Iran has one of the oldest gaming heritages on earth — backgammon traces to ancient Persia — yet modern Iran bans all gambling as a religious and criminal offence. Casinos operated legally under the Pahlavi monarchy, but the 1979 Islamic Revolution closed them and made wagering money on any game of chance haram and illegal under the Islamic Penal Code. The result is a striking split: board games like backgammon thrive as beloved social rituals, while betting for money is pushed underground, onto VPN-accessed offshore sites, amid economic pressure and periodic crackdowns.

Ancient roots: nard and the games of Persia

Games of chance are woven into Persian history. The Persian tables game nard is often cited as an ancestor of modern backgammon, and archaeologists working at Shahr-e Sukhteh (the ‘Burnt City’) in south-eastern Iran are widely reported to have uncovered an early backgammon-style board and dice several thousand years old. Persian tradition attributes the design of nard to figures of the Sasanian court.

Crucially, these games were prized for strategy, storytelling and social bonding — not primarily as vehicles for staking money. That distinction matters, because Iranian law today forbids the wagering, treating backgammon played for money as gambling even though the game itself is a cultural treasure.

From pre-revolution casinos to total ban

Before 1979, Iran under the Pahlavi monarchy permitted Western-style leisure, including legal casinos; the Shah’s circle was connected to several venues, and there were plans to develop Kish Island in the Persian Gulf as a resort destination. The Islamic Revolution of 1979 ended this. The casinos were shut, and the new republic enshrined the prohibition of gambling in law.

Today Article 705 of the Islamic Penal Code criminalises gambling by any means, punishable by imprisonment and lashes. There is no regulator and no licensing — the state’s role is enforcement, not oversight.

What Iranians bet on today

Despite the ban, betting persists, driven partly by economic hardship. Offshore online sportsbooks (football above all), poker rooms, slots and prize-prediction contests are reached through VPNs and disguised apps. Enforcement is uneven: authorities report shutting down more than 1,500 sites since 2021, yet many platforms remain reachable.

There is also genuine religious ambiguity at the margins. While senior clerics maintain that all monetary betting is haram, a reported ruling attributed to the Supreme Leader suggested that predicting sports outcomes for prizes is not inherently forbidden — a nuance that has fuelled debate but has not legalised betting for money.

Attitudes and harm

Gambling sits uneasily between a rich cultural love of games and a firm religious-legal prohibition. Because everything happens underground, players have no consumer protection and no recourse when funds are frozen or sites vanish. If gambling is causing harm, Iran’s free 24/7 Social Emergency line 123 (Behzisti) offers general crisis counselling; internationally, BeGambleAware and Gamblers Anonymous provide confidential support.

This guide is informational, not legal advice. Gambling in Iran is a criminal offence. 18+.

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