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Israel: gambling regulation and licensing

  • Online sports bettingMonopoly
  • Online casinoProhibited
  • Online pokerProhibited
  • iLotteryMonopoly
  • Land-based (reference)Monopoly
Regulator
Ministry of Finance
Headline tax
Not yet verified
Licence required
No
Last verified
23 Sept 2026

Summary

Israel bans gambling and makes two state-backed exceptions. The Penal Law makes it an offence to organise, advertise or host any game of chance, lottery or bet, and to play a prohibited game. Lotteries are lawful only under a Minister of Finance permit, held by Mifal HaPayis, and betting on sports results belongs by statute to the Israel Sports Betting Board, which sells Winner and Toto through about 1,500 retail stations and its own website and app. There are no casinos, no private licences and no route to one. The Board's own budget, tabled in the Knesset, forecast 2025 turnover of NIS 3.87 billion, about 27.5% of it online, and budgets NIS 4.25 billion for 2026 as it moves customers online with higher payouts. It pays no gambling tax: since 2019 its whole surplus, budgeted at about NIS 737 million for 2026, goes to the State each quarter, and players pay 35% income tax on winnings above an exempt amount. Amendment 15 of 2023 made responsible gaming a statutory duty and put an addiction expert on the Board's council. The Board says it is losing ground to an illegal market it puts at about NIS 19 billion a year, although the Knesset research it cites quotes police estimates of NIS 10 billion to 15 billion, and that it has not been allowed to offer in-play betting. Enforcement is modest: prosecutors obtained three court orders blocking gambling sites between May 2024 and May 2025, and the police opened about 340 gambling files a year in 2020 and 2021. A private bill to create a gambling regulator has been tabled in three successive Knessets without progressing.

Common pitfalls

Treating the Board's turnover as revenue: about 70% goes back in prizes, and what is left after costs goes to the State. Assuming a licence can be bought: there is no licensing regime at all. Reading section 226 as covering every bettor: it penalises playing a prohibited game, which the Law defines separately from a bet. Reading the illegal market estimates as measured: the NIS 19 billion and the NIS 10 billion to 15 billion figures are estimates and they do not agree.

Key facts

Regulator
Ministry of Finance
Regulator type
Government ministry
Headline tax
Not yet verified
Licence required
No
Minimum age
18+
Tax base
No gambling duty applies because there is no private operator. The Board is exempt from taxes to the extent the State is (1967 Law, section 10) and pays its entire positive surplus to the State each quarter (section 9(a1)): about NIS 737 million is budgeted for 2026 on turnover of NIS 4.25 billion. The Law sets minimum shares of turnover for prizes plus surplus, rising to 91.25% on turnover above NIS 3.5 billion, and, at turnover above NIS 2 billion, minimum surplus shares of 20.9% to 24.25%.

Licensing

Licence required
No
Application window
Closed
Local establishment required
Not yet verified
Local server required
Not yet verified
Notable licensees
Israel Sports Betting Board (Winner, Toto), Mifal HaPayis
Barriers to entry
There is no licence to apply for. Sports betting belongs to the Board by statute and lotteries to Mifal HaPayis by permit, and every other form of gambling is a criminal offence for the organiser, the ticket seller, the advertiser and the premises owner. The commercial routes are supplying the Board or running one of its stations; the Board may not contract with a person or company whose conviction or pending indictment makes it unfit in the view of its AML officer, and a police officer may veto a contract on public safety grounds (section 8A(a1) and (a2)).

Licence types

  • Israel Sports Betting Board station agreement

    Scope
    Sale of Winner and Toto products at a retail station. Commissions are capped by the Law at 7% of the first NIS 1,286,000 of a station's annual turnover, 6.25% up to NIS 2,040,000 and 5% above, plus VAT; the Board's 2026 budget sets 4.9% to 7% by product and tier.
    Term
    Up to two years per agreement (1967 Law, section 8A(a))

Taxation

Headline GGR tax
Not yet verified
Effective date
1 Jan 2019
Player winnings tax
Winnings from gambling, lotteries and prize activities are income taxed at 35% (Income Tax Ordinance, section 124B, raised from 30% by the 2016 Economic Efficiency Law), exempt below an amount set by order, which the consolidated text gives as NIS 33,840 for 2024 to 2027.
Withholding mechanism
The payer withholds the tax at source (Income Tax Ordinance, section 164, and the 2003 withholding regulations).
VAT treatment
Station commissions are paid plus VAT (1967 Law, section 8A(c)).
Tax base
No gambling duty applies because there is no private operator. The Board is exempt from taxes to the extent the State is (1967 Law, section 10) and pays its entire positive surplus to the State each quarter (section 9(a1)): about NIS 737 million is budgeted for 2026 on turnover of NIS 4.25 billion. The Law sets minimum shares of turnover for prizes plus surplus, rising to 91.25% on turnover above NIS 3.5 billion, and, at turnover above NIS 2 billion, minimum surplus shares of 20.9% to 24.25%.

Compliance

Minimum age
18+
National self-exclusion
Not yet verified
KYC timing
At purchase for tickets above the threshold, and again at payout.
AML regime
Sections 10B and 10C of the 1967 Law and the 2018 Identification and Prevention of Money Laundering Order: coded identification for high-value tickets, an AML officer and an information security officer, and vetting of contractors and station owners.
KYC requirements
A betting ticket whose possible win is NIS 15,000 or more can be issued only after the bettor registers the last four digits of an ID or passport number in coded form; before paying such a win the Board checks the holder's identity against the code (1967 Law, section 10B, and the 2018 order). The rule does not apply to programmes in which the participant is fully identified (section 10B(k)).
Stake limits
Not yet verified
Reporting obligations
The Board files audited annual financial statements within three months of the year end and reviewed quarterly statements within 60 days (section 7(d)), publishes an income and expenditure report on its website (section 9(c)) and is audited by the State Comptroller (section 3). The Ministers of Culture and Sport and National Security report to the Knesset every two years on enforcement of the ban on selling to minors (section 10A(c)).
Game content restrictions
The Board may offer only betting programmes set by regulations approved by the Ministers and the Knesset Education Committee, and must weigh addiction risk, especially for minors, when adding or changing one (section 8(a)). Its 2026 budget says it offers betting on football, basketball and other sports approved by the Ministers and has not received approval for in-play betting. Mifal HaPayis may not offer betting on sports results (Penal Law, section 231(a)(2)).

Advertising

Advertising permitted
Yes
Watershed
No betting advertising by the Board on Israeli radio or television between 13:00 and 19:00, other than during sport broadcasts or programmes mostly about sport (1967 Law, section 8A1; hours per the Second Schedule as amended in 2021).
Sponsorship rules
Board agreements with sports bodies may cover marketing and operating costs only, up to NIS 70 million a year (section 8D(c)); since 2023 NIS 7 million to 25 million of that must fund social projects, including gambling harm reduction (section 8D(g)). The Board's largest deal is NIS 45 million with the football league administration.
Penalties for breach
Publishing a notice of an unlawful lottery or bet: one year or twice the section 61(a)(3) fine, NIS 150,600 in the consolidated text (Penal Law, section 227).

Restrictions

  • Publishing a notice of a lottery or bet other than a permitted one is an offence (Penal Law, section 227)
  • The Board may not advertise betting on Israeli radio or television between 13:00 and 19:00, except during sports broadcasts or programmes mostly about sport (1967 Law, section 8A1 and Second Schedule)
  • The Law requires regulations banning advertising that links gambling to a significant change in life, praises gambling as such or targets minors (section 8A1(c))
  • Board advertising spend is capped at the higher of NIS 52 million or 1.75% of turnover net of sponsorship, and never above NIS 60 million a year (section 8D(b))

Payments

Credit card ban
Not yet verified
Crypto stance
Not yet verified
Payment blocking regime
No statutory payment blocking. Card companies block payments to gambling sites, and the police told the Knesset Research Center that operators get round this with cryptocurrency and their own tokens.
Withdrawal timeframe rules
Wins on tickets above the identification threshold are paid only by crossed, non-transferable cheque to the identified winner or by transfer to an Israeli bank account in the winner's name; cash is allowed only below the limit in the Law for Reducing the Use of Cash (1967 Law, section 10B(g)).

Enforcement

ISP blocking
Yes
DNS blocking
Not yet verified
Payment blocking
Yes
App store takedowns
Not yet verified
Criminal penalties
Organising a prohibited game, lottery or bet (section 225): three years or twice the section 61(a)(4) fine, NIS 452,000. Playing a prohibited game (section 226): one year or the section 61(a)(2) fine, NIS 29,200. Selling tickets or publishing (section 227): one year or NIS 150,600. Keeping a gambling place (section 228): three years or NIS 452,000; knowingly letting premises: six months or NIS 150,600. Selling Board tickets to a minor: six months (1967 Law, section 10A). Forfeiture of equipment and seized money under sections 234 and 235, with or without a conviction. Amounts are the section 61 figures in the consolidated text.
Operator liability
Sections 225, 227 and 228 reach organisers, ticket sellers, publishers and premises owners; 82% of gambling offences in police files in 2019 to 2021 were organising offences. The NIS 20 million joint enforcement unit funded by Government Decision 1902 of 2016 had not been set up by October 2022, and the Lahav 433 online gambling task force was redeployed in April 2022.
Player liability
Playing a prohibited game is an offence under section 226; 18% of gambling offences in police files in 2019 to 2021 were participation offences. No section expressly penalises placing a bet as distinct from playing a game.

Notable actions

  • Website-blocking orders, May 2024 to May 202513 May 2025

    14 applications and 14 access-restriction orders under section 2 of the 2017 Law, three of them for section 225 gambling offences (the others child abuse material and prostitution advertising); no removal orders, amended orders or reconsiderations.

  • Police and prosecution enforcement, 2019 to mid-202231 Oct 2022

    1,189 police gambling files in 2019 to 2021, falling from 415 in 2019 to 339 a year; 38 of 1,285 files to August 2022 concerned online gambling; forfeiture in about 5% of files. The State Attorney applied for 22 gambling site blocking orders in 2019 and 17 in 2020.

Market data

Figures on this record are analyst estimates, not official regulator data.

Online GGR
Not yet verified
Reporting year
2025
Licensed operators
2

Timeline

  1. 16 Aug 1967

    Regulation of Sports Betting Law published, creating the Israel Sports Betting Board.

  2. 11 Nov 2002

    Knesset passes Penal Law Amendment 71, setting the current structure of gambling fines.

  3. 11 Aug 2016

    Government Decision 1902 funds a NIS 20 million joint enforcement unit against illegal gambling, which was never set up.

  4. 29 Dec 2016

    Economic Efficiency Law takes NIS 600 million of Board reserves and raises the tax on winnings to 35%.

  5. 16 Mar 2017

    Amendment 10 adds broadcast advertising limits, spending caps and identification for high-value tickets.

  6. 26 Jul 2017

    Internet Site Law published, enabling court-ordered blocking of gambling sites.

  7. 22 Mar 2018

    Economic Efficiency Law 2018 sends the Board's entire surplus to the State from 2019.

  8. 16 Apr 2018

    Identification and anti-money laundering order published.

  9. 1 Apr 2022

    Lahav 433 online gambling task force redeployed to tender fraud.

  10. 31 Oct 2022

    Knesset Research and Information Center reports on illegal gambling to the Finance Committee.

  11. 20 Feb 2023

    Private bill to create a Commissioner for the Regulation of Legal Gambling tabled for a third time.

  12. 3 Aug 2023

    Amendment 15 published: responsible gaming duty, new 13-member council and social project funding.

  13. 13 May 2025

    Justice Ministry reports 14 blocking orders in the year to May 2025, three of them for gambling sites.

  14. October 2025: the Board submits its 2026 budget, forecasting 2025 turnover of NIS 3.87 billion and budgeting NIS 4.25 billion for 2026.

Outlook

Nothing in the record points to liberalisation. The Board's 2026 budget asks for new products such as in-play betting and warns that the illegal market is growing faster than the legal one, but no government bill has been tabled. Four private bills are pending at the preliminary stage, including one to create a gambling regulator and two that would redirect the Board's surplus to sport. Amendment 15's temporary rule letting the Board move up to 5% of turnover between its surplus and prizes runs to August 2028, and the Minister of Culture and Sport must report on it to the Knesset by August 2027. The Justice Ministry's next blocking report is due to the Knesset each 1 June.

Frequently asked questions

Is online gambling legal in Israel?
Only the Israel Sports Betting Board's Winner website and app, for sports betting, and lotteries run under a Minister of Finance permit. Organising any other game of chance, lottery or bet is an offence under section 225 of the Penal Law, and playing a prohibited game such as a casino game is an offence under section 226.
Who regulates gambling in Israel?
There is no gambling regulator. The Minister of Finance permits Mifal HaPayis lotteries and, with the Minister of Culture and Sport, approves the Sports Betting Board budget and betting programmes; the police and the State Attorney enforce the criminal ban.
Can a foreign operator get an Israeli licence?
No. There is no licensing regime. Sports betting is reserved to the Board by the 1967 Law and lotteries need a Minister of Finance permit; there are no casinos.
How big is the legal betting market in Israel?
The Sports Betting Board forecast 2025 turnover of NIS 3.87 billion, NIS 1.065 billion of it online, and budgets NIS 4.25 billion for 2026, according to its budget tabled in the Knesset. Its whole surplus, budgeted at about NIS 737 million for 2026, goes to the State.
Are gambling winnings taxed in Israel?
Yes. Winnings from gambling, lotteries and prizes are taxed at 35% under section 124B of the Income Tax Ordinance, withheld by the payer, with an exemption below an amount set by order.
Does Israel block gambling websites?
Yes, by District Court order under the 2017 Internet Site Law, and card companies block payments. The Justice Ministry reported 14 access-restriction orders between May 2024 and May 2025, three of them for gambling sites.

Sources

  1. Regulation of Sports Betting Law (Amendment No. 15) 5783-2023, Sefer HaChukim 3081, p. 650 (passed 30 July 2023, published 3 August 2023)

    Reshumot, Sefer HaChukim (Ministry of Justice), as filed in the Knesset legislation database (translated)

    Tier 1Accessed 23 Sept 2026Published 3 Aug 2023
  2. Regulation of Sports Betting Law (Amendment No. 10) 5777-2017, Sefer HaChukim 2612, p. 464

    Reshumot, Sefer HaChukim (Ministry of Justice), as filed in the Knesset legislation database (translated)

    Tier 1Accessed 23 Sept 2026Published 16 Mar 2017
  3. Tier 1Accessed 23 Sept 2026Published 22 Mar 2018
  4. Tier 1Accessed 23 Sept 2026Published 29 Dec 2016
  5. Penal Law (Amendment No. 71) 5763-2002: fines for sections 225 to 228 (passed 11 November 2002)

    Reshumot, Sefer HaChukim (Ministry of Justice), as filed in the Knesset legislation database (translated)

    Tier 1Accessed 23 Sept 2026
  6. Powers to Prevent Offences by Means of an Internet Site Law 5777-2017, Sefer HaChukim 2650, p. 1040

    Reshumot, Sefer HaChukim (Ministry of Justice), as filed in the Knesset legislation database (translated)

    Tier 1Accessed 23 Sept 2026Published 26 Jul 2017
  7. Regulation of Sports Betting Law 5727-1967, consolidated text to Amendment No. 15 (revision of 22 July 2026)

    Hebrew Wikisource, Israeli legislation project (unofficial consolidated text) (translated)

    Unofficial consolidation. Israel publishes no official consolidated text that could be opened from this network (gov.il refused the connection), so it is used only for current wording and amounts, alongside the Reshumot amending laws.

    Tier 3Accessed 23 Sept 2026
  8. Penal Law 5737-1977, consolidated text: section 61 (fine amounts) and Chapter 8, Article 12, sections 224 to 235 (revision of 7 July 2026)

    Hebrew Wikisource, Israeli legislation project (unofficial consolidated text) (translated)

    Unofficial consolidation. Israel publishes no official consolidated text that could be opened from this network (gov.il refused the connection), so it is used only for current wording and amounts, alongside the Reshumot amending laws.

    Tier 3Accessed 23 Sept 2026
  9. Sports Betting Regulation Order (Identification Means and Prevention of Money Laundering) 5778-2018, as amended 2019, consolidated text

    Hebrew Wikisource, Israeli legislation project (unofficial consolidated text) (translated)

    Unofficial consolidation. Israel publishes no official consolidated text that could be opened from this network (gov.il refused the connection), so it is used only for current wording and amounts, alongside the Reshumot amending laws.

    Tier 3Accessed 23 Sept 2026
  10. Income Tax Ordinance [New Version], consolidated text: sections 2A, 9(28), 124B and 164 with the notes on the 2003 exemption order and withholding regulations (revision of 7 September 2026)

    Hebrew Wikisource, Israeli legislation project (unofficial consolidated text) (translated)

    Unofficial consolidation. Israel publishes no official consolidated text that could be opened from this network (gov.il refused the connection), so it is used only for current wording and amounts, alongside the Reshumot amending laws.

    Tier 3Accessed 23 Sept 2026
  11. Tier 2Accessed 23 Sept 2026Published 3 Mar 2025
  12. Illegal gambling in Israel: data and policy (Knesset Research and Information Center, for the Finance Committee, 31 October 2022)

    Knesset Research and Information Center (translated)

    Gives police estimates of NIS 10 to 15 billion a year for illegal gambling; the Sports Betting Board cites the same centre and date for a NIS 19 billion figure, which does not appear in this report. The report puts the section 226 fine at twice the section 61(a)(2) amount (about NIS 58,000); Penal Law (Amendment No. 71) 5763-2002 set it at the section 61(a)(2) amount itself, so the record follows the statute.

    Tier 2Accessed 23 Sept 2026Published 31 Oct 2022
  13. Tier 2Accessed 23 Sept 2026Published 13 May 2025
  14. Tier 2Accessed 23 Sept 2026Published 20 Feb 2023
  15. Tier 1Accessed 23 Sept 2026
  16. Mifal HaPayis: Minui Pais subscription sign-up and purchase page (archived 20 April 2025)

    Mifal HaPayis (translated)

    The live site timed out from this network; the Internet Archive copy was used.

    Archived copy
    Tier 1Accessed 23 Sept 2026

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This page is industry reference information and not legal advice.

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