Online casinos in Ethiopia are those sites that offer casino games and sports betting. Located in Africa, Ethiopia is a country with a population of nearly 100+ million people. In recent years, there has been a huge increase in the number of casinos welcoming Ethiopian players. Many of these casinos have the headquarters in one of the neighboring countries accepting Ethiopian players thus offering more options to the players from Ethiopia. Now there are several casinos offering hundreds of games including the most advanced ones, powered by leading software developers.
Ethiopian gambling fans migrate to online casinos to enjoy their beloved pastime due to the lack of land-based casinos. Lottery games are also available, but there is nothing that beats the excitement of table games and slot games.
Law and Regulation of Gambling and Casinos in Ethiopia
As casino gambling is legal in Ethiopia, casino operators need to acquire a license in order to run the casino legally. As per the criminal code of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, running casinos without a license is a cognizable offense with a fine or imprisonment.
Casino licenses are issued by the National Lottery Administration, which also collects licensing fees. There is only a single land-based casino operating in Ethiopia, offering only three table games and a small number of slot machines. This Ghion Hotel & Casino is located in the Capital city Addis Ababa of Ethiopia. This is a small casino with limited games available.
No-availability of the options for land-based casino gambling in Ethiopia, online gambling is a great opportunity for locals. In Ethiopia, online casino gambling is not specifically regulated hence it is not clear whether the regulation of banning unauthorized casinos applies to online casinos or not.
There is currently no online casino based or licensed in Ethiopia. Surprisingly, the Ethiopian government has not prevented foreign online gambling sites from offering their services within the country. Because of this, locals are free to play in international online casinos.
Casino games haven’t gained much traction and it appears to be unlikely that another land-based casino will open here anytime soon.
Best 5 Online Casinos in Ethiopia
There are no local online casinos that operate from within Ethiopia, but many foreign casino websites welcome Ethiopian players. Most of these casinos offer a wide range of casino games, and great bonuses for players. Some of the best online casinos accepting Ethiopia include:
1. Spin Palace Casino
Spin Palace was introduced in 2001, owned by the Palace Casino Group and audited by eCOGRA. This casino falls under the jurisdiction of the Malta Gaming Authority that offers deposit bonus on the first three deposits.
Bonus and Promotions
New players are welcomed at Spin Palace with matching bonuses on their first 3 deposits. The first deposit is matched by 100% up to 400€$, the second and third deposit is 100% up to 300 €$. You can also keep earning big rewards for your first three deposits profiting from Match Bonuses of between 25%-50%. In total, you can earn up to R1,000. At Spin Palace you will find regular weekly promotions to help you maximize your profits along with many other special offers.
Games it Offers
It offers a comprehensive range of games including Blackjack, Slots, and Roulette. It offer, most games from Microgaming with multiple deposit options. Spin Palace casino offers nearly 450 online games with over 250 slots games to enjoy. From the progressive slots, you can play some of the best titles like King Cashalot, Lotsaloot, Cash Splash, Major Millions, Dark Knight, including Mega Moolah. You can also play lots of table games like Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat as well as video poker games. Other games include an instant scratch card, Keno and Bingo games too.
Payment Methods
The most popular deposit methods include card payment including a number of other deposit methods like check and Skrill. It supports currently 15 languages in total. It supports USD, AUD, CAD, and NZD.
2. Jackpot City Casino
Jackpot City Casino has been operating since 1998 with great signup bonuses. It offers a wise combination of new and traditional casino games and outstanding customer support. The license to this casino is issued by the Government of Malta.
Bonus and Promotions
It is powered by the software from Microgaming. Its signup bonuses match the first deposit 100% up to 2000 South Africa Dollars. It also matches 100% of the second deposit up to 3000 South Africa dollars.
Games it Offers
This casino offers 500 games that include slots with 3, 5 or 7 reels and multiple pay lines, table games, scratch games and other casino games such as Keno. They also offer the newer slots from Microgaming that do not use paylines, but instead offer 253 ways for the players to win.
Payment Methods
Electronic payments are offered at Jackpot Casino. They offer several payment methods including MasterCard, Visa Debit, Skrill and also a 24/7 support.
4. Punt Casino
Running since 2017, the Punt casino is offered by Curacao eGaming Company, this slot keeps running tournaments also in addition to all types of casino games.
Bonus and Promotions
On opening an account with this casino you are awarded 15 free spins and a welcome bonus in which you get 150% total deposit bonus. Also offered are various other bonuses which certainly are lucrative for punters.
Games it Offers
At Punt Casino, you will get wide variety of games as it is powered by RTG software developers. You will get all the games with excellent graphics and 3d animated ones too. They offer a catalogue of over 200 games with different themes. You can enjoy lots of slot games like Greedy Goblins and Genie’s Fortune. Also table games like roulette, blackjack are common to play. You can even try your luck with video poker games.
Payment Methods
You can fund your account using Credit card/debit card like the VISA and Master card, or make fund transfers or bank wire transfers or even do so by E wallets like Neteller, Skrill and Web Money and Bitcoins. You can also use prepaid vouchers by PaySafeCard as well as virtual Visa cards by Entropay. Bank transfers are also accepted. Based on the method you opt for, you are offered special bonuses ranging between 15% and 20% each time you fund your account.
4. African Palace Casino
African Palace Casino provides South African players the best gambling experience as it is fully licensed under First Grand Gaming to operate as an online casino by the Government of Curacao. This casino is owned and operated by Rand Logic Gaming. They are completely dedicated to providing a safe and fair gaming environment to every guest.
Bonus and Promotions
African Palace casino welcomes its visitors/players with both welcoming bonuses and promotions. You get 200% matching on first deposit up to $200(ZAR), 50% matching on second deposit up to $150 (ZAR), 75% matching on your third deposit up to $100 (ZAR) and 100% matching on fourth deposit up to $50 (ZAR). You can also enjoy other offers like happy hour promotion during the year. The happy hour promotion allows you to receive a 50% matching deposit bonus with no limit if you make it on a Tuesday between 8 and 11pm. You can also get a friend referral bonus and a VIP loyalty program that rewards you with comp points that can be redeemed for cash credits.
Games it Offers
African Palace is powered by Playtech, hence it has some of the most innovative and popular games that can be found at any online casino. This full downloadable casino offers over 200 different games to choose from. The variety of games include slot machines of various types like progressives, classic and video slots like among progressives you can play Gold Rally, Beach Life, Captain’s Treasure, Magic slots, and many others. In the classic slots, you have Alchemist’s Lab, Bermuda Triangle, Funky Monkey, Crazy 7, Fountain of Youth, etc. You can also play lots of video slots like Alien hunter, Archer, Night out, Arctic Treasure, Banana Monkey and more. They also feature various card and table games like Blackjack, Baccarat, Pai Gow, Poker games, Pontoon, Craps, Roulette and Sic Bo. You can also see here video poker games like arcade-style games, scratch cards and lots of Asian themed games, etc.
Payment Methods
African Palace accepts a range of payment methods which includes Visa, MasterCard, Skrill, Netteller, Ukash, etc. A full list of payment methods can be found on the casino’s website. All transactions are done over a secure connection to keep members information private and safe.
5. Yebo Casino
Yebo Casino opened in 2014, welcomes all the players around the world. Owned and operated by Curacao e-Gaming Regulatory Authorities offers a range of games to its players. This casino is associated with other casinos that use the same software from RTG that Yebo Casino utilizes. This help some of their games to build up larger jackpots than other casinos can offer that are not in this network.
Bonuses and Promotions
On singing up you get a reward package where you receive 250% match-up bonus plus 150 free spins. You will also have reload bonuses which you will be able to reclaim even after you’ve used your welcome bonus. On joining, you get access to all promotions, additional prizes, and reward opportunities available there. Weekly, monthly and special promotions are always found on the website of Yebo casino.
Games if Offers
There are over 200 games available at the casino for you to enjoy. These games include all the usual card and slot games, and quite a few varieties of popular games. You will have 7 variations of blackjack and 9 variations of roulette table games. Also available is video poker, and other games to enjoy. Most of the games are powered by Real Time Gaming software which is known for creating excellent games.
Payment Method
Yebo casino accepts currencies from around the world through their 10 different electronic payment methods including South Africa. At Yebo casino South Africa you can deposit by using credit card; skrill; entropay; bank transfer; citadel internet banking, Bitcoins and ecopayz.
Other Types of Gambling in Ethiopia
The lottery is legal and one of the most popular types of gambling in Ethiopia. It is run and managed by the National Lottery Administration and currently runs different types of lottery games that includes the Medebenga, the Edil, Leyou lottery, Tombolla, LOTTO, Tinsae, etc. These lotteries are not available online no other online lottery site exist in the country. Hence the residents are free to take part in any international online lottery draws. Sports betting is also legal and the first sports betting company – Dagoo Sports Betting was founded in 2012 but was closed down soon after.
Future of Gambling in Ethiopia
Despite having regulated gambling market, Ethiopia is not licensing any new online casinos for local players as well as the land-based ones so the players don’t have a chance to entertain themselves in the Ethiopia online casinos approved on the country’s territory. But this may change soon. Today Ethiopia is known as the fastest growing economy in Africa and one of the fastest growing countries across the world. The internet penetration has rapidly increased from 4%, which was a few years ago, to 15% recently and it continues to grow. This means more people will have access to the best online casinos. The more money the country will have, the more likely it will create the new land-based casinos or decide to license an online casino ETB with a possibility of access to the best live online casinos.
