Poker in Bangladesh: the law, the reality and where players actually play

Bangladesh has a large and curious poker audience, most of it reached through mobile apps, and almost no legal way to play. There are no licensed casinos, no lottery-style exemptions that help card players, and the government blocks and prosecutes online gambling. None of our partner operators accepts players from Bangladesh, so this page is informational only.

Is poker legal in Bangladesh?

No. The Public Gambling Act of 1867, inherited from the colonial period, prohibits gaming houses and gambling in public, and the constitution directs the state to discourage gambling. There are no licensed casinos; the illegal casino operations uncovered in Dhaka's sporting clubs in 2019 led to a nationwide crackdown. Online gambling is treated as gambling under the same Act and as a cybercrime when payments are involved: the telecoms regulator blocks gambling domains, mobile-money providers are required to refuse gambling transactions, and both agents and players have been arrested. There is no skill-game exemption for poker in Bangladeshi law. This is general information, not legal advice.

Where Bangladeshi players play

Abroad. The nearest legal poker rooms are in Goa and Sikkim in India, in Kathmandu's casinos in Nepal, and further afield in Macau, Manila and Singapore. Bangladeshi expatriates in the Gulf and Europe play in the markets where they live.

Online poker and Bangladesh

None of our partner operators accepts players from Bangladesh, and we do not recommend any room. Sites that do advertise to Bangladeshi players are operating illegally there, and the payment channels they use are exactly the ones the authorities police. If the law changes we will update this page.

Nearby markets

India has its own informational page on this site; among the Asian markets our partners serve, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines are the closest.