Gambling in Ivory Coast is a mainstream, football-driven pastime built around the state lottery LONACI — legal, widely played, and increasingly regulated. From lottery draws dating back to 1970 to today’s mobile sports-betting boom, wagering is woven into everyday life, especially in Abidjan. It is not subject to a state-level religious prohibition: Côte d’Ivoire is religiously mixed and gambling is openly organised by the state, though individual observant Muslims and Christians may abstain on faith grounds. The modern era is defined by Law No. 2020-480 of 2020, which reorganised the sector and entrenched LONACI’s role.

A Short History

Organised gambling in Côte d’Ivoire is anchored by LONACI (Loterie Nationale de Côte d’Ivoire), created by Law No. 70-208 of 20 March 1970 and now more than five decades old. For most of that history the offer was land-based: lottery tickets, betting kiosks and pari-mutuel horse racing through PMU’CI. The internet and, above all, the smartphone transformed the picture in the 2010s, and the 2020 law responded by modernising the legal framework, creating the ARJH regulator and reaffirming LONACI’s exclusive concession over online games. In January 2025 LONACI relaunched its sports-betting brand as a modernised Sportcash — on a new technical platform built with a technical partner — to compete with the pull of international operators.

Football betting dominates. Ivorians follow the domestic league, the national team (the Elephants) and Europe’s big leagues intensely, and match-day wagering is a national habit, whether through LONACI’s Sportcash or authorised partner sportsbooks. The lottery and instant scratch games remain broadly popular, and PMU’CI horse-race betting retains a loyal following. Land-based casino tables and slot machines make up a smaller, more upmarket segment concentrated in four-star hotels.

Attitudes and Social Debate

Betting is socially normalised and heavily marketed, but the boom has fuelled public debate about problem gambling among young men, aggressive advertising, and the spread of illegal machines and unauthorised sites. The state’s response has been to tighten regulation rather than restrict play: enforcement operations against illegal slot machines, the 2020 legal overhaul, and a dedicated surveillance unit created in April 2026 all point to a policy of channelling betting into the authorised, taxed system while cracking down on the grey market.

Law No. 2020-480 of 27 May 2020 is the reference text. It confirms LONACI’s exclusive concession over lotteries, sports betting and online games, creates the ARJH as regulator, and allows private operators to participate either under LONACI’s concession (online betting brands) or via separate ARJH authorisation (land-based casinos and slots in four-star hotels). This framework is what makes Ivorian gambling a regulated, mainstream activity rather than an underground one.

Sources

18+ only. Gambling can be addictive — please play responsibly.