Tunisia

The principal development for Tunisia is a draft 2027 Finance Bill provision, article 24 paragraph 3, that would raise the tax rate on online games and competitions conducted via communication or ICT means from 40 percent to 60 percent. The provision amends article 17 of Law n°48/2024 as previously amended by the 2026 Finance Law, and is reported across multiple Tunisian outlets covering the national budget process, dated 15 and 16 October 2026. The bill has not been adopted by parliament and the provision's own Journal Officiel text was not directly retrieved. No other material development in licensing, enforcement, technical compliance, platform rules, commercial activity, or market structure was found in this window. A separate deputies' bill, 2026/009, which would criminalise all gambling including online gambling, remains before the General Legislation Committee with no dated progress.

Decree-Law No. 74-20 of 24 October 1974, on fairground installations, parlour games and lotteries, approved by Law No. 96 of the same year, is the sole governing instrument and remains in force unchanged. It criminalises games of chance and lottery schemes generally, carving out only a narrow exemption for land-based casinos restricted to foreign tourists under a tightly controlled regime. No licensing framework exists for online betting or online casino. Draft law 09/2026, filed by twenty-three deputies on 19 January 2026 and referred to the Commission de la legislation generale on 29 January 2026, would redefine jeux de hasard to explicitly capture physical and digital chance-based financial gain, impose a default prohibition subject to narrow exceptions, and add a chapter criminalising electronic and digital money games. The bill has not been enacted and remains at committee stage.

No tax regime is open to private online operators. Reported fiscal touchpoints: standard VAT 19%; a 25% withholding on gambling winnings; and a 2021 finance-law flat 15% tax on the gross operating margin of betting/gambling/lottery organisers introduced as an anti-grey-market measure. Casinos and Promosport are taxed as Tunisian companies.

Gambling is a blacklisted/restricted merchant category for Tunisian acquirers, and onboarding gambling merchants typically results in immediate rejection. The BCT supervises banks and PSPs and enforces strict FX controls; foreign PSPs cannot operate directly without local licensing. A 2018 BCT statement criminalises unauthorised virtual-currency activity. The 2026 bill would compel payment institutions to block gambling-linked transactions.

Only Promosport and the licensed tourist casinos may legally market their products. All marketing of private or offshore gambling to Tunisian residents is prohibited, and Arabic-language affiliate/social marketing of offshore brands is illegal. The 2026 bill would extend penalties to advertisers and facilitators.

The reform trajectory is tightening, not liberalising. A January 2026 draft (23 MPs) and a parallel Ministry of Youth & Sports revision (December 2025) both aim to suppress offshore online gambling and align with AML/integrity standards rather than open a licensing regime. No politically viable path to private-operator liberalisation exists given Islamic social constraints; the only legislative motion is restrictive.