Operating in Mauritius: 13% tax, ad Ban

Mauritius is not on Google's allowlist of countries eligible to run certified gambling/games ads, and no local pathway exists because s.156(1) of the GRA Act 2007 criminalises advertising any gambling activity in any manner. Google requires both a country-specific allowlist entry and, where applicable, a valid local licence plus Google certification, none of which Mauritius satisfies. Search ads targeting Mauritius are therefore not permitted.56

Apple Review Guideline 5.3 requires real-money gambling apps to hold the necessary licensing and permissions for every location where the app is used and to be geo-restricted to those locations. Because Mauritius law bans advertising and promotion of gambling under s.156(1) GRA Act and permits only a narrow set of licensed operators, publishing a consumer real-money gambling app to the Mauritius storefront cannot meet the licensing/geo-restriction test. Publishing to Mauritius is therefore effectively blocked.67

Mauritius is absent from Google Play's list of ~50 countries where real-money gambling, games and contests apps are allowed, so gambling app-install ads cannot be certified or served there. The statutory advertising ban in s.156(1) GRA Act independently forecloses any promotional app advertising. Store-level gambling ad products are therefore unavailable for Mauritius.89

Meta permits online gambling and gaming ads only in a defined list of countries and only with prior written authorization; Mauritius is not among the authorized jurisdictions. Even if it were, s.156(1) of the GRA Act 2007 criminalises advertising a gambling activity 'in any manner', which covers paid social. Gambling ads on Facebook and Instagram targeting Mauritius are therefore not allowed.610

Section 156(1) of the GRA Act 2007 prohibits any person from advertising a gambling activity 'in any manner', which captures television and radio broadcast advertising, and breach is a criminal offence carrying a fine up to Rs 300,000 (s.156(5)). The only lawful broadcast content is factual information on results, fixtures, odds, draws, prizes or pools, subject to GRA Board directives (s.156(2)-(3)). Promotional gambling spots on TV and radio are therefore banned.611

Section 156(4) of the GRA Act 2007 (as amended by Act 7 of 2020) provides that no activity, other than a charitable, benevolent or social activity, shall be sponsored by a licensee or by any person with a direct or indirect interest in a licensee. Commercial sponsorship, of sports teams, events or venues, by gambling operators is therefore prohibited, with only charitable/benevolent/social sponsorship permitted. Contravention is an offence under s.156(5).1112

The blanket prohibition in s.156(1) GRA Act 2007, advertising a gambling activity 'in any manner', extends to outdoor and digital out-of-home formats such as billboards and screens, none of which fall within the narrow factual-information or specialised-magazine carve-outs in s.156(2). Digital OOH gambling advertising is therefore banned and criminally sanctioned under s.156(5). No GRA directive has been identified that opens a DOOH exception.611