Jamaica's betting regulator publishes 6 lists of licence holders, and the newest was updated in November 2024.[1] The bookmakers' list, which matters most for online play, says its licences expire on 31 March 2025.
No list gives a licensee's website. A name on a list tells you who was licensed then, not which site is licensed now.
Here is the answer by product:
- Online casino — licensed, but only as part of a bookmaker's licence. The regulator counts online casino games in the betting sector[8].
- Sports betting — licensed. The latest bookmakers' list names 5 companies[1].
- Poker — not assessed. The regulator lists poker games among bookmakers' online products, but does not say whether players play each other.
- Lottery — licensed. Private companies hold lottery licences, and the latest list names 3[1].
- Land-based gambling — licensed. Gaming lounges and machines are licensed by the betting regulator[1], casinos by a commission of their own[11].
Map status
Scored on online casino, and Jamaica licenses it, though not as a product of its own. The Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission counts online casino and poker games as part of sports betting by licensed bookmakers[8]. None of the 6 licence lists it publishes is for online casino[1].
So online casino rides on a bookmaker's licence. In its 2020-21 annual report, the Commission itself said the shift to internet-based gaming calls for a swift overhaul of the law[9].
For a player in Jamaica, the lawful route is a licensed bookmaker. The Commission warns that betting with an unlicensed bookmaker is an offence. We found no Jamaican licence for an operator that serves only players abroad.
Lotteries are run by private companies under licence[1]. Casinos have their own regulator, the Casino Gaming Commission. It licenses casinos only inside approved resort developments, and it issued its first licence in July 2026[11].
The detail, section by section
We found no separate online casino licence in Jamaica. The Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission licenses bookmakers, and their player accounts carry online casino and poker games[8].
The Commission dates the change to 2020. That year, bookmakers rolled out player account wagering with a suite of online casino games[9].
The account rules we could trace sit in the Telephone Betting Regulations of 2014. The amending Act of that year sets a fixed penalty of J$500,000 for conducting telephone betting without the Commission's authorisation[5].
The regulator says the law has not caught up. Its executive director wrote that internet-based gaming calls for a swift overhaul of the current legislation[9]. The newest amendment on the Commission's laws page is from 2017[4].
The Commission's licence page links 6 files, one per type of licence[1]. None is for online gambling, and none has a status column.
The files are out of date. The bookmakers' list is headed 2024-25, and its licences expire on 31 March 2025. The 2 gaming lounge lists say their licences ran to 31 March 2023[1].
The Commission's quarterly statistics are fresher. They run to December 2025 and cover only operators it licenses and regulates[8].
Enforcement appears as news, not as a register. In 2019 a court fined an illegal cash pot operator J$375,000. The Act allows a fine of up to J$500,000 or 12 months in prison[2].
The Commission's public notices add that betting with an unlicensed bookmaker is an offence for the player too, under sections 18 and 19 of the Act. We found no blocklist and no national self-exclusion register. Each operator runs its own self-exclusion.
Casino gaming has a separate law, the Casino Gaming Act, 2010, and a separate regulator, the Casino Gaming Commission[6].
Casinos come only through integrated resort developments: hotel rooms, entertainment and a casino on one site. The Minister must approve the development first[11]. The Commission issued Jamaica's first casino operator's licence in July 2026, for a casino not yet open[11].
Detailed rules followed. The Casino Gaming (General) Regulations, 2025 were published in the Jamaica Gazette in April 2026[6]. If a casino does not settle a dispute, the patron may complain to the Commission[12].
Casino advertising is restricted, and the rule names affiliates. The Casino Gaming Commission's guidelines of September 2024 apply to casino licensees and to third parties acting for them, affiliate marketers included[7].
Casino adverts may not run in local newspapers, on television or radio, or on billboards in Jamaica. Online, they are limited to the casino's own website and social media[7].
These guidelines bind the licensee and those working for it. They do not address a publisher abroad who promotes a foreign site.
For betting, lottery and online casino, we found no advertising rule in force. The Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission said in July 2024 that it would move forward with new advertising guidelines[10]. We found none published.
The Act itself was not available on the government's legislation sites when we looked. So we cannot say whether it holds an advertising offence of its own.
Promotion rules are unclear
Jamaica's Act of 1965 followed a British Act of 1963[4]. The paths have since split:
- United Kingdom licenses online casino, betting and poker directly. Promoting gambling there is an offence that reaches operators abroad.
- Dominican Republic licenses all 5 products, its lottery included. Promoting gambling is an offence there, but it does not reach operators abroad.
- Puerto Rico prohibits online casino and online poker while it licenses betting. Promoting gambling is an offence that reaches operators abroad.
Jamaica sits between them. Online casino is lawful, but only as an extra on a betting licence.
- Check the company on the bookmakers' list, and remember that the list dates from November 2024[1].
- In Jamaica's regulated market, online casino comes from licensed bookmakers. We found no other Jamaican licence for it.
- To stop, ask the operator for its self-exclusion form. There is no national register.
- For a casino dispute, complain to the Casino Gaming Commission[12].
- The betting regulator's contact page showed an error when we looked. Its lists give [email protected] and (876) 630-1353.
Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission (BGLC) - the statutory body set up under the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act of 1965. It licenses and regulates betting, lotteries and gaming machines, including the online casino games that licensed bookmakers offer. Casinos are licensed separately, by the Casino Gaming Commission under the Casino Gaming Act, 2010.
- [1]Licensee register Licensed Gaming Operators - Betting, Gaming & Lotteries Commission ↗ open the document ↗
Six downloadable lists, one for each licence type the Commission grants under the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act: lottery promoters, technical service providers, gaming lounges, hotel-based gaming rooms, gaming machine premises operators and bookmakers. Each gives the licensee's company name and address, and some add a trading or premises name. None is a list of online licences, and none gives a website.
A plain page of six View and Download buttons, each opening a PDF or, for technical service providers, a Word file. The newest files date from late 2024 and say their licences expire on 31 March 2025; the two gaming lounge lists date from January 2023. There is no search box, no status column and no archive of earlier lists.
- [2]Penalties and sanctions $375,000 fine for illegal cash pot operator - Betting, Gaming & Lotteries Commission ↗
A Commission news release of March 2019 on a court fine of J$375,000 imposed on an illegal cash pot operator after a joint operation with the police, with the maximum the Act allows: a fine of up to J$500,000, or imprisonment for up to twelve months. It names nobody and gives no case reference, and it says nothing about online gambling.
An ordinary news page that loads without a login. The Commission keeps no enforcement register: its news list holds sixteen items, the newest from August 2024, and there is no page listing fines, seizures, suspensions or revoked licences. Items like this one are the published record.
- [3]Penalties and sanctions BGLC Public Advisory -NOTICE OF LICENSE NOT RENEWED- Jamozzie Investments Limited - Betting, Gaming & Lotteries Commission ↗
A public notice that one bookmaker's permit, which covered a betting website, expired on 31 March 2021 and was not renewed. It adds the Commission's reminder that providing betting services without a licence, and betting with an unlicensed bookmaker, are both offences under sections 18 and 19 of the Act. It is about betting, not online casino.
A short notice page that is reached through the site's search, because there is no index of public notices and the address one level up returns page not found. A second notice with the same title sits at an almost identical address. It names the operator and its website, the only enforcement record here that does.
- [4]The law Laws & Legislation - Betting, Gaming & Lotteries Commission ↗
The Commission's account of the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act of 1965: that it replaced the Gambling Act of 1899, that it followed the United Kingdom's Act of 1963, and that it lets lotteries run by exemption under strict conditions. It links the Act with its 2014 amendments, the amending Acts of 2016 and 2017, and the anti-money-laundering laws the Commission applies.
The page loads, but its links to the Act lead elsewhere and did not work. The Ministry of Justice copy it links returned page not found, the Ministry's laws portal showed a maintenance notice, and the 2016 and 2017 amending Acts on Parliament's site are scans with no text layer, so they can be read but not searched.
- [5]The law 2014 - the Houses of Parliament's list of Acts passed in 2014, with the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Act, 2014 ↗ open the document ↗
Act No. 5 of 2014, assented to on 8 July 2014, which amended large parts of the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act: sports betting outlets, licences for technical service providers, and a schedule of fixed penalties. That schedule includes the offences under the Telephone Betting Regulations, 2014, such as running telephone betting without the Commission's authorisation.
The Act is a 48-page scan with a machine-read text layer that is not reliable, so it can be read but not searched with confidence, and nothing is quoted from it. The list page is titled only with the year. The Act is the link named The Betting Gaming and Lotteries Act, without the word Amendment.
- [6]The law Legal - The Casino Gaming Commission ↗ open the document ↗
The casino regulator's library: the Casino Gaming Act, 2010, its 2021 amendment, the regulations of 2012 and 2015, the approved games order and, newest, the Casino Gaming (General) Regulations, 2025. Those were published in the Jamaica Gazette on 29 April 2026 and set internal controls, surveillance, and patron disputes and complaints for licensed casinos. Casinos only: not betting or lotteries.
Each item is a PDF. The General Regulations have a real text layer and run to 121 pages. The Act of 2010 and its 2021 amendment are scans, hard to search, and nothing is quoted from them; the finance ministry's site carries the same Act, again as a scan.
- [7]The law Responsible Gaming Framework and Advertising Guidelines - The Casino Gaming Commission ↗ open the document ↗
The Responsible Gaming Framework for Casinos in Jamaica, approved in September 2024, with General Advertising Guidelines as its appendix: who they bind, affiliate marketers acting for a licensee included; the ban on casino adverts in local newspapers, on radio and television and on billboards; the limits on online adverts; the warnings adverts must carry; and rules protecting children and young persons.
One link to an eight-page PDF with a clean text layer. The guidelines define advertising by reference to the Casino Gaming (General) Regulations, 2024, while the gazetted regulations are titled 2025. They cover casino gaming only; nothing in them applies to betting, lotteries or online casino.
- [8]The regulator Publications - Betting, Gaming & Lotteries Commission - the Commission's quarterly gaming industry statistics ↗ open the document ↗
Quarterly highlights of sales, payouts and government revenue for the betting, lottery and gaming sectors, drawn from data that licensed operators report. The newest covers October to December 2025. It is where the Commission says that sports betting includes online casino and poker games, but it gives no figure for those games on their own.
A paged list of View/Download links, newest first, mostly PDFs with the odd Word file. The newest is an eleven-page PDF with a text layer, though its charts extract as scattered numbers. Four quarters between April 2024 and December 2025 are missing from the list.
- [9]The regulator Publications - Betting, Gaming & Lotteries Commission - the Commission's annual reports ↗ open the document ↗
The Commission's annual reports back to 2004. The newest describes bookmakers moving to player accounts and online casino games in 2020, the licensing of a third lottery company, the work of the enforcement division, and the executive director's call for a swift overhaul of the law to regulate internet-based gaming. It does not list licensees by name.
A paged list of View links to PDFs. The newest report covers April 2020 to March 2021, and nothing later is posted. It is a 132-page PDF of over seven megabytes with a text layer, but its tables extract out of order, so figures should be read from the page itself.
- [10]The regulator Public Consultations - Betting, Gaming & Lotteries Commission ↗ open the document ↗
The Commission's consultations on bond methodology and on gambling advertising, with the October 2023 survey, the responses and the proposed position of July 2024. That position says the Commission will introduce advertising and marketing guidelines with age and responsible-gambling messages, and will consider limits on billboards beside schools and on sponsorship aimed at the young.
Each item is a separate PDF link. The position paper is three pages with a text layer, and it is a statement of intent, not a rule: no advertising guidelines from the Commission appear anywhere on the site. The survey link points to a commercial domain, not a government one.
- [11]The regulator Home - The Casino Gaming Commission ↗
The casino regulator's home page: its role under the Casino Gaming Act, 2010, how casinos come to Jamaica only through approved integrated resort developments, how to apply for a casino licence, and its news, including the first casino operator's licence. It does not cover betting shops, gaming lounges or lotteries, which belong to the betting regulator.
Use the www address: the bare cgc.gov.jm address only redirects there through a script. The Commission publishes no list of licensees, so the first licence is known only from its news release, which names the company and the resort.
- [12]Complaints Patron Disputes and Complaints - The Casino Gaming Commission ↗
The casino regulator's complaint route: a web form for disputes and complaints about regulatory action or a licensee's operations. Part VI of the General Regulations sets out the process: the casino resolves a patron dispute first, then the patron may complain to the Commission, which may investigate and hold a hearing. It serves casino patrons only.
A web form asking for name, email, phone, subject and message, with no reference number and no published outcomes. The Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission has no working equivalent: its contact page showed a critical error message when we looked, and its address, phone and email appear on its PDFs instead.
Each statement below is what the official source says, with the date we last opened it.
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The Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission publishes its licence holders as six lists, one per licence type: lottery promoters, technical service providers, gaming lounges, hotel-based gaming rooms, gaming machine premises operators and bookmakers. None of them is a list of online licences.
Licensed Gaming Operators - Betting, Gaming & Lotteries Commission ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
The Betting Gaming and Lotteries Commission has approved licenses under the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Act (BGLA) for the gaming operators in the following categories:
Licensed Gaming Operators - Betting, Gaming & Lotteries Commission · English -
Lotteries in Jamaica are run by private companies under licence, not by the state. The Commission's list of licensed lottery promoters, updated in November 2024, has three rows, each a limited company.
Licensed Lottery Promoters as at September 2024 ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
Licences are granted by the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Commission to the following companies to operate as Licensed Lottery Promoters under the provisions of the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Act. Licensed Lottery Promoters as at September 2024
Licensed Lottery Promoters as at September 2024 · English -
The bookmakers' list names five licensed bookmakers and is headed 2024-25, with licences that expire on 31 March 2025. It was still the list the Commission linked on 5 November 2026, so it cannot show who holds a bookmaker's licence today.
Licensed Bookmakers 2024-25 ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
Licences are granted by the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Commission to the following companies to operate as Licensed Bookmakers under the provisions of the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Act. Licensed Bookmakers 2024-25 Licences expires March 31, 2025
Licensed Bookmakers 2024-25 · English -
The gaming lounge list is older still: fourteen premises, two of them marked closed, under licences valid up to 31 March 2023. It too was the list the Commission linked on 5 November 2026.
Licensed Gaming Lounges 2022-23 ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
License is granted by the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Commission to the following companies to operate gaming lounges under the provisions of the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Act. Licenses are valid up to March 31, 2023
Licensed Gaming Lounges 2022-23 · English -
Online casino is offered in Jamaica as part of licensed sports betting. The regulator's quarterly statistics, built from data that licensed operators report, count online casino and poker games as part of sports betting in the betting sector.
GAMING INDUSTRY STATISTICS - QUARTERLY HIGHLIGHTS Q3 – October 2025 TO December 2025 ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
Information presented is categorized by sector and includes data reported by operators licensed, and regulated by the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Commission. The Betting Sector encompasses bookmaking, pari-mutuel wagering, and fixed-odds betting on horseracing (both local and simulcast) as well as sports betting inclusive of online casino and poker games.
GAMING INDUSTRY STATISTICS - QUARTERLY HIGHLIGHTS Q3 – October 2025 TO December 2025 · English -
The change dates from 2020. The Commission's annual report for 2020-21 records bookmakers expanding their sportsbooks and rolling out player account wagering with a suite of online casino games.
Annual Report 2020-2021 ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
2020 saw sports betting expansion with bookmakers expanding sportsbooks and rolling out enhanced player account wagering with a suite of online casino games and other sporting events.
Annual Report 2020-2021 · English -
The regulator says the law has not kept up. In the same report its executive director wrote that the growing shift to internet-based gaming calls for a swift overhaul of the current legislation.
Annual Report 2020-2021 ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
The increasing shift to Internet-based gaming amplifies the need for a swift overhaul of the current legislation to ensure that we can appropriately regulate emerging modes of gaming and keep pace with industry developments.
Annual Report 2020-2021 · English -
Jamaica's gambling law descends from British law. The Commission explains that the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act of 1965 replaced the Gambling Act of 1899 and followed the United Kingdom's Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act of 1963.
Laws & Legislation - Betting, Gaming & Lotteries Commission ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
These perceptions prompted the repeal of the Gambling Act of 1899 and the passing of the Betting Gaming & Lotteries Act, 1965, with provisions similar to those in the Betting Gaming & Lotteries Act, 1963, of the United Kingdom.
Laws & Legislation - Betting, Gaming & Lotteries Commission · English -
A lottery licence is open to any company that applies, but no lottery may run until the Commission approves it. The Commission is the only body in Jamaica that receives and reviews lottery licence applications.
Requirements to Promote Lottery Games - Betting, Gaming & Lotteries Commission ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
The BGLC is designated under law (the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Act) as the sole authority in Jamaica to receive and review applications for lottery licenses in Jamaica. Any entity which desires to enter the market may make an application at any time to the Commission but may operate only if approval is given.
Requirements to Promote Lottery Games - Betting, Gaming & Lotteries Commission · English -
The Commission warns that betting with an unlicensed bookmaker is an offence for the player as well as for whoever provides the service, under sections 18 and 19 of the Act.
BGLC Public Advisory -NOTICE OF LICENSE NOT RENEWED- Jamozzie Investments Limited - Betting, Gaming & Lotteries Commission ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
The public is reminded that under Sections 18 and 19 of the Betting Gaming & Lotteries Act, persons providing betting and bookmaking services without a licence/authorization; or persons engaging in betting or bookmaking transactions with unlicensed/unauthorized betting operators or bookmakers are committing an offence and will be liable for prosecution.
BGLC Public Advisory -NOTICE OF LICENSE NOT RENEWED- Jamozzie Investments Limited - Betting, Gaming & Lotteries Commission · English -
Unlicensed gambling is prosecuted in the courts. In 2019 a court fined an illegal cash pot operator J$375,000, and the Commission notes that the Act allows a fine of up to J$500,000 or up to twelve months in prison.
$375,000 fine for illegal cash pot operator - Betting, Gaming & Lotteries Commission ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
The Betting Gaming and Lotteries Act (BGLA) allows for fines not exceeding $500,000 or imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding twelve months.
$375,000 fine for illegal cash pot operator - Betting, Gaming & Lotteries Commission · English -
Betting by account has its own rules, the Telephone Betting Regulations of 2014, which deal with player registration and player accounts. The Commission's fixed-penalty guide sets J$500,000 for conducting telephone betting without its authorisation.
A QUICK GUIDE TO BGLC FEES & PENALTIES, GOJ TAXES AND CHASE FUND CONTRIBUTIONS FOR ALL GAMING INDUSTRY LICENSEES ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
21 Conducting telephone betting without authorization from the Commission 500,000
A QUICK GUIDE TO BGLC FEES & PENALTIES, GOJ TAXES AND CHASE FUND CONTRIBUTIONS FOR ALL GAMING INDUSTRY LICENSEES · English -
Running a betting business without a licence is priced in the same guide: carrying on pool betting or bookmaking without being authorised or licensed carries a fixed penalty of J$500,000.
A QUICK GUIDE TO BGLC FEES & PENALTIES, GOJ TAXES AND CHASE FUND CONTRIBUTIONS FOR ALL GAMING INDUSTRY LICENSEES ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
20B Carrying on pool betting or book making without being authorized or licensed 500,000
A QUICK GUIDE TO BGLC FEES & PENALTIES, GOJ TAXES AND CHASE FUND CONTRIBUTIONS FOR ALL GAMING INDUSTRY LICENSEES · English -
Self-exclusion in Jamaica is run by each operator; we found no national register. The Commission's responsible gaming code asks operators to give registered players a self-exclusion facility, and lets the operator exclude a customer from its venue or website for a set period.
Responsible Gaming Code of Conduct ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
Customer with gambling problems is provided with self-exclusion forms Registered players provided with/given access to facility to voluntary self-exclude If customer does not want self-exclusion, the operator initiates venue or online exclusion for a specified period
Responsible Gaming Code of Conduct · English -
Casinos in Jamaica can open only inside an integrated resort development, a mix of hotel rooms and other tourism facilities on one site, and only after the Minister has approved the development by order.
Home - The Casino Gaming Commission ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
The introduction of casinos in Jamaica will be through Integrated Resort Developments (IRD), i.e., a development consisting of a mix of various tourism amenities including hotel rooms, sporting and entertainment facilities, service centres and casinos. An IRD must first receive ministerial approval, and this is by way of an Approved Integrated Resort Development (AIRD) Order.
Home - The Casino Gaming Commission · English -
The Casino Gaming Commission has issued the first casino operator's licence under the Casino Gaming Act of 2010. Its news release dates the licence to 29 July 2026 and says it is for a proposed casino at a resort in Hanover.
Home - The Casino Gaming Commission ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
The Casino Gaming Commission (CGC) has issued Jamaica’s first casino gaming operator’s licence, marking a historic milestone in the development of the island’s regulated casino gaming sector.
Home - The Casino Gaming Commission · English -
The casino advertising guidelines reach past the licensee. They apply to casino licensees and to third parties, affiliate marketers among them, acting on a licensee's behalf.
Responsible Gaming Framework for Casinos in Jamaica ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
For the avoidance of doubt, these Guidelines apply to both licensees under the Casino Gaming Act, as well as third parties (for example, affiliate marketers) acting on a licensee’s behalf.
Responsible Gaming Framework for Casinos in Jamaica · English -
Casino adverts may not appear in local newspapers, on television or radio, or on billboards or other public signs in Jamaica. Online, the guidelines limit them to the website and social media accounts of the casino and its resort.
Responsible Gaming Framework for Casinos in Jamaica ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
4.3. Advertisements in respect of casinos and casino gaming shall not be published by local newspaper, television or radio, or using billboards or other public signage in Jamaica.
Responsible Gaming Framework for Casinos in Jamaica · English -
For betting and lotteries, advertising rules are still a proposal. After a consultation in October 2023, the Commission said in July 2024 that it would move forward with new advertising and marketing guidelines; we found none published.
Summary of Proposed BGLC Positions on Gambling Advertising ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
Based upon the responses the Betting Gaming & Lotteries Commission will be moving forward with the proposal to introduce new advertising and marketing guidelines for gambling and gambling related products.
Summary of Proposed BGLC Positions on Gambling Advertising · English -
Casino patrons have a route to the regulator. Under the 2025 General Regulations, a complaint to the Casino Gaming Commission may concern a casino's unsatisfactory handling of a patron dispute, or a licensee's breach of the Act, the regulations or the Commission's directions.
The Casino Gaming (General) Regulations, 2025 ↗ (English) checked Nov 5, 2026
a “complaint” means a matter directed to the Commission for resolution with respect to— (i) the unsatisfactory resolution of a patron dispute by a casino operator; or (ii) the conduct of any licensee which amounts to a breach of the Act, these Regulations or any condition or direction issued by the Commission.
The Casino Gaming (General) Regulations, 2025 · English
Oldest source check on this page: Nov 5, 2026