Market Guide · Asia

Online gambling in Asia 2026: where it is licensed, banned or tightening

Asia is often described as one big growth market. For online casino it is closer to the opposite: most of the region bans it, and in 2025 and 2026 several governments tightened the rules further. The licensed opportunities are real but narrow. This is the picture market by market.

Market by market

Philippines: licensed, but closed to newcomers

PAGCOR remains the region’s main regulator of online casino. In August 2026 it said the moratorium on new online licences, in place since March 2024, stays, with 48 licensed operators left from 74. In September it announced tighter oversight, including rules for B2B providers that work through accredited platform operators, payment gateway accreditation aligned with the central bank and stronger KYC. Bills to ban online gambling advertising (House Bill 10982 and Senate Bill 2347) are pending in Congress. More on our Philippines page.

Japan: illegal, and now harder to promote

Online casino has never been legal in Japan; playing at offshore sites counts as illegal gambling. An amendment to the Basic Act on Countermeasures Against Gambling Addiction, in force since 25 September 2025, also bans offering online casino sites or apps to people in Japan and promoting them through links, affiliate sites or influencers.

India: online money games banned

India’s Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025 bans online money games, whether based on skill or chance, including the advertising and payment processing behind them. Its rules took effect on 1 May 2026. E-sports and social games remain permitted.

Singapore and Cambodia

In Singapore, the Gambling Regulatory Authority states that Singapore Pools is the only operator licensed to provide remote gambling. In Cambodia online gambling has been illegal since 1 January 2020; from October 2026 the government has also suspended the streaming of live-dealer games from licensed land-based casinos to foreign players, after inspections led to 20 licences being revoked and 29 suspended.

Vietnam and Thailand

Neither country licenses online casino. Vietnam lets residents gamble only in selected land-based casinos under a pilot programme. Thailand’s proposal for licensed entertainment complexes concerns land-based resorts, not online play.

What it means for operators and suppliers

The licensed online opportunity in Asia today is the Philippines, and only through operators that already hold a PAGCOR licence. Everywhere else, content must stay switched off. A content integration has to enforce that at game launch, market by market. Our Asia page covers the region, and the casino API applies availability per licence.

Sources: Philstar (PAGCOR, 27 August 2026); Yogonet (PAGCOR oversight, 16 September 2026; Philippine advertising bill, 3 September 2026; Cambodia, 9 September 2026); DLA Piper and NEXT.io (Japan); Gambling Regulatory Authority of Singapore; India Briefing (India’s online gaming rules).

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