Poker in Morocco: where it is played, and what we can actually verify

Morocco's poker is concentrated in one room with an outsized reputation. The Casino de Marrakech, inside the Es Saadi resort, has been open since 1952 and in the space of seven weeks in autumn 2026 hosted both the Unibet Open and the Irish Open's first North African festival. This page collects what we have read on primary pages — and is equally plain about what we have not.

Where poker is actually played

The Casino de Marrakech is the country's poker room of record. Its own published game list separates house-banked tables (Stud Poker, Ultimate Texas Hold'em) from player-versus-player formats (Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Dealer's Choice), which is the distinction that matters when a casino advertises 'poker' — plenty of North African and European houses mean a dealer-banked table game by it.

Morocco has other casinos, in Marrakech, Tangier, Agadir, El Jadida and elsewhere. We have not yet verified from their own pages whether any of them spread player-versus-player poker, and we would rather say so than list rooms we have not checked. Those verifications are queued.

The festival calendar

Es Saadi names four recurring events the casino has hosted: the World Poker Tour National, the World Series of Poker Circuit, the Winamax SISMIX and the Marrakech Poker Open. Two more landed in 2026. The Unibet Open played eleven days there from 24 September to 4 October, with a 12,000 MAD Main Event on 50,000 chips and a 24,750 MAD Super High Roller to close. The Irish Open follows from 10 to 15 November with 36 events, buy-ins from EUR 140 to EUR 3,000, a EUR 1,155 Main Event over four flights, and the first Hendon Mob Championship ever played in North Africa.

Money

The currency is the Moroccan dirham, and it is what the cage takes whatever a schedule advertises. Unibet published its Marrakech buy-ins in dirham, quoted as an entry fee plus an administration fee — 10,800 + 1,200 MAD for the Main Event, for example, so budget the total. The Irish Open advertises euro figures and converts them, and says itself that the exact amount can move slightly with the rate; the dirham's peg keeps that movement small. Card payment is normal in hotels and the casino. Cash is what taxis and the souks want.

Marrakech keeps the same clock as Dublin and London, which makes it an unusually easy trip for European players — no jet lag, and a short flight.

What we have not verified

We have not read Morocco's gambling statutes or its regulator's own pages, so this site makes no claim about how casinos are licensed here, how online play is treated, or how winnings are taxed. Anything you read on that elsewhere, including from us in future, should be checked against a primary source before you act on it. Nothing here is legal or tax advice.

We also hold no Moroccan player records yet. That is a gap rather than a judgement — the ranking source we use for player earnings has been unreadable since mid-October.

A word on how to treat it

Poker is entertainment and a game of skill played for stakes, not an income or a way out of a hole. Play with money you have decided in advance you can lose, and stop when that is gone.