Egypt has moved to explicitly clamp down on online gambling, with amendments to the Cybercrime Law now set to condemn serious-case defaulters to punishments such as life imprisonment.
Gambling has long remained an illegal activity in the North African country, with the laws strictly prohibiting nationals from participating in any form of land-based betting or casino games. However, there is an exemption for persons who hold foreign passports to engage with strictly licensed hotel-casino venues.
While online gaming is also banned for citizens, weaknesses have emerged in the framework in recent times as it has become increasingly outdated, allowing for a legal grey area that offshore operations have exploited.
Ahmed Badawi, Chair of the Communications and Information Technology Committee in the House of Representatives, stated last month that the Egyptian government will now specifically address the electronic gambling gap.
Thus, the new amendments to the Cybercrime Law will designate online betting as a criminal offence.
Another MP, Martha Mahrous, had long voiced her displeasure towards electronic gambling, stressing in a television interview that the menace of the epidemic was fast spreading and no adequate rules exist to effectively deal with it.
Aside from a single Penal Code article that criminalises gambling activity in a euphemistic sense, there is simply not enough to outlaw online betting completely, Mahrous insists.
In her draft bill, which did the rounds in January 2025, Mahrous suggested certain degrees of prosecution for offenders. Still, Badawi says the government has moved against adopting the provisions of her bill verbatim and is working on changes that closely align.
Suggested sanctions from her bill include that agents and de facto managers found to be inducing betting would face up to five years in prison (minimum 2 years) while paying about EGP1 million to EGP5 million in fines, payment aggregators to serve up to six months’ imprisonment and fined between EGP50,000 and EGP200,000 while any sponsor or operator will land a two to five-year jail term with a fine between EGP5 million to EGP10 million.
The bill detailing the new amendments is yet to be tabled before the parliament for debate, though Badawi said it would be submitted after the Eid al-Adha holiday.
Egypt moves to block online gambling access
In February, Badawi informed that the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) and the Supreme Council for Media Regulation were implementing block actions aimed at restricting up to 80 percent of online gambling activity. This, he said, was based on technical reports he prepared with a special committee.
As part of a wider zero-tolerance campaign, prominent operators 1xbet and Melbet were the big casualties early on as they were removed from App Store and Google Play, so Egyptians can no longer have access to them.
While there remains the issue of users who use VPNs to access blocked sites, Badawi reiterated that the new frameworks will provide tougher punishments and even fines for defaulters.
What would the Parliament’s resolve mean for iGaming in the country?
With the suggestions that punishments as severe as life sentences could be in the offing, it is a pointer that Mahrous’ proposed charges could be classed as a mere slap on the wrist.
The prognosis is that any outcome on this proposal will undoubtedly signal a massive shift from a weakly enforced ban on online gaming to a stringent policy that will completely abolish any such operations.
