Mauritius proposes major gambling law overhaul to expand digital gaming and strengthen oversight
Budget proposals would expand the digital gaming framework, strengthen regulatory and tax oversight, remove the hotel casino licence category and introduce wider governance and compliance reforms.
Mauritius.- The Mauritius government has proposed major reforms to its gambling laws, including expanding digital gaming, strengthening regulatory oversight and removing the separate hotel casino licence category, under the country’s Budget 2026–2027.
The measures are contained in Section 44 of the Annex to the Budget Speech 2026–2027, which sets out more than 30 proposed amendments to the Gambling Regulatory Authority Act, ranging from digital gaming and tax monitoring to licensing, governance and compliance requirements. The reforms form part of the government’s 2026–2027 Budget package and are expected to be introduced through the Finance Bill 2026 and the Economic and Financial Measures (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026 before requiring parliamentary approval.
Among the headline reforms is the expansion of the digital gaming framework. The Budget Annex states that the amendments would “provide for the licensing of digital games by existing casino operators or gaming house operators or limited payout machine operators”, with operators required to submit a certified copy of their digital game rules to the Gambling Regulatory Authority for approval. The proposals would also introduce a legal definition of “digital games”, while all digital games and platforms would have to be certified by an accredited, independent and approved gaming laboratory before being offered.
The proposed amendments would also strengthen the Gambling Regulatory Authority through the creation of a Responsible Gambling and Communications Division and a Finance and Procurement Division. The Board would be empowered to delegate certain powers and functions to the Chief Executive and the Head of the Legal and Governance Division, while recruiting a firm to act as Secretary to the Board.
Regulatory and licensing reforms
To enhance regulatory and tax oversight, the Budget Annex would “provide for the server and the terminals of betting operators to be connected to the server of the Gambling Regulatory Authority” and “make it mandatory for the server of a casino and a Gaming House licensee to be connected to the Central Electronic Monitoring System of the Mauritius Revenue Authority.” The connected equipment would also have to remain continuously linked to the system, strengthening regulatory oversight and tax compliance through continuous electronic monitoring.
The proposals would remove the separate hotel casino licence category by deleting the legal definitions of “hotel casino”, “hotel casino games”, “hotel casino gaming machine” and “hotel casino operator”, while repealing the associated licensing and operational provisions.
Other proposed amendments include requiring gambling operators to register with the Gambling Regulatory Authority before commencing operations, increasing the number of bookmaker betting terminals from three to five and permitting fixed-odds betting on foreign horse racing during the local off-season.
The reforms would also change licences to operate on a calendar-year basis, revise the calculation of horse racing betting tax so it is based on the total amount staked less winnings payable, and restrict the importation of limited payout machines to licensed operators. They would also introduce new non-refundable processing fees for licence applications and relocation requests, and increase certain licence and application fees.
The reforms would further require licensees to conduct fit and proper assessments of grooms, bookmaker clerks and gaming technicians before applying for their registration, while increasing the maximum penalty for breaching confidentiality provisions under the Gambling Regulatory Authority Act from Rs5,000 (US$106) to Rs100,000 (US$2,119).
