7/21/2022»»Thursday

Online Gambling Legal In Bangladesh

7/21/2022

Bangladesh: Gambling Laws and Regulations 2020. ICLG - Gambling Laws and Regulations - covers common issues in gambling laws and regulations – including relevant authorities and legislation, application for a licence, licence restrictions, digital media, enforcement and liability – in 39 jurisdictions. Legal Gambling in Bangladesh As mentioned in the introduction, horse race betting is legal in Bangladesh. It might also be permissible under sharīʿah for reasons explained in my article on Pakistan betting law. Of course most Bangladeshi people do not live near a track so this might not be an option.

Bangladesh is one of many nations where restrictive gambling laws do little to quell the demand for gambling among the population. Our gaming laws prevent Bangladeshi casino sites from setting up shop locally, but there are many international gaming sites that are happy to provide us with a wide range of gambling options.

Unfavourable gaming laws mean there are no online casinos in Bangladesh, but the internet makes it possible for us to access many large and well-known gambling sites headquartered in other countries. The legality of visiting foreign casino sites in Bangladesh is open for debate, but we do know that many people choose to play online and there have been no reports of individual people getting in trouble for doing so.

One other thing to keep in mind is that not all gambling websites accept Bangladeshi customers. Furthermore, those that do are not all of equal quality. We have confirmed that the following gaming sites cover both bases; each accepts players from Bangladesh and each is a safe, quality place to play for real money.

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Online gambling legal in bangladesh bangla

Interestingly, our restrictive gambling laws do not present the greatest challenge to playing online. Our banking system is purposely designed to make it difficult to send money outside the country, which in turn can cause some difficulties in funding your online casino account and playing for real money.

This is a real challenge, but it is not insurmountable. First of all, you can attempt to make a deposit using a credit or debit card linked to your personal bank account. There is no risk in doing so, but there is a chance that the transaction is declined.

Your next best bet is to sign up for an account with Neteller. Neteller is an online payments company that serves as an online wallet in which you can store money, make payments and receive payments. The best Bangladeshi casino sites all accept Neteller, so this is a good option if you have had problems depositing with your credit or debit card.

Once you have an account with Neteller, the next step is to fund that account so that you can later move your money from Neteller to the gambling site of your choice. Once again, you may have issues funding your Neteller account due to our restrictive finance laws.

There are two methods to fund Neteller accounts from Bangladesh. One is to contact a friend or someone you trust who already has a Neteller account with funds or who lives in a different country. If your friend is willing to transfer money from his Neteller account to yours, you can ask him to do that and then you just pay him back in person.

The other option is to run an internet search for “Bangladesh Neteller” and you will find a variety of online services that allow you to send them money via a local intermediary in return for the service transferring funds directly to your Neteller account. There is often a fee associated with doing so, but the service works well. You need to keep an eye out for scammers, however, so it is best to start with smaller transfers to establish trust and limit your losses if something goes wrong.

Once you have a Neteller account with money, most of the trouble is over. You can then apply for a Net+ card which is just a debit card linked to your Neteller account. This card can be used to make purchases anywhere MasterCard is accepted and it can also be used to withdraw cash at local ATMs. So if you win money while gambling online, you can ask your online casino to send the money to your Neteller account. From there, you can withdraw cash at the nearest ATM.

Bangladeshi Casino Sites and the Law

The gambling laws of Bangladesh were written well before the advent of the internet, but authorities interpret the law to prevent anyone from opening an online casino in Bangladesh and accepting real money wagers. The laws may be dated, but police do make a serious effort to break up underground gambling rings that operate both in the real world and online.

We should note that local police forces tend to focus on the business of gambling rather than those who simply participate as individuals. While it would be very risky to open your own gambling business, there is very little risk in simply signing up for an account at an online casino and playing games from the privacy of home.

Although Bangladeshi casino sites and other forms of gambling may be prohibited on paper, many people across the nation participate in various forms of gaming every day. Our authorities simply lack the resources and willpower to prevent normal people from betting on everything from the next cricket match to the next spin of the roulette wheel.

Online Gambling Legal In Bangladesh

If you keep your gambling restricted to the internet and you participate only as a player, the risk of any legal trouble is minimal. That being said, the Public Gambling Act of 1867 does make it an offense to be found in a “common gaming house.” Under this law, anyone found in such a house can be fined 100 taka or jailed for up to one month.

The Public Gambling Act in general is a very anti-gambling piece of legislation. In addition to traditional casinos, the Act prohibits all forms of wagering except horse racing betting and lotteries. Every form of gambling minus those exceptions is considered illegal by default.

It is also worth noting that although there are no reports of individuals being arrested for participating in online gambling, the police do occasionally arrest people for participating in real-world gambling. This is not particularly concerning for those who visit online casinos in Bangladesh, but it does set the precedent that individual gamblers can in fact be prosecuted for gambling.

As the second most populated Islamic nation, you can probably imagine – gambling (other than on horse racing) is not allowed under Laws of Bangladesh. Despite the laws of the land and sharīʿah much gambling does happen here. It is not uncommon for friends to wagers with each other on the results of cricket, kabadi, carom and other sports. There are many other opportunities to gamble too. In this article I’ll discuss local law, the most popular forms of gambling here, and how no gaming sites accept players from Bangladesh due to grey laws and IP blocking. You can try www.Royalpanda.com, they work sometimes from Bangladesh but they don’t have sport bets, yet.

Bangladesh Gambling Law

Our gambling law dates to the era of British rule. The Public Gambling Act of 1867, initially created as an India gambling law and inherited by Pakistan, is the basis for our law. We declared this on 30 June, 1973 which was two years after our independence from Pakistan. At the time we also repealed section two, and amended sections three and four. It has been modified a few times to allow certain lotteries (rare), to clarify prize bonds are not gambling, and to add 21% tax charged to horse racing tote and bookmaker operators.

Under the law of the land, the penalty for being caught gambling is up to 1 month in prison and small fine of 100 taka ($1.25 USD). About a decade ago there was a push to increase the fine to 5000 taka. This never came to be and the law is only selectively enforced. This is despite the fact our constitution says “the State shall endeavor to prevent gambling and prostitution”.

Violating our own constitution, prostitution was legalized here in 2000. Furthermore: the pool-clubs, restaurants, and café’s people gather at to make spot bets on cricket are mostly well-known. The police only make occasional raids. It is as if this is to more dispel the idea our nation has rejected the Sunnah than to actually prevent non-halal activity. For a nation that is over 90% Islamic and renewed Islam as our national religion in 2011, this is in many ways Ironic. The fact however remains – Bangladeshi people like to and will continue to gamble.

Online Betting from Bangladesh

Online betting has only recently become popular in Bangladesh. The websites that our players use are foreign ones. These are licensed in other places of the world such as the United Kingdom. One of the most used websites is www.bet365.com which is licensed in the UK and owned by the same family that owns the English Premier League football franchise Stoke City FC. This is a very good company.

At Bet365 it is possible to bet Bangladesh Premier League (BDL), Kabadi World Cup and international sports televised here such as EPL and La Liga football and IPL cricket. They are very popular for cricket spot-bets and in-play betting. Here you can bet match winner straight or with a spread. You can bet total runs, most match sixes, next dismissal, innings runs, session runs, dismissal method, next over runs, and much more. They also offer horse race betting, casino games, online poker, and bingo from the same account.

Depositing and Getting Paid

Gambling

For online betting from Bangladesh, opening a www.neteller.com account is suggested. This is an e-wallet that works like an online bank account. Because they do not offer accounts in Bangladeshi taka (BDT) you should open you account in United States dollar (USD).

Once your account is opened you should apply for a NETELLER NET+ card also in USD. This is a free card that has a MasterCard symbol on it. You can use it to spend your NETELLER balance anywhere MasterCard is accepted including both in-person and online. You can also use the card to withdrawal your NETELLER balance at an ATM.

With NETELLER it is possible to move money between online betting sites. Let’s say you have $300 in your BET365 account and you want to try two new sites and spend $100. You can withdrawal $300 from Bet365 to NETELLER. You can then use NETELLER to deposit $100 to Ladbrokes, $100 to Betfair and can take the final $100 out at any local ATM (the ATM will convert dollar to taka for you).

Initially to get started there are three way to add money to your NETELLER account.

  1. Credit or Debit Card – The problem with this method is not all cards are accepted. You’ll need an international debit card approved for internet transactions such as this one by Standard Chartered. Even though approved for online transactions these cards do not always work with NETELLER.
  2. Bank Transfer – The challenge with this method is that Bangladesh has strict rules for remitting funds out of the country. You may be able to get around this by using Sonali Exchange. See their website www.sonaliexchange.com for details.
  3. Transfer Service – If you search the internet for items such as purchase NETELLER Bangladesh you can find local companies that sell NETELLER cash for a small fee. This method is risky as sometimes these sites are scams. You can do this in very small increments many times. This way you do not lose a lot of money if it is a scam. In time you can find which are honest.

Also it is a good idea to also have account with NETELLER’s e-wallet competitors www.skrill.com and www.entropay.com. If you get international debit cards from Bangladeshi banks you can try the card at all three e-wallet sites. EntroPay is more expensive for fees but seems to take more cards than NETELLER. Initially getting set-up to bet online is a hassle. But once you have money at online betting sites moving it around between these e-wallets and cashing out your winning is easy.

Legal Gambling in Bangladesh

As mentioned in the introduction, horse race betting is legal in Bangladesh. It might also be permissible under sharīʿah for reasons explained in my article on Pakistan betting law. Of course most Bangladeshi people do not live near a track so this might not be an option. What is an option is buying prize bonds.

Prize Bonds in Bangladesh

In June 1974 the government began issuing prize bonds, originally costing 10 taka per. These were increased to 50 taka bonds in 1985 and to their current cost of 100 taka per in 1995. These are bearer instruments the holder owns and can be redeemed for cash. These are in fact government debt and all bonds are issued by Central Bank of Bangladesh (Bangladesh Bank). These pay no interest but rather a drawing is held every three-month. Those holding the bond numbers drawn win a prize.

The current prize amounts according to bangladesh.gov.bd are the ones shown below:

The above data reflects that there are currently 30 series of bonds on the market. This is because the scheme pays 1 prize each for first and second, 2 prizes each for third and forth and 40 prizes for fifth place per series. Each series has 10,00,000 bonds. In order to be eligible for the prize you must have held the bond for at least 60-days prior to its purchase.

Much more about prize bonds can be found Google searching. Also some questions are answered in the Prize Bond FAQ by Bangladesh Bank. In short this works much like playing the lottery. However because these are bearer instruments that represent government debt and can be redeemed, this is not considered gambling and is not a violation of Bangladeshi law.