St. Barths Casino Guide
This is a guide to brick and mortar as well as online casinos in St. Barths (officially Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Barthélemy, an overseas collectivity of France, with only 10K residents). Find out which are the best casinos and online casino sites in St. Barths, or learn more about the legal status of casino gambling in the country.
Online casinos in St. Barths
Legal status of online casino gambling: illegal, but players can play freely online and are not prosecuted due to EU gambling legislation, Article 56 TFEU
In order to fully understand whether online casinos are legal in St. Barths one needs to take a brief look at the country’s history.
Saint Barthélemy was for many years a French commune forming part of Guadeloupe, which is an overseas region and department of France. In 2003 the island voted in favour of secession from Guadeloupe in order to form a separate overseas collectivity (collectivité d’outre-mer, abbreviated to COM) of France. The residents are French citizens, and the island is a French territory, which means that French casino gambling laws apply
As an Overseas Department, St. Barths sends representatives to the National Assembly of France, and the laws of France automatically apply in Martinique as well, though they may be slightly modified to suit the characteristics and needs of the island. However, in case of online casino gambling legislation, this did not happen, and it was adapted without modifications.
This means that while online gambling was legalised in 2010, according to Law 2010-476 2010*, online casinos are still not yet made legal, and it is technically illegal in France (and in France this is taken seriously, unlicensed online casinos are blocked, and rouge domestic operators are severely punished, however, in the overseas territories, this ban is only a technicality and players can play freely online, the smaller government of the island does not have the resources to monitor and control the internet usage of its residents).
As a result, there are currently no licensed online casino sites in either France or St. Barths, nor any way for them to become licensed, though there is significant pressure on France from the EU to legalise online casino gambling. In fact, because there are no local, licensed alternatives, playing in these offshore online casinos is actually pretty common in France and its territories. According to studies (sources below), millions of players, at least 50% of people who play online visit unlicensed offshore online casinos regularly**.
No player has ever been fined or prosecuted for this. This is true for all EU countries and their territories (UPDATE 2021 clarification: Saint Barthélemy is not a member of the EU, but it is an overseas territory of the European Union since 2012), EU gambling laws dictate, that according to Freedom to provide services — Article 56 TFEU***: if a country does not provide any means for foreign online casinos to acquire licenses, then they can not punish or block these gambling websites or players who visit them.
As a result, St. Barthélemy players are free to visit any of the international online casino sites (but very few actually accepts players from French territories, you can see a list of them below, if they are blocked, or no longer accept players from the territory, please let me know, so I can update the lists, thank you).
Can tourists play online while visiting St. Barths?
Yes, the laws of any country only apply to citizens and lawful permanent residents, if you are a tourist (or a non-citizen expat, or illegal), you can play online freely while enjoying your vacation.
Online casino licensing and regulatory body of St. Barths:
N/A, online casino licenses are not issued.
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Taxation of online casino sites in St. Barths:
N/A, no online casino taxation system is in place.
For the players, taxation of gambling winnings in St. Barths:
Gambling winnings over €1500 are taxable, 12% tax rate. However, licensed domestic companies are required to pay taxes on your winnings, not you. Therefore, as long as you play in a licensed establishment, you don’t have to pay any taxes (it’s automatically deducted from your winnings).
However, if you play abroad, or online, and if you win over €1500, you would have to pay taxes on it.
/In reality, this is rarely enforced, but if you win a really big amount, e.g.: €100 000+, I would certainly suggest paying taxes on it, otherwise you can get into a lot of trouble. Of course, I advise paying taxes on your winnings all the time, not paying taxes is illegal, but realistically, it’s not really enforced when it comes to small amounts./
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Age requirement of online casinos in St. Barths: 18+
Sources, main pieces of online casino gambling legislation:
***Freedom to provide services — Article 56 TFEU — Games of chance
Online casinos accepting players from St. Barths
The following online gambling websites accept players from St. Barths:
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That's all, if you are interested, get in touch. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Land-based casinos in St. Barthelemy
Legal status of brick & mortar casinos: de facto illegal, technically legal according to French laws
Brick & mortar casinos are completely legal in France, and therefore in St. Barthelemy and other French territories as well, according to Chapitre préliminaire: Dispositions communes – Articles L320-1 à L320-18*, technically.
However, French casino licenses are not automatically accepted, and so far, the government is not considering allowing casino establishments on the island in any form. There aren’t any brick & mortar casinos in St. Barths, and casino gambling is de facto illegal.
Even though France is the birthplace of many popular casino games such as roulette or baccarat and the Caribbean is well known for the many casino hotels in the region, the French Caribbean island of St. Barths is an exception. St. Barths has no casinos, and never had any.
Although, unofficial sources suggest, that there was a plan for a casino (by a French company), planned to be opened in St. Barthelemy in 2008. The project went quiet for a few years, and it reappeared in another forum thread in 2013, where even a scanned version of an article, published in a local newspaper about the planned casino was posted**. However, since then, nothing happened, radio silence, UPDATE 2021: and considering that more than 8 years have passed, we can safely say that project failed.
UPDATE COVID-19: Sadly, this French overseas territory was also not spared from the global coronavirus pandemic, and because of the country’s strong reliance on tourism (according to the CIA, tourism is the biggest and most important sector of the economy***) it was severely effected, in general the number of tourist fell by 65% on average in the region****. Despite this, the government is still not considering allowing casinos on the island, but they are looking into diversifying the economy.
Can locals visit the casinos in St. Barthelemy?
Yes, locals could visit the casinos too, they are not just for tourists, according to French laws (e.g.: unlike in Arab and Muslim countries, where casino are only available for tourists). But there aren’t any gaming venues.
Casino licensing and regulatory body of St. Barthelemy:
St. Barth doesn’t have its own gambling regulatory and licensing authority. Instead, games of chance, online licenses and land-based gambling licensing is handled by the French regulatory agencies.
Betting activities have traditionally been divided between the Pari Mutuel Hippodrome (PMH) and the Pari Mutuel Urbaine (PMU). Lottery, as well as some lottery-style games such as bingo, are in the hands of Francaise des Jeux (FDJ).
Online gambling and the licensing of brick & mortar gambling houses are the domain of by the Autorité de régulation des jeux en ligne (ARJEL) UPDATE: L’Autorité nationale des Jeux ANJ, which replaces ARJEL as the regulatory authority of most forms of gambling and online gambling from 2020. You have to contact them if you want to set up a gambling establishment, or get an online gambling license.
Online gambling has been legal and regulated in France and its overseas territories. Three forms of gambling are currently permitted to be conducted online by licensed private companies:
- sports betting,
- poker,
- and horse race betting.
UPDATE: The licensing process, fees, procedures were overhauled entirely in 2019, during the implementation of PACTE Act. The whole process is now more business friendly, fees are lower, and it is streamlined, the document, which lists all the changes, is attached below.****
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The picture must be 150x150 pixels.
Contact me through the live chat, it's in the bottom right corner of the website, or in the comments section at the bottom of this page, with a link to the website you wish to advertise. If you qualify, I will give you my email address where we can discuss everything (I won't be putting my email address on the page, due to the extreme amount of spam I receive as it is).
In exchange: In order to appear for free on this website, you have to link back to this guide, from your website. It must be your website, your employer's website, a law blog or something similar. The link doesn't have to be in a prominent position, or on the homepage. It can be placed at the bottom of an unimportant page, where people don't see it, that's fine with me. And 1 sentence is enough, something like this: "We are featured on Simon's Gambling and Casino Blog, at <link here>."
That's all, if you are interested, get in touch. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Taxation of brick & mortar gambling establishments in St. Barthelemy:
French gambling taxes apply, which are extremely high:
Gambling tax in France and overseas territories (tax base is gross gaming revenue, from 2020 onwards, annual):
- 37.7% horse racing tax
- 40.8% online poker tax
- 55.2% online sports betting tax
- 44.5% retail sports betting tax
- lottery tax is 54.5% and the tax on other lottery like games (bingo, keno, raffles) is 42%
Gaming clubs (special type of casino, VIP, entrance fee, dress code):
-
10% of revenue, up to EUR100,000.
-
30% of revenue, EUR100,000 – EUR1,500,000.
-
40% of revenue, EUR1,500,000 – EUR2,600,000.
-
55% of revenue, EUR2,600,000 – EUR5,500,000.
-
70% of revenue, above EUR5,500,000
Casinos, it’s 28% first + the following progressive tax on the remainder, based on annual gross gaming revenue:
- Up to EUR100,000: 6%.
- EUR100,001 and EUR200,000: 16%.
- EUR200,001 and EUR500,000: 25%.
- EUR500,001 and EUR1 million: 37%.
- EUR1,000,001 and EUR1.5 million: 47%.
- EUR1,500,001 and EUR4.7 million: 58%.
- EUR4,700,001 and EUR7.8 million: 63.3%.
- EUR7,800,001 and EUR11 million: 67.6%.
- EUR11,000,001 and EUR14 million: 72%.
- EUR14 million: 83.5%
If this wasn’t enough, a 11.2% tax is paid on the 68% of the gross gambling revenue from slot machines.
In addition, every gambling establishments has to pay a 13.7% withholding tax on any winnings by players equal to or exceeding EUR 1,500 (this is because gambling winnings over €1500 are taxable in France, and players never paid taxes on them, so now casinos have to).
As you can see, it’s incredibly high, the highest gambling tax rate in all of the world!
Keep in mind, that this gambling tax is paid on top of regular, corporate tax (can be as high as 31%), and taxes paid on the wages of employees (of course some of it is deductible, but still). In fact, with this crazy system, it’s possible for a casinos to get really close to a 100% effective tax rate.
For the players, taxation of gambling winnings in St. Barthelemy:
Gambling winnings over €1500 are taxable, 12% tax rate. However, licensed domestic companies are required to pay taxes on your winnings, not you. Therefore, as long as you play in a licensed establishment, you don’t have to pay any taxes (it’s automatically deducted from your winnings).
However, if you play abroad, or online, and if you win over €1500, you would have to pay taxes on it.
/In reality, this is rarely enforced, but if you win a really big amount, e.g.: €100 000+, I would certainly suggest paying taxes on it, otherwise you can get into a lot of trouble. Of course, I advise paying taxes on your winnings all the time, not paying taxes is illegal, but realistically, it’s not really enforced when it comes to small amounts./
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- send me 1-2 sentences about you and/or your business etc.., something that describes the business, what you do, something that makes potential clients interested
- send me one single picture of your company's logo, or a picture of your office, or one of your certificates, credentials which you are proud of etc... (but don't send a picture of yourself, for legal reasons I want to avoid uploading pictures of people)
The picture must be 150x150 pixels.
Contact me through the live chat, it's in the bottom right corner of the website, or in the comments section at the bottom of this page, with a link to the website you wish to advertise. If you qualify, I will give you my email address where we can discuss everything (I won't be putting my email address on the page, due to the extreme amount of spam I receive as it is).
In exchange: In order to appear for free on this website, you have to link back to this guide, from your website. It must be your website, your employer's website, a law blog or something similar. The link doesn't have to be in a prominent position, or on the homepage. It can be placed at the bottom of an unimportant page, where people don't see it, that's fine with me. And 1 sentence is enough, something like this: "We are featured on Simon's Gambling and Casino Blog, at <link here>."
That's all, if you are interested, get in touch. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Age requirement of land-based casinos, slot parlours in St. Barthelemy: it’s actually 18+, was lowered from 21+ in 1987
Sources, main pieces of land-based casino legislation:
**SBH Online – Thread: That casino idea is back. Just up the hill from Le Repaire
***CIA Factbook Economy of Saint Barthelemy
****Travel Agent Central – Stats: Tourist Arrivals To Caribbean Dropped 65% In 2020
*****Whitecase – PACTE Act (action plan for the growth and transformation of companies)
List of all the casinos in St. Barths
There are no land based casinos on the island of St. Barthelemy.
Cryptocurrency, bitcoin casinos in St. Barths
Cryptocurrency gambling is not specifically regulated in St. Barths or France.
Other forms of online gambling in St. Barths
Most forms of online gambling are also legal since 2010, according to the French Law 2010-476, which applies to Saint Barthélemy too.
Only the following forms of gambling are currently permitted to be conducted online by licensed companies:
- sports betting,
- poker,
- horse racing betting.
Online gambling websites with a French license from the L’Autorité nationale des Jeux ANJ and the online casinos, betting and lottery platforms of Française des Jeux, the state owned French lottery monopoly also accept players from St. Barths and the other French overseas territories: Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Réunion, Mayotte, French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna and Saint Martin.
However, according to EU laws (explained above, in the online casino section), players from the island can play online in foreign online casinos freely.
The following online gambling websites accept players from St. Barts:
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- send me one single picture of your company's logo, or a picture of your office, or one of your certificates, credentials which you are proud of etc... (but don't send a picture of yourself, for legal reasons I want to avoid uploading pictures of people)
The picture must be 150x150 pixels.
Contact me through the live chat, it's in the bottom right corner of the website, or in the comments section at the bottom of this page, with a link to the website you wish to advertise. If you qualify, I will give you my email address where we can discuss everything (I won't be putting my email address on the page, due to the extreme amount of spam I receive as it is).
In exchange: In order to appear for free on this website, you have to link back to this guide, from your website. It must be your website, your employer's website, a law blog or something similar. The link doesn't have to be in a prominent position, or on the homepage. It can be placed at the bottom of an unimportant page, where people don't see it, that's fine with me. And 1 sentence is enough, something like this: "We are featured on Simon's Gambling and Casino Blog, at <link here>."
That's all, if you are interested, get in touch. Looking forward to hearing from you.
This article is an expansion to the main guide to the legal status of gambling in St. Barts.
Simon’s Guide to Land-based and Online Casinos in St. Barts is part of Simon’s Online Casino Guide.
Last updated: 2021-05-13
Gamble responsibly,
SimonTheSorcerer
Last Updated on 2021-05-13 by Simon
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