Gabon's State Betting Operator Is Live, Private Licences Are Not

The state now runs the betting shop and polices the street. Operators that held Gabonese licences until April are still waiting to learn on what terms, if any, they can come back.

Gabon's state gaming company, La Gabonaise des Jeux (GDJ), began operating on 22 October and launched its own betting site. Private operators that held licences before April still have no published route back into the market.

What happened

GDJ held its launch ceremony in Libreville on 22 October 2026, where it also opened gdjbet.com, which offers sports betting, lotteries, virtual games, scratch cards, casino games and horse racing, according to the Gabonese Press Agency as relayed by trade press. Interior Minister Edgar Moukoumbi said a lack of transparency and clarity had led the state to take control of gambling. GDJ director general Roméo Nguema Ondo told operators the company would work with them on clear rules.

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The company dates from the ordinances of 30 December 2025, issued after the Council of Ministers approved a new framework on 29 December. As iGaming Business reported, the reform abolished the earlier gaming commission and made GDJ a state-owned company that organises, operates and controls gambling, and also supervises private operators. Its first board meeting took place on 7 August, when it approved its strategic plan, budgets and internal rules, Gabonreview reported.

What operators are waiting for

Earlier authorisations, licences and declarations lapsed on 7 April 2026, according to a GDJ notice signed by Nguema Ondo. GDJ invited private operators to apply in February, with a 2 March deadline, and promised a transparent, fair and rigorous process for choosing operators. As of 16 October, iGaming Business found, GDJ had not published the result, named any approved operator, or set out the fees, operating requirements or revenue-sharing terms for private participation. We found nothing newer.

That gap is the commercial problem. Before the reform, Gabon's rules classed online betting businesses as third-category operators holding renewable five-year declarations, and a 2022 decree set a quota of five online operators. Operators who built on that system now sit between an expired permission and an unpublished replacement.

Where the concerns sit

Lawmakers questioned in 2026 whether one state company can both compete in the market and supervise it. Then-interior minister Adrien Nguema Mba told a Senate committee in June that control systems would keep oversight separate from GDJ's operations, and described plans for 2,000 points of sale across Gabon's nine provinces. Public information does not yet explain how the separation will work in practice, iGaming Business noted.

Payments are the second concern. Gabon Media Time reported in May 2025 that the contract to centralise gambling payments went to eTech SAS without a competitive tender, which local technology firms criticised. In June 2026 the same outlet reported a GDJ agreement with Paymetrust to supervise online betting payments, and GDJ has not explained how the two roles relate.

The cost to operators is unclear. L'Union reported in June that operators wanted definitive licences and specifications, and raised licences being required for each activity and site, higher cash-in and cash-out costs, delayed payment of winnings and trouble reconciling accounts, with one estimate of a monthly deduction equal to 30% of turnover. We could not verify that figure. The 2026 Finance Law projected CFA1.24 billion (about US$2.1 million) from the tax on games of chance, which says little about what individual operators will pay. Under the old system, then-minister Hermann Immongault said in 2025, operators declared their own figures and paid 8% in tax.

What it means

For operators with Gabonese players, there is no confirmed licence route and no published fee schedule, while a state-owned competitor is live. For regulators elsewhere, Gabon is a test of a model where the state runs the market and supervises it. That model differs from the licensing boards in our regulator directory and from the state-level bodies covered in our look at who regulates betting in Nigeria.

What happens next

Three things would settle the picture: publication of the results of the call for applications, a fee and revenue-sharing schedule for private operators, and a clear account of who controls payment flows. We will update this report if GDJ publishes any of them.