licensed under sections 45 and 46, save in so far as he may be required to be involved in the conduct of gaming in the course of his employment. (5) Subject to subsection (6), no person other than a domestic player shall take part in any gaming or betting authorised by a gaming house operator licence issued under this Act, or on any premises in respect of which licences have been issued under sections 45 and 46 of this Act. (6) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (4) and (5), the Minister may make regulations permitting participation in the types of gaming contemplated in those subsections by any category or all categories of persons contemplated in those subsections, which may regulate the circumstances under which and the conditions subject to which such participation shall be permitted. (7) No domestic player shall take part in any gaming or betting not authorised by a licence under this Act.
Gaming Act (Chapter 388), section 69(4) to (7) · English -
Advertising or promoting gaming without the right licence is a crime when it is done in The Bahamas, on premises the person controls. It sits in the same provision as running unlicensed gaming, and carries a fine of up to $10,000, up to five years in prison, or both.
Gaming Act (Chapter 388), section 66(1)(a) ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
No person shall, in The Bahamas, without the appropriate licence — (a) conduct or permit the conduct of, or advertise or promote, any gaming activity, other than social gaming, in or on any premises under his control or in his charge;
Gaming Act (Chapter 388), section 66(1)(a) · English -
A gaming house account starts with a visit in person. A gaming house may register only a domestic player who has come to one of its licensed premises, and it must check identity, address, age and residence against documents shown there before any online play.
Gaming House Operator Regulations, regulation 19(1) ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
no patron may be registered by a licence holder unless — (a) the patron is a natural person and a domestic player, as defined in the Act; (b) the patron has physically presented himself at premises — (i) on which the licence holder conducts the operations authorised by its gaming house operator licence, and (ii) in respect of which a gaming house premises licence has been granted by the Board;
Gaming House Operator Regulations, regulation 19(1) · English -
A licensed gaming house website must show certain things before a player starts a session: the operator's full name and address, a statement that the Board licenses and regulates it, its licence number, and a notice that only adults who are domestic players may play.
Gaming House Operator Regulations, regulation 46 ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
(a) the full name of the operator and address from which it carries on business; (b) a statement that the operator is licensed and regulated by the Board; (c) the licence number of the operator, if any; (d) a statement that only persons of or over the age of 18 years and only domestic players are permitted to engage in interactive gaming transactions with the licence holder;
Gaming House Operator Regulations, regulation 46 · English -
The casinos' route to players abroad is narrow. Proxy gaming may take bets only from players on the casino premises or from citizens of permitted foreign jurisdictions, and if a foreign government says it breaks its law, the Board must post a notice on its website.
Gaming Regulations, regulation 116(1) and (2) ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
116. (1) An operator may engage in proxy gaming only with authorised players who are — (a) citizens of permitted foreign jurisdictions; and (b) persons located on the licensed premises of the holder of a proxy gaming licence, to the extent that such persons are not precluded from participation in proxy gaming by any other law. (2) In the event that the Board receives official governmental communication from a jurisdiction outside of The Bahamas that offering proxy gaming to its residents violates the laws of that jurisdiction, the Board shall send notice to the operator and post a general notice on its website available to all operators in The Bahamas.
Gaming Regulations, regulation 116(1) and (2) · English -
Restricted interactive gaming, the casino-linked online licence, uses the same test. Nobody may register as a player without proof of identity, residence and an age of at least eighteen, and proof of citizenship of a permitted foreign jurisdiction or presence on the premises.
Gaming Regulations, regulation 150(3) ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
(3) A person shall not be eligible for registration as a patron in accordance with paragraph (1) unless he is able to produce to the person carrying out the registration process evidence of a type and in a manner set out in the licence holder’s approved internal control system — (a) of his identity and place of residence; (b) that he is at least 18 years of age; and (c) that he is a citizen of a permitted foreign jurisdiction or otherwise complies with the provisions of regulation 116(1), which shall apply, with the necessary changes.
Gaming Regulations, regulation 150(3) · English -
A casino operator running proxy or restricted interactive gaming may sign up marketing providers to bring it players from outside The Bahamas. The Gaming Rules say such an agreement does not oblige the marketing provider to hold a Bahamian licence.
Gaming Rules, rule 206 ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
206. (1) An operator may enter into agreements with marketing providers to provide players located outside of The Bahamas to such operator. (2) Nothing in these Rules requires a marketing provider to obtain a licence in The Bahamas because of an agreement with an operator.
Gaming Rules, rule 206 · English -
Poker between players appears in the Gaming Rules as a patron competitive game, in the part written for proxy and restricted interactive gaming. We found no matching provision for the gaming houses, which are the only licensees allowed to serve residents.
Gaming Rules, rule 188 (Part 6: rules in respect of proxy and restricted interactive gaming) ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
“patron competitive game” means any game in which players compete and wager against each other, such as the game of poker;
Gaming Rules, rule 188 (Part 6: rules in respect of proxy and restricted interactive gaming) · English -
Since August 2019 the Board may ask a judge, without notice to the other side, to order an internet service provider to suspend all services to a person suspected of running gaming without a licence, for up to ninety days. The same Act created a special investigation unit with a peace officer's powers.
Gaming (Amendment) Act, 2019, sections 3 and 7 ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
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Any breach of the Gaming Act that has no penalty of its own is an offence. The Board's page on offences sets the fine at up to twenty thousand dollars, and up to twice that for a second or later conviction.
Offenses and Penalties – Gaming Board Bahamas ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
h) contravenes or fails to comply with, any other provision of this Act, commits an offence and on conviction, unless otherwise expressly provided elsewhere in this Act, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty thousand dollars; provided that, in the event of a second or subsequent conviction, the court may impose a penalty not exceeding twice the amount of such fine.
Offenses and Penalties – Gaming Board Bahamas · English -
The only public notice on the Board's site is about misuse of gaming accounts. In July 2026 it warned that some players were using gaming house accounts to move money for other purposes, and said that may lead to an investigation.
USE OF PATRON ACCOUNTS HELD WITH LICENSED GAMING HOUSE OPERATORS – Gaming Board Bahamas ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
The Board has found that some patrons are using their gaming accounts for purposes other than gaming, including facilitating deposits for non-gaming-related services and subsequently withdrawing such deposits without conducting any gaming transactions. Therefore, the public is hereby advised that accounts held with licensed Gaming House Operators are only for authorized gaming activities. These accounts must not be used to receive or hold funds for any other business or commercial reasons. Using these accounts for non-gaming purposes may lead to an investigation and further regulatory action by the Board.
USE OF PATRON ACCOUNTS HELD WITH LICENSED GAMING HOUSE OPERATORS – Gaming Board Bahamas · English -
A registered player with a complaint against a licensed operator can take it to the Board. An officer first tries to settle it by agreement; if that fails, the Board investigates, gives a preliminary decision, and can hold a hearing if either side rejects it.
Patron Disputes Complaints – Gaming Board Bahamas ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
2) Where a registered patron makes a complaint to the Board about the operations of a licence holder, the complaint shall be dealt with by the Board in accordance with this regulation. 3) In the first instance, a duly authorized officer of the Board shall, by establishing contact with the licence holder and the relevant patron, attempt to resolve by agreement between the patron and the licence holder or associate any dispute between them on which the complaint is based.
Patron Disputes Complaints – Gaming Board Bahamas · English -
The Board's tax page gives the gaming house tax as the greater of eleven per cent of taxable revenue or twenty-five per cent of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation. That is the wording of 2014: amending regulations of 2019 replaced it with fifteen per cent of taxable revenue up to twenty-four million dollars and seventeen and a half per cent above that.
Taxation Rates – Gaming Board Bahamas ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
1) Subject to paragraph (2), the gaming tax payable under section 64 of the Act by the holder of a gaming house operator licence shall be whichever is greater of — a) eleven per centum of the taxable revenue; or b) twenty-five per centum of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, generated by the operations conducted under its licence in any tax period.
Taxation Rates – Gaming Board Bahamas · English -
The online market for residents exists because of the 2014 law. The Board says the new framework brought an otherwise unregulated domestic gaming sector under proper oversight and widened the range of gaming products on offer.
Our History – Gaming Board Bahamas ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
This new legislative framework modernized the gaming regulatory regime in The Bahamas, brought an otherwise unregulated domestic gaming sector under proper oversight, expanded the range of gaming services and products available, and established a stronger, more robust licensing regime.
Our History – Gaming Board Bahamas · English
Oldest source check on this page: Nov 5, 2026