Moroccan culture features a blend of European, Arabian and African influences that combine to make for a unique culture. For example, Morocco is one of the few predominantly Muslim countries in the world in which gambling is not totally outlawed. The primary forms of gambling available in Morocco include a number of brick-and-mortar casinos in larger cities and tourist areas as well as a national lottery.
Local laws neither endorse nor prohibit internet gambling and there is no licensing system by which actual Moroccan online casinos could go into business. These same laws also do not prohibit us from visiting foreign casino sites headquartered in nations that do issue gaming licenses. The end result for us is that we have free access to many international gambling websites.
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The Moroccan government makes no attempt to prevent or even discourage people from visiting online casinos, but the government also does not regulate the activity at all. This means you must choose your casino carefully to ensure you are treated well, that the games are fair and that you will be paid in a timely manner if you win a big jackpot.
These are serious concerns because the internet is a big place and there are no guarantees that some random gambling site is legitimate. The best way to mitigate the risk is to stick with recognized name brands that operate under licenses from legitimate regulatory bodies. Our opinion is that the UK Gambling Commission is the best and most demanding regulator in the world, so we have chosen to recommend UK-licensed casinos above.
Every casino listed above does accept players from Morocco and has a full range of casino games in addition to other forms of gaming such as sports betting, poker, bingo and so on. One account with any one of these casinos will grant you access to an entire world of gambling options.
Online Gambling in Morocco
The entire Arabic-speaking world suffers a dearth of online casinos catering to our unique needs such as providing Arabic-language websites and offering regional payment methods. This comes down to a simple function of the law and economics.
Casino sites located in other countries do not go out of their way to block Moroccan customers, but they also do not bend over backwards to cater to our needs. In all likelihood, the casino sites of the Western world simply do not find it worthwhile to invest much time or money into catering to a region that is mostly anti-gambling.
Even so, these are but minor obstacles to overcome in order to play and win real money at online casinos in Morocco.
Arabic Language Gambling Websites
There is not a single Arabic-speaking nation in the world that licenses online casinos. In fact, most actively prohibit online gambling. The good news is that it really isn’t all that difficult for us to work around these challenges and play online for real money. First of all, let’s talk about the language issue. There are not very many casino sites that even offer their services in Arabic. There are a few, but they are smaller casino with which we are unfamiliar and are therefore unwilling to recommend. Safety always comes first.
However, most Moroccan casino sites do offer their services in French, Spanish, English and other languages. If you can get by well enough with some other language to register your account and make a deposit, the games pretty much explain themselves with little translation necessary. And if you’re reading these words right now, you won’t have any problems getting started.
Making Deposits and Getting Paid
Deposits and withdrawals for Moroccan casino sites are slightly more challenging due to much of our economy still being based on cash. However, things have changed on that front as well and now there are options for everyone – even if you do not have a bank account.
If you have a bank account, getting started will be very easy. Just get your debit or credit card, log in to the gambling site of your choice and visit the cashier. There, you can choose an amount to deposit and type in your card number to fund your account. It works just like purchasing anything else online.
You can also sign up for an e-wallet such as Neteller (which does operate in Morocco) if you are not comfortable sharing your banking details with your gambling site. Neteller functions as an intermediary in which you first send money to your Neteller account and then send money from there to your gambling account. By having Neteller serve as the middleman, the casino never sees your banking information.
If you do not have a bank account, getting started will be significantly more difficult. You may look into bitcoin casinos if you are absolutely against opening a bank account. It is possible to purchase bitcoins with cash and then fund certain gambling websites with bitcoin deposits. It would be easier to sign up for a bank account somewhere, but bitcoin is a valid option today.
Culture and Religion
And finally, the last challenge is one related to religious customs. As you probably know, gambling is not highly looked-upon in the Islamic world. Morocco may not impose a legal ban on gambling, but that still does not make it the most socially acceptable activity. If you decide to visit online casinos in Morocco, it is best to keep it private and prepare a cover story for any big wins you are lucky enough to catch.
Morocco is a moderate country as far as Islamic nations go. There are some hardline influences, but Morocco has so far managed to avoid descending into the types of extremism we have seen in recent years in other nations where Islam is the predominant religion. Still, it is best to keep your gambling a private affair to avoid any negative social repercussions.
Gambling Laws in Morocco
Moroccan law does not prohibit gambling at the individual level. If all you want to do is participate as a player, you have free reign to visit land-based casinos and online casinos as you see fit. The law does prohibit running a gambling establishment without the express permission of the prime minister.
The only organization allowed to offer any form of online gambling is Marocaine des Jeux & des Sports (Morocco Games and Sport) or MDJS for short. The MDJS website offers online lottery games as well as a limited form of sports betting, but does not offer casino games such as slots, blackjack and so on.
There have been concerns that Morocco could take a different, more restrictive approach to gambling in the future, but so far those concerns have mostly failed to materialize. The biggest change to gaming laws to occur in Morocco recently was a draft law proposed in 2015 that sought to outlaw advertisements promoting gambling.
Wes Burns co-founded OnlineCasinoSites.com with a mission to help gamblers understand and navigate the regulated online casino market in all countries around the world. Wes is a respected gambling journalist, working in the industry since 2008.