Bangladesh Bans Gambling, Tightens Penalties

Key Points

• The Public Gambling Act, 1867 of Bangladesh has been revoked, and a new law has been enacted which applies not only to online gambling, online casinos, digital wallets, but even match fixing.
• Participating in online gambling attracts imprisonment for up to seven years, along with hefty fines amounting to BDT 50 million.
• There was not even one dissident voice amongst MPs in passing this law, despite strong debates regarding search, seizure, and blocking without a court order.

Parliament passed the Gambling Prevention Bill this week, putting an end to legislation that had been sitting largely untouched since 1867. In its place stands a law drafted specifically for online betting, digital wallets, and mobile financial services.

Not one MP voted against it. It is already in force.

Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed tabled the bill following recommendations from the parliamentary standing committee on the law ministry. The government’s case was straightforward enough: legislation drafted under British colonial rule was never going to handle cryptocurrency accounts, offshore betting apps, or match-fixing networks operating through encrypted messaging platforms.

What the Law Actually Punishes, and How Hard?

The Gambling Prevention Act organises penalties based on proximity to the crime. Anyone discovered directly or indirectly indulging in gambling at the most basic level of gambling is subject to two years in prison, a fine of BDT 200,000 (approximately $1,600) or both.

Running or enabling online or remote gambling makes the penalty jump to five years in prison, along with fines that go up to BDT 10 million ($80,000). For those placing bets remotely, the law leaves them hanging out to dry, giving them seven years in jail and fines up to BDT 50 million.

Beyond the headline numbers, the act catalogues 24 categories of gambling-related activity alongside 14 categories of punishment, giving courts a framework to work within rather than leaving them with unchecked latitude.

A Law Built to Leave No Gaps

Rarely does gambling legislation name its targets precisely. The act lists poker, card games, bingo, lottery, dice games, bookmaking, betting, match fixing, and spot fixing by name. Digital gambling platforms, digital wallets, and crypto wallets all fall within its scope.

The definition of what counts as a gambling venue has been redrawn almost entirely. Homes, clubs, offices, cyber cafés, vehicles, websites, mobile applications, social media groups, and data centres are all included now, regardless of whether they are physical or virtual. That is not a random list; it maps exactly where gambling networks have migrated as they moved away from physical back-room operations and into digital infrastructure that the 1867 act had no language to address.

The Vote Was Unanimous. The Debate Was Anything But.

Unanimity in the division lobby does not mean agreement in the chamber. Several MPs raised serious objections to provisions allowing police to search premises, seize materials, and block websites or mobile applications without first obtaining court approval.

National Citizen Party MP Akhter Hossen warned the provisions could infringe on citizens’ rights and be misused, raising the prospect of the powers being turned against critical media. Jamaat MP Nazibur Rahman was equally direct, cautioning against handing police what he called “unconditional” seizing powers and arguing the clauses could conflict with the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Home Minister Ahmed held his ground. Waiting for court approval, he argued, hands gambling websites and digital evidence enough time to disappear before enforcement can act. He added that comparable powers already exist for police under other legislation. Opposition Chief Whip Nahid Islam backed the bill but did not conceal his frustration that opposition amendments had been left out, calling on the government to enforce the law firmly without riding roughshod over citizens’ rights.

Parliament Also Stripped the Cyber Security Act of Its Gambling Provisions

The same session saw parliament pass the Cyber Security (Amendment) Bill 2026, removing Section 20 of the Cyber Security Act, which had previously set out punishments for gambling in cyberspace. With the Gambling Prevention Act now the primary instrument for betting offences in Bangladesh, Law Minister Md Asaduzzaman said splitting jurisdiction across two separate pieces of legislation no longer served any purpose.

How Bangladesh Got to This Point?

Nothing about this law was sudden. Enforcement had been building steadily for more than a year before parliament acted, with each step tightening the grip on illegal gambling networks. In May 2025, the Criminal Investigation Department identified more than 1,000 mobile banking agents with evidence of involvement in online gambling transactions and referred their names to Bangladesh Bank, recommending licence cancellations and financial penalties.

By late May 2025, legal proceedings had been opened against more than 1,100 agents, with the government stating that banks, mobile financing agents, and other financial institutions connected to such activity would face the same treatment. The Cyber Security Ordinance 2025 was already in force by that point, criminalising gambling across cyberspace. Shortly after, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit suspended or froze around 55,000 Mobile Financial Service accounts connected to online gambling and digital hundi operations, a figure Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury placed on the parliamentary record on 24 June 2026.

Judicial pressure was exercised in parallel with enforcement during the entire process. The High Court instructed the formation of a seven-member panel for investigating the endorsement of gambling websites by celebrities through both social and traditional media in April 2025 following a petition filed by Mahin M Rahman, Supreme Court lawyer. Another bench questioned the government regarding online gambling promotions and inquired about reasons for continuing the use of YouTube, TikTok, WhatsApp, and Google Play Store by gambling sites in May. On 18 June 2026, at the 10th Cabinet Meeting of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, in-principle approval was given to the draft Gambling Prevention Act.

Expert Analysis

Unlike other countries which have upgraded laws to regulate the situation, Bangladesh has changed the whole system of rules by integrating online gambling, sports gambling, and virtual casinos into a model that considers the problem as an offence against public finances before anything else.

Seven-year jail sentences for the participants involved in the gambling is a penalty that far exceeds anything you would see in similar jurisdictions, and it shows something intentional: the government of Dhaka is trying to tackle the problem from the side of demand, not only supply. Including cryptocurrencies and social media accounts in the legal description of the venues used for gambling demonstrates that the government has recognised and focused on the loopholes in law enforcement.

The unresolved question sits inside the enforcement provisions. Powers that let police act without prior court approval may speed up action against gambling networks considerably, but they carry the same misuse risk that opposition MPs named openly during the parliamentary debate. Whether those powers are used with discipline, and whether any informal oversight structures grow around them over time, will determine whether this law delivers on its stated purpose or generates its own set of civil liberties problems in parallel. Bangladesh has the legislation it wanted. What happens next depends entirely on how it is applied.