Uzbekistan has regulation for online betting, lotteries, and internet-based games of chance. However, a licensed market for these activities doesn’t function yet as designed. In an interview on 18 March, National Agency for Prospective Projects official Askarjon Zakirov indicated that no companies had yet been granted licenses for bookmakers, online risk games, or lotteries. He also indicated that companies were coming to the regulator for consultations, although no company had yet progressed to the filing stage.
The framework for online betting and internet risk games was established under a presidential decree signed in April 2024. The new regime came into effect from 1 January 2025, and NAPP was appointed as the licensing authority. As of now, the gap between regulation and execution appears to be the actual issue at hand.
Why the First Licence Has Not Arrived
Zakirov’s words suggest there are two reasons for the delay. The first is the state of readiness on the operator side. The applicants are still studying and preparing for compliance. The second is the market’s structure, designed with a focus on control, financial security, and player checks.
The official NAPP documentation demands the following from operators:
- Be a legal entity based in Uzbekistan;
- Host the platforms on servers located within the country;
- Have paid-in capital and reserve funds in cash;
- Use a national domain;
- Use software that is certified and integrated into the Unified State Register of Players and Bets;
- Conduct mandatory digital identification before players can start participating.
The state has also designed the system around social restrictions. For instance, minors, certain categories of public-sector employees, and people included in the social protection databases cannot participate. This policy direction explains the rationale behind the government’s decision to portray the delay in the licensing system as a filtering process rather than a failure.
A Market Built for Control Before Growth
The infrastructure itself seems to still be in the process of being deployed. Local reporting indicates that the Unified State Register is in its final launch stage, with officials saying the system is ready and is now being put into operation. Given that context, Uzbekistan appears to be just finishing the basic plumbing required to monitor transactions, enforce restrictions, and supervise operators in real-time.
The licenses are valid for a period of five years. The current fee for the application is 500 basic calculation units, or 206 million soums. But for an operator, this is only one part of the cost. The main obstacle is the entire compliance package required for the license.
The conclusion here is that Uzbekistan has not failed to legalise betting. Rather, it has decided to legalise it gradually under the tightest possible control from the state. While this may reduce regulatory and social risks, for now, a regulated betting market remains hypothetical until at least one operator is ready to comply with the existing standards.
