Online gambling: no official regulation, but access to offshore sites (Bahamas)

Shortly

There is no separate public e-gaming license for classic online casinos aimed at players in general.

1. mobile/proxy/interactive for licensed resort casinos (limited and controlled), and

2. home segment (gaming houses/web-shops) for residents according to strict KYC/AML rules.

Offshore sites (licenses of Curacao, Malta, etc.) are not blocked at the level of universal filtering, therefore they are de facto available to players from the Bahamas. Profile sources record that offshore operators work, and many residents play without persecution.

1) What exactly allows Gaming Act 2014

• citizens of "permitted foreign jurisdictions," and/or guests located in a licensed casino - and the site must be deployed and approved in the Bahamas. This is not a "general" online license for free work with any players.

In addition, the law separately legalized the home segment - gaming house operator license: interactive operations via the Internet between a web shop operator and an exclusively domestic player are allowed, while the account is opened only in person and the site must be physically located in the Bahamas.

The state page emphasizes: the 2014 frame was needed to streamline the previously unregulated domestic sector.

2) What is not in the system

There is no separate "online casino license" based on the Malta/O-o model. The law prohibits interactive gaming from a site in the Bahamas without a special restricted interactive (for casinos) or gaming house (for web-shops).

Industry sources summarize: online gambling "as such" is not completely legal, with the exception of narrow formats allowed by the act (casino-interactive/mobile and web-shops).

3) Offshore sites: how it works de facto

Despite the lack of a common Bahamian e-gaming license, access to offshore platforms (license holders outside the Bahamas) is not blocked at the public information level: aggregators/guides directly write about the free provision of services by offshore operators and about the massive game of residents without sanctions. This is confirmed by earlier reviews, which noted that online operations from the Bahamas (hosting. "Bs") are prohibited if they do not fall under special licenses, while the work of offshore sites in relation to players in the country actually continues.

4) Home segment (web-shops) vs. offshore

Web-shops is a legal internal e-gaming format: strict offline KYC when opening an account, website and server inside the Bahamas, access only to domestic players, taxes/fees and regulator monitoring. Offshore sites - external jurisdictions, without Bahamian license, with different KUS/payment practices and without local regulator mediation.

5) Background and intentions of the authorities

When the reform was discussed in 2014, the authorities separately emphasized the permission of remote formats for casino resorts (remote/interactive) under harsh conditions. This did not open the market for the free issuance of "online licenses to everyone."

6) Practical tips for players and content creators

• resort casinos (online/mobile/proxy - only in conjunction with a physical casino and under a special license), web-shops (home segment for residents), offshore sites (available de facto, but outside the Bahamian jurisdiction).
• 2. Check the jurisdiction and license of the offshore site; read withdrawal rules and limits.
• 3. Responsible play and data protection: Focus on AML/KYC practices and self-exclusion mechanisms required by legal operators.

As of October 11, 2025, the Bahamas does not have a universal public regime for online casinos. The 2014 law allows narrow formats (interactive/mobile/proxy for licensed resorts and a separate home segment of web-shops). At the same time, offshore sites remain accessible to players, but operate outside of Bahamian regulation, which increases risks and shifts responsibility to the user himself.

• Gaming Act 2014 (interactive/mobile/limited online casino license; web-shops и «domestic player»; hosting and KYC requirements).
• Government section Gaming & Casinos (the goal of the 2014 reform is to streamline domestic online).
• Profile directories/FAQs on offshore access (VSO, etc.).