Guyana Sends Gaming Authority Bill Covering Online Betting to Select Committee

A single regulator for casinos, betting shops, gaming lounges and remote platforms is now in committee, 15 weeks after the bill was tabled. Operators who say its taxes are too high now get a forum before it returns to the House.

• Attorney General Anil Nandlall moved on 11 November to refer the Guyana Gaming Authority Bill 2026 to a special select committee, and Speaker Manzoor Nadir confirmed one would be formed
• The bill would create a Guyana Gaming Authority to license, supervise, tax and enforce rules on casinos, gaming lounges, betting shops and their agents, remote gaming platforms and simulcast horse racing
• It also carries anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing obligations, administrative penalties and a responsible gaming fund
• The bill follows Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo's October 2025 pledge of stronger regulation and higher taxes on what Jagdeo called "gambling on demand"
• Local operators have petitioned for regulated online betting and a review of the bill's taxes, while the Guyana Lottery Company has welcomed the government's direction

Guyana's Betting Overhaul Moves to Committee Before Any Debate on Its Substance

The Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mohabir Anil Nandlall SC, moved the motion in the National Assembly on Wednesday 11 November, according to the Department of Public Information (DPI). Speaker Manzoor Nadir confirmed that a committee would be formed to examine the legislation, which will return to the House afterwards. NCN Guyana reported that the motion was made under the Assembly's Standing Orders. Neither account reports a debate on the bill's provisions or a statement from the opposition, and no committee membership or timetable was announced.

The bill, Bill No. 12 of 2026, was tabled on Monday 27 July. Nandlall told the Assembly then that it provides for the "licensing, regulations, supervision, taxation and control of gaming, betting and wagering activities", News Source Guyana reported. It would establish a Guyana Gaming Authority covering casinos, gaming lounges, betting shops, betting shop agents, remote gaming platforms and simulcast horse and harness racing, regulate gaming equipment, and create a responsible gaming fund. The DPI says it would also strengthen compliance with anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism requirements and introduce administrative penalties.

A Pledge Made in October 2025

The DPI presents the bill as fulfilling a commitment by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo. At a press conference on 16 October 2025 Jagdeo said gambling had moved from hotel casinos onto mobile apps and "four or five hundred outlets in every village across the country", and blamed "a very liberal licensing and taxation policy", according to the DPI. Demerara Waves reported Jagdeo saying: "What we have is gambling on demand… so expect stronger regulation in this area and appropriate taxes." The DPI says religious organisations pressed for intervention, citing addiction and its effect on families.

Guyana's existing Gaming Authority was built around casinos. Amendments to the Gambling Prevention Act allow a casino premises licence only for a new hotel or resort complex with at least 150 rooms, and no more than three per administrative region, Stabroek News reported in 2016. Published reports do not say how the new Authority would replace the existing one or the Gambling Prevention Act.

Operators Push Back on Tax

Guyana Times reported on 23 August that operators had sent the Office of the President a petition of about 500 signatures seeking a move to regulated online betting and a review of the proposed taxation. They argue high taxes could push legitimate businesses out and encourage underground gambling, and say more than 5,000 people work directly in the sector. Kalima Ali, general manager and director of the Guyana Lottery Company, said: "We welcome the Government's direction to better regulate the market."

The Committee Is Where the Tax Fight Will Be Settled

Jagdeo framed the reform as making gambling a high-cost, tightly regulated activity; operators say cost on that scale drives play underground. The committee is the first formal place where those two positions can be tested against the bill's actual rates. The channelisation risk is real where most growth is app-based: a betting shop can be closed, but a player with a phone can find an offshore site.

Bringing Remote Gaming Inside the Law Is the Real Test

The bill's widest change is to bring remote platforms and betting shops under one authority that has, until now, been built for hotel casinos. That puts Guyana alongside Trinidad and Tobago, which has lifted its remote gambling ban with licences promised by January 2027, and Haiti, which has created a regulator by decree. Licensing remote operators only works if the regulator can also act against the unlicensed ones, and the published summaries say nothing about blocking or payment controls.

The government has made its case for tighter rules; what it does not yet have is a tax and licensing regime operators say they can live with. The committee's report will show whether Guyana regulates its betting boom or simply drives it offshore.