Gambling in the Solomon Islands is a small, tourism-focused sector, historically shaped by the Gaming and Lotteries Act and by a deliberate choice to keep casino gaming within hotels for foreign visitors rather than the wider local public. The result is a modest land-based scene centred on the capital, Honiara, alongside permitted lotteries and a good deal of informal, community-level betting. Published data on this small Melanesian market is limited, so this article stays qualitative and flags clearly where the record is thin.

A short history

Formal gambling regulation in the Solomon Islands traces back to a Gaming and Lotteries Ordinance from 1961, which set out basic rules - including a minimum gambling age of 18. Over subsequent decades this developed into the Gaming and Lotteries Act, and a Gaming and Lotteries Board was established to grant and revoke gaming and lotteries licences and to oversee compliance at licensed premises. Casino licensing followed, with venues concentrated in Honiara. Since around the mid-2000s, policy has steered casino gaming toward foreign visitors and resort settings as a harm-minimisation measure, rather than opening it broadly to residents.

At the licensed Honiara casinos, the mainstays are slot machines (pokies) and casino table games, catering largely to tourists and visitors. Away from the casino floor, lotteries and charitable raffles are permitted forms of gambling and appear at community and fundraising events. Informal card games and social betting are part of everyday life in many communities, and - as elsewhere in the Pacific - some residents privately access offshore online sports betting and casino sites, which sit outside any local licence. Sports interest tends to follow rugby, football and international events, though there is no regulated domestic sportsbook.

Local operators

The brick-and-mortar market is small and tourism-linked. The most recognised venues are in Honiara: the Coral Sea Resort & Casino and the Pacific Crown Hotel, which operated for years as the Pacific Casino Hotel before being rebranded around 2022 and still houses a casino. Both are hotel-and-casino complexes rather than standalone gaming halls, reflecting how casino gaming is tied to the visitor economy. There is no large domestic casino chain, and detailed, up-to-date figures on the sector are not publicly published.

Attitudes and the wider picture

Attitudes to gambling in the Solomon Islands are shaped by the country’s strong church presence and community values, which tend to view heavy gambling with caution, and by the deliberate policy of keeping casino floors focused on visitors. Informal betting on cards and community games remains culturally embedded, while formal, regulated gambling is small and concentrated. With no dedicated online framework and limited published data, much about the everyday scale of gambling here is simply not well documented - so this picture is best read as a qualitative sketch rather than a precise measure.

Sources

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