Gabon’s GDJ approves operational rollout as gambling sector enters new phase
The state-owned gaming company approved its Strategic Development Plan, operating budget and investment budget at its first board meeting on August 7.
Gabon.- Gabon’s national lottery and gaming company (GDJ) has approved the framework for its operational rollout, moving the country’s gambling-sector reform into a new phase after its first Board of Directors meeting on August 7.
GDJ announced the development in a statement, describing the meeting as a historic milestone for the company. The meeting was chaired by Major General Bonjean Mbandza, president of the GDJ Board of Directors. The session followed Parliament’s adoption of the law ratifying the ordinance that created GDJ, with administrators approving its operational launch.
GDJ said the meeting represented the realisation of President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema’s vision of reclaiming the gaming sector as a matter of national sovereignty.
The company said its ambition is to operate the state monopoly in the public interest. Its role will centre on developing and diversifying the gaming and entertainment offering, strengthening regulation and surveillance, and centralising financial flows within the sector.
The board approved GDJ’s Strategic Development Plan, operating budget, investment budget and internal regulations, establishing the strategic, financial and organisational framework for its operational deployment.
Gambling reform moves to implementation
The August board meeting marks a significant step in Gabon’s wider restructuring of its gambling market. Mbandza said the meeting was “the culmination of the materialisation of the Head of State’s vision,” according to L’Union, linking the development to the government’s objective of making gambling, gaming and entertainment a matter of national sovereignty.
GDJ Director General Roméo Ondo said the meeting marked an important step for the company. “This day is historic,” Ondo said, adding that GDJ must now create value and demonstrate that Gabonese people can take control of a significant part of the economy and turn it into a national flagship.
The board session lasted more than four and a half hours, during which administrators examined and adopted the measures needed for GDJ’s operational deployment.
GDJ was created in December 2025 as a public operator for games of chance, gambling and entertainment and has since become central to the government’s effort to restructure the sector.
The regulatory transition accelerated in 2026. Existing gambling authorisations entered an expiry phase from April 7, with operators required to regularise their activities under the new GDJ framework by July 7. That process shifted the market away from the previous licensing arrangements towards a framework centred on GDJ.
Earlier in 2026, GDJ also opened an expression-of-interest process for private operators seeking licences, providing a route for commercial operators to participate within the restructured market.
The August 7 board meeting therefore marks a transition from regulatory reform towards operational deployment, with GDJ now equipped with an approved strategic plan, budgets and governance framework to take the next steps.
