Online gambling now considers as criminal offence

Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury has announced that the government has brought online gambling under the purview of criminal law through the “Cyber Security Act 2026,” aimed at curbing digital betting and related financial crimes.

He disclosed this information on Wednesday in the National Parliament, in response to a starred question tabled by Abdullah Al Amin, Member of Parliament for Narayanganj-4 from the National Citizens Party (NCP).

He said, “Section 20 of the ‘Cyber Security Act 2026,’ promulgated on April 10 of this year, includes online gambling as a punishable offence.”

The minister further stated that the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has suspended or frozen transactions of approximately 55,000 Mobile Financial Services (MFS) accounts linked to online gambling and digital hundi operations.

The Finance Minister said that under the law, the following activities will be treated as punishable offences: creating or operating any portal, app, or device for gambling in cyberspace; participating in online gambling; facilitating or encouraging such activities; taking part in promotional advertisements for gambling; and directly or indirectly promoting or marketing gambling-related activities.

He noted that such offences carry a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment, a fine of up to BDT one crore, or both.

He informed that after the Cyber Security Act 2026 came into effect, the BFIU prepared an intelligence report on online gambling and submitted it to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in May. The CID has since filed a case in this regard and the investigation is ongoing.

Amir Khosru said that the BFIU continues to monitor transactions related to online gambling and is preparing further intelligence reports to identify those involved.

He also informed that to curb the spread of online gambling, Bangladesh Bank issued a directive on May 28, 2025, for all Mobile Financial Services (MFS) providers in the country.

That directive instructed MFS providers to regularly monitor the activities of merchants and customers to detect involvement in online gambling, and to take immediate action and notify the relevant law enforcement agencies if any merchant or customer is found to be engaged in such activities.