Nepal maintains a bifurcated gambling regime: general gambling and betting is criminally prohibited under the Penal Code 2074, while a narrow licensed land-based casino track, open to foreigners only, operates under Casino Regulation 2070 on a one-casino-per-licence basis. Online gambling and betting are explicitly and separately banned regardless of offshore hosting. This period's dominant development is the Tourism Bill 2081's clause-by-clause House of Representatives review, which has drawn 263 lawmaker amendments concentrated on casino provisions, touching supervisory structure, foreign-ownership limits and anti-money-laundering obligations. Enforcement against unlicensed online gambling has intensified in parallel, with a coordinated Cyber Bureau action and reported crypto-linked settlement of unlicensed betting flows, indicating a regulatory environment that is tightening on multiple fronts simultaneously even as its underlying casino-licensing architecture remains under active legislative debate.
Jurisdictions › Nepal › Overview
Nepal · Question 01 of 11
Overview: What kind of market is this?
Unfavourable · Confirmed · AI-generated · Back to full Nepal report →
Key section parameters
| Jurisdiction | Nepal (NP) |
|---|---|
| Regulator | Recorded in register |
| Favourability | Unfavourable |
| Confidence | Confirmed |
| Review status | AI-generated |
| Last collected | 18 Oct 2026 |
Summary answer
Nepal maintains a bifurcated gambling regime: general gambling and betting is criminally prohibited under the Penal Code 2074, while a narrow licensed land-based casino track, open to foreigners only, operates under Casino Regulation 2070 on a one-casino-per-licence basis. Online gambling and bettin…
Key headwinds & conditions
- Online gambling criminally prohibited and ISP-blocked
- FATF grey list with blacklisting risk
- No online licensing pathway
- Nepali nationals barred even from licensed land-based casinos