Licensing and regulation: Can we get a licence?

31 MIRC Ch.4, the Gaming and Recreation Prohibition Act 1998, is the sole instrument governing gambling in the Marshall Islands. Section 402 imposes a general prohibition on gaming and gambling activity, and section 403 creates the only exception: local government councils may issue per-occasion permits authorising non-profit bingo, raffle, or cakewalk events. The Act establishes no licence class, no application process, and no issuing authority for commercial gambling of any kind, and there is no business-to-business registration or supply pathway under the statute. As at 4 October 2026, no subsequent amending Act to 31 MIRC Ch.4 had been identified in the legislative record, so the prohibition and its narrow carve-out stand as the complete licensing picture for this jurisdiction. There is no licensing authority comparable to a gambling commission or ministry division; the statute is administered through the police enforcement powers set out in section 405 rather than through a dedicated regulator issuing or reviewing licences.