Online gambling in Vanuatu: regulation, licence and market guide

Is online gambling legal in Vanuatu?

Vanuatu was one of the first jurisdictions to legislate for online gambling. The Vanuatu Interactive Gaming Act (Cap. 261), which commenced on 31 May 2000 and was tightened in 2018, allows the Minister of Finance to license a locally registered company to conduct interactive games, with the Director of Customs and Inland Revenue as regulator. In 2024 the government repealed the 2003 fee and tax orders, set a €5,000 application fee and a €10,000 annual licence fee per domain, and appointed VGA Limited, trading as the Vanuatu Gaming Authority, as the exclusive agent processing applications through an online portal. Licences can run for up to 15 years. Land-based casinos, lotteries and betting are licensed separately for the domestic market of about 330,000 people, so the interactive licence is used almost entirely to serve players abroad, subject to the laws of each target market.

Regulated: Private operators can hold a local licence for online casino and/or betting.

Who regulates gambling in Vanuatu?

• Department of Customs and Inland Revenue (DCIR) — Statutory regulator under the Interactive Gaming Act: the Director approves games, receives returns and tax and supervises licensees
• Vanuatu Gaming Authority (VGA Limited) (VGA) — Exclusive agent appointed in 2024 to process interactive gaming licence applications and day-to-day compliance in partnership with the DCIR
• Ministry of Finance and Economic Management (MFEM) — The Minister grants interactive gaming licences, sets conditions and makes the fee and tax orders

Vanuatu gambling licence: how it works

An applicant must be a company registered in Vanuatu under the Companies Act and applies in writing to the Minister through the VGA portal, providing a business plan, a company probity form, details of each key person and beneficial owner, and the source of the funds used to capitalize the business (requirements added by the 2018 amendment). The Minister grants the licence after consulting the Regulator and sets its conditions; the term cannot exceed 15 years. Games must be approved by the Regulator before launch, the licensee must bank with a Vanuatu-licensed financial institution and keep its gambling records in Vanuatu, and interactive gaming tax is paid monthly with a return. The licence authorizes operation from Vanuatu; whether players in any other country may be accepted depends on that country's law and is a matter for the operator's counsel. Conducting interactive gaming in Vanuatu without a licence is an offense carrying up to VT 25 million in fines or 15 years' imprisonment for an individual and VT 125 million for a company.

What an applicant needs

• Company registered in Vanuatu under the Companies Act, with a registered business name
• Business plan, company probity form and key-person details for directors and managers
• Beneficial ownership disclosure and evidence of the source of capital (2018 amendment)
• Games approved by the Regulator before they are offered
• Bank account with a Vanuatu-licensed financial institution and gambling records kept in Vanuatu
• Monthly interactive gaming tax return and payment by the last working day of the following month
• Compliance with Vanuatu AML/CFT obligations for financial institutions and designated businesses

Gambling taxes in Vanuatu

• Operators: Interactive gaming tax under Order No. 110 of 2024, expressed as a percentage of a licensee's gross turnover and a percentage of gross gaming revenue on wagering activity; the VGA's public summary describes the tax as 1% of gross gaming revenue. Confirm the current calculation with the DCIR before modeling. Vanuatu levies no corporate income tax.
• Players: None; Vanuatu has no personal income tax and does not tax gambling winnings.
• Also: The Act caps interactive gaming tax at 5% of gross turnover for fixed-odds wagering and 18% of gross profit (amount played less winnings) for other games; the actual rate is set by regulation. Fees are denominated in euros and payable to the Regulator.

Advertising, player protection, KYC and payments

Advertising

The Act contains no detailed advertising code; licence conditions set by the Minister and the laws of each target market govern marketing. Advertising to residents of countries where online gambling is prohibited exposes the licensee to those countries' enforcement.

Responsible gaming

Licence conditions and the Regulator's game-approval process are the main tools; the Act requires that games are fair and approved, and the 2018 amendment added probity and beneficial-ownership standards. Operators typically adopt age verification, limits and self-exclusion to meet partner and payment-provider expectations.

Identity and age verification

Licensees are subject to Vanuatu's AML/CFT framework and must identify players for payouts and suspicious-transaction reporting; the Regulator may inspect records and obstruction is an offense with fines of up to VT 15 million.

Payments

Licensees must hold their operating accounts with a Vanuatu-licensed financial institution. The VGA accepts the application fee in BTC, ETH, BCH and USDT but not the annual licence fee; player payment methods depend on the operator's acquiring and the rules of each market served.

Notable restrictions

• Only a Vanuatu-registered company may hold an interactive gaming licence
• Games require Regulator approval before launch
• Records and banking must be maintained in Vanuatu
• Serving players in other countries is subject to those countries' laws; the licence confers no right to do so
• Unlicensed interactive gaming conducted wholly or partly in Vanuatu is a criminal offense

Vanuatu iGaming market: size, players and payments

No reliable public estimate. The domestic market is small (about 330,000 people) and served by a few licensed land-based casinos, lotteries and betting outlets; the interactive licence is an export product and the DCIR does not publish licensee revenue.

A handful of land-based casinos serve tourists in Port Vila; the number of active interactive licensees is not published by the DCIR or VGA.

Timeline: how Vanuatu got here

1. 1993Betting (Control) Act regulates land-based betting
2. 2000-05Vanuatu Interactive Gaming Act (No. 16 of 2000) commences on 31 May, making Vanuatu an early online gaming licensor
3. 2003Interactive Gaming (Fees) and (Calculation of Tax) Regulation Orders set the first fee and tax schedules
4. 2018-01Amendment Act commences on 5 January, adding key-person, beneficial-ownership and source-of-funds requirements and raising penalties
5. 2024-07Order No. 110 of 2024 sets new application and licence fees and tax calculation, effective 1 July
6. 2024-08Extraordinary Gazette No. 5 publishes the new orders; VGA Limited becomes exclusive agent with an online application portal

Outlook

The 2024 relaunch signals that Vanuatu wants to compete with other international licensing jurisdictions on cost and speed. Watch for published licensee lists, clearer responsible-gaming and AML guidance from the DCIR and VGA, and how banks, payment providers and game studios treat the licence in due diligence. Operators should also expect target-market regulators, notably those that now criminalize promotion by unlicensed foreign sites, to look through the licence to where players sit.

Launching in Vanuatu with GameBridge

Model decided with counsel. The right model depends on the operator's purpose: a company that holds a Vanuatu interactive gaming licence for international markets runs on GameBridge under the turnkey model, while the domestic market is too small to plan around, and GameBridge does not hold a Vanuatu licence.

GameBridge works with Vanuatu licensees as licence holders: the operator's Vanuatu company holds the interactive gaming licence and configures its brand on the platform with geo-controls that admit only the countries its counsel has cleared and exclude prohibited markets by default. The platform supplies the game-approval documentation the Regulator requires for each title, monthly gross turnover and gross gaming revenue reports in the format needed for the tax return, KYC and AML tooling aligned to Vanuatu and target-market rules, responsible-gaming limits and self-exclusion, and multi-currency wallets with English and French site languages. Payment methods are added on request through the operator's acquiring, and the certification package ships with every GameBridge Studios and Originals version.

• Per-country geo lists with prohibited markets excluded by default
• Game documentation and RNG certification package for Regulator approval
• Monthly turnover and GGR reporting exports for the interactive gaming tax return
• KYC, AML screening and suspicious-activity reporting workflows
• Responsible-gaming limits, self-exclusion and age verification
• Multi-currency wallets with English and French site languages

Licensees draw on the aggregated catalog of {providersAvailable} game providers, GameBridge Originals and GameBridge Studios exclusives, each supplied with the certification files the Regulator's game-approval step requires.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and review

Reviewed against the sources below on 11 September 2026. Regulation changes; confirm the current position with local counsel before launch.

• Vanuatu Interactive Gaming Act [Cap 261], consolidated edition with 2018 amendment — Vanuatu Trade Portal (Government of Vanuatu), accessed 2026-09-11
• Extraordinary Gazette No. 5 of 2024 – Interactive Gaming (Application Fee, Licence Fee and Calculation of Tax) Regulation Order No. 110 of 2024 — Republic of Vanuatu Official Gazette, accessed 2026-09-11
• Vanuatu Gaming Authority – Vanuatu Gaming License — VGA Limited, accessed 2026-09-11
• Application for an Interactive Gaming Licence (Interactive Gaming Act No. 16 of 2000) — Department of Customs and Inland Revenue, accessed 2026-09-11

Regulatory summaries are provided for orientation only and are not legal advice. Licensing requirements change; we validate them with you during scoping.