One of the more affluent countries in the Middle East, Kuwait’s economy is largely based in the energy sector (gas and petroleum related products). Residents of Kuwait belong predominantly to the Muslim faith and, as such, the local law is in fact quite clear that online gambling as well as offline casinos in the country are prohibited. Indeed, even the publication of online gambling in Kuwait advertisements are also not allowed by local law.
Despite this, recent interviews at the Berlin Affiliate Conference in 2016 indicated that many international online casino operators still appear to welcome players from the Middle East whilst avoiding to directly market to Kuwaiti citizens. In fact, many of these Middle East online casino operators appear to have specific landing pages in Arabic, for example:
No doubt the efforts of Kuwaiti officials following a special investigation that was undertaken recently have enabled them to be better prepared to help enforce the law now. The goal of the gambling investigation was primarily to prevent usage of “black money” (undeclared income) and to curb the usage of illegal gambling facilities, particularly since there had been an trend of nationals to increasingly engage in online Arabic casino games.
Many Kuwaiti residents who are currently unable to gamble online are hopeful that the likes of politician Waleed Al-Nasser will succeed in their attempts to be more liberal in their approach with respect to online casinos in Kuwait and other issues such as alcohol consumption. Currently though, these privileges are likely only to be offered to tourists rather than nationals.
