TLDR
- Mauritius amended its Gambling Regulatory Authority Act under the Finance Act 2026, with presidential assent given on August 12, 2026.
- The law creates three licence types: B2C, B2B, and ancillary provider licences for online gambling companies.
- Operators must now incorporate in Mauritius before applying for a licence, and fees range from €5,000 to €30,000 per year.
- New rules require operators to link their servers directly to the regulator for real-time monitoring, starting March 1, 2027.
- Fines for violations rise to 400,000 rupees, and the regulator itself now faces new asset declaration and anti-corruption rules.
Mauritius has passed a major update to its gambling laws. The change came through an amendment to the Gambling Regulatory Authority Act under the Finance Act 2026. The president gave assent to the law on August 12, 2026.
The update brings online betting under the same legal structure that already covers physical casinos and betting shops. It also adds new licence types, stricter monitoring tools, and higher penalties for operators who break the rules.
New Licence Categories for Operators
The law sets up three types of licences for interactive gambling companies. A Business to Consumer licence covers platforms that deal directly with players. A Business to Business licence applies to companies that supply technology or services to those platforms.
A third licence type covers ancillary service providers. These are companies that support the gambling industry without running betting operations themselves.
Any company that wants an interactive gambling licence must now be incorporated in Mauritius first. This was not a clear requirement before the amendment.
The fees are steep. B2C operators pay €30,000 per year plus 3% of gross gambling yield every quarter. B2B operators pay €20,000 per year, and ancillary providers pay €5,000. Every applicant also pays a €5,000 fee that cannot be refunded.
Betting platform supplier licensing begins on March 1, 2027. New rules for licence applications and renewals start on July 1, 2027.
The amendment also defines “digital games” for the first time. It extends existing casino and gaming house rules to cover online versions of those games.
Rules that once mentioned only football matches now apply to sporting events in general. This widens the scope of betting regulations to cover far more sports.
Real-Time Monitoring and Higher Penalties
Mauritius now requires gambling operators to connect their servers directly to the regulator’s central system. This gives the Gambling Regulatory Authority live access to operator data instead of relying on periodic reports.
Other African countries have taken similar steps. Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Burundi have all introduced comparable monitoring rules in recent years.
The scale of the problem is large. Gaming Compliance International estimated that Africa’s online gambling market generated $25 billion in gross gaming revenue in 2025. Only about 23% of that came from licensed operators.
Penalties for breaking the rules have increased. Fines can now reach 400,000 rupees. Tampering with sealed equipment carries a fine of up to 100,000 rupees and a prison term of up to two years.
Self-exclusion rules are stricter too. Operators are now barred from letting excluded people place bets, whether in person or online.
The regulator faces new obligations as well. An Internal Affairs Division has been created to track asset declarations from staff and board members. These declarations must include a spouse and any minor children.
Staff in this division report to the Financial Crimes Commission rather than to the Gambling Regulatory Authority. This is meant to avoid conflicts of interest within the agency.
Companies that incorporate in Mauritius for gambling licences also enter the country’s tax system. Resident firms pay a 15% corporate tax rate, below the OECD average of about 23%.
Compared to Kenya’s $424,000 licence fee and Uganda’s tax structure, Mauritius offers a lower and more fixed cost for operators entering the market.
