Penal Code Provisions on Gambling in Nepal
The statutory basis is short and clear, which is why coverage of it should be too. Here is what the code actually says.
What the Code Covers
The Muluki Criminal Code 2074 prohibits gambling and betting, and the prohibition applies to residents rather than to foreign operators. penal provisions attach to participation, and they extend to imprisonment.
The code predates the current online environment and is applied to it, which is a normal pattern in legislation of this kind. Nothing in the drafting exempts activity conducted through a website.
Why It Applies Online
Prohibition attaches to the act of gambling rather than to the venue. That is why an offshore operator being outside Nepali jurisdiction does not place a Nepali resident outside it, and it is the asymmetry at the centre of the whole subject.
Circumventing the network blocking described elsewhere is treated as participation rather than as a separate technical matter, which is why this site publishes no guidance on doing so.
The Practical Position
The risk is personal rather than institutional. An operator faces no consequence under these penal provisions; a resident does, and that distinction is worth understanding clearly rather than approximately.
This is a description of the legal position and not legal advice. The legal article covers it at length and the link page covers the access consequences.
How It Has Been Enforced
Enforcement has concentrated on access rather than on individual prosecution, with network-level blocking as the visible instrument since March 2026. That is a policy choice rather than a limit on the law, and it should not be read as the provisions being inactive.
Prosecutions of operators are not available as a route, because the platforms sit outside Nepali jurisdiction. The asymmetry between an unreachable operator and a reachable resident is the structural fact underneath the whole position.
This Is Description, Not Advice
Everything above describes the legal position as published. Anyone facing a specific situation needs a lawyer rather than a website, and nothing here substitutes for that.
What this page does provide is an accurate statement of what the law says, which is more than most coverage of the subject offers. The legal article covers it at length.
Frequently asked questions
What does the criminal code say?
It prohibits gambling and betting for residents, with penal provisions attaching to participation and penalties extending to imprisonment.
Does it apply to offshore sites?
It applies to the resident rather than to the operator. An offshore site being outside Nepali jurisdiction does not place the user outside it.
Is using a VPN a workaround?
No. Circumvention is treated as participation, not as a separate technical question.