Cameroon’s gambling culture is football-first and mobile-money-fuelled: sports betting dominates, built on a lottery tradition that dates back decades and a legal market that opened up in stages from 1992 onward. What began as a single state lottery is now a smartphone-driven betting scene where many Cameroonians wager on football through apps funded by MTN and Orange - alongside rising concern about the toll on young people.

A staged history

Cameroon’s legal gambling market grew in clear steps. For years the lottery was the only legal form, and it remained the sole authorised option until 1992. That year, horse-race betting was legalised; the state horse-racing betting operator (PMUC) was established in 1994. In 2004, the law expanded again to permit casino gambling and private operators, moving the country beyond a state monopoly. The framework was then modernised by Law n°2015/012 of 16 July 2015 and its application Decree n°2019/2300/PM of 18 July 2019, which today govern entertainment games, money games and games of chance - including online play.

Football at the centre

Gambling in Cameroon is overwhelmingly about football. Bettors follow European leagues and the national team, the Indomitable Lions, and sports betting - alongside live/in-play markets and virtual sports - is the driving force of the market. Online slots and poker exist but sit well behind sports betting in popularity.

Mobile money as the engine

The betting boom rides on mobile money. MTN Mobile Money and Orange Money are the dominant funding methods, letting users deposit and place a bet within moments. Since 2025, the government has tightened control of these flows: gambling-related mobile-money transfers now carry a 1% levy, and online gambling payments must pass through a single approved aggregator - a sign of how central mobile money has become to the sector.

Mixed attitudes and social concern

Attitudes toward gambling in Cameroon are ambivalent. Betting is hugely popular, especially among young men, and thoroughly normalised through football - but there is longstanding cultural unease (the PMUC brand was long the target of sceptical nicknames), and a more recent, evidence-based worry about harm. Peer-reviewed studies on Sub-Saharan Africa, and local research on Cameroonian university students, point to problem gambling among young people as a genuine and under-researched public-health issue, fuelling calls for stronger regulation and enforcement.

18+. Gambling should be entertainment, not income. If it feels out of control, set limits and seek help.

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