Gambling in Paraguay is a mainstream, everyday pastime rather than a taboo. The Quiniela numbers lottery is deeply embedded in daily life, sold from kiosks nationwide; bingo (including televised Tele Bingo) and football betting are equally popular. After decades of state monopolies, the landmark Law 7438/2025 has begun opening the market to controlled competition, reshaping a gambling culture that is popular, informal and increasingly regulated.

A lottery-and-bingo culture

If one game defines Paraguayan gambling, it is the Quiniela - a numbers lottery played through corner kiosks and neighbourhood agents. It is woven tightly into daily routine and has long been one of CONAJZAR’s most important sources of state revenue.

Alongside it, bingo is a genuine social institution. Bingo halls operate across the country, and Tele Bingo, a televised bingo game, turns the draw into a living-room event. Together, lottery and bingo give Paraguayan gambling a communal, low-stakes, family-familiar character quite different from the high-roller casino image of other markets.

Betting and casinos

Football is a national passion, and sports betting has followed. Since 2022, licensed online sports betting has run through a single concession (Apostala, operated by DARUMA SAM S.A.), while informal and offshore betting has long circulated alongside it. Land-based casinos and slot halls (tragamonedas) also form part of the landscape, though slot machines in particular have drawn regulatory concern over illegal operation and problem gambling.

Attitudes: mainstream, with Catholic moderation

Paraguay is a heavily Catholic country. Faith communities tend to counsel moderation rather than impose a blanket ban, and lottery and bingo remain broadly accepted family pastimes. The bigger public-policy worry has been the informal, under-regulated slot-machine sector and its links to gambling addiction (ludopatía) - a concern the 2025 reform explicitly targets, with CONAJZAR announcing a dedicated department to combat ludopatía in coordination with the Ministry of Health.

The 2025 turning point

For decades, key games were run by single concessionaires. Law 7438/2025, together with Decree 3846/2025, ended that model, moving Paraguay toward controlled competition in which several licensed operators can run the same game type through public tenders. CONAJZAR was also moved under the tax authority (DNIT) and given stronger enforcement tools.

The effects are already visible in the Quiniela: under the reform, CONAJZAR (via Resolution 47/2026) awarded quiniela concessions from January 2026 to two operators - TDP S.A. and a consortium of Daruma Sam S.A., Caproni S.A. and Dataforge S.A. - replacing the previous single-operator arrangement.

A culture in transition

Paraguay’s gambling culture remains rooted in the kiosk-and-community-hall traditions of the Quiniela and bingo. What is changing is the framework around it: from opaque monopolies toward a competitive, tax-integrated and more consumer-protective system - with a new .bet.py domain to flag licensed sites and stronger tools against problem gambling. You must be 18+ to gamble in Paraguay. If it stops being fun, stop. Bet only what you can afford to lose.

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