Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina has no single national gambling authority; each entity has its own Law on Games of Chance and regulator. In the Federation of BiH the Federal Ministry of Finance and FBiH Tax Administration oversee betting (with cantonal involvement); in Republika Srpska the Republic Administration for Games of Chance (under the RS Ministry of Finance) licenses operators under the 2019 law; and Brčko District is regulated by its own finance directorate.

Sports and horse-race betting are legal and licensed, but a "land-based anchor" rule generally means online betting and casino licences go only to operators that also run physical premises locally, excluding online-only and offshore firms. In practice many users still access unlicensed offshore sites. Through 2025-2026 the Federation has pursued tax and player-protection reforms amid rising concern over gambling harm, but harmonising the entities into a unified framework remains stalled and enforcement is uneven.

Both online and real-world gambling are legal in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but current laws are deemed by many to be insufficient to properly regulate the industry. We’ll get into more detail on the legal situation below, but for now just know that locally licensed betting sites are legal, while the Federation’s law formally bans taking part in foreign-run games of chance when stakes are paid on its territory.

Many large international betting brands still accept customers from Bosnia, but only operators licensed locally are covered by Bosnian law.

Bosnian Betting Sites

All Bosnian betting sites accept a variety of deposit methods that you can choose from to fund your account. Some of the deposit options you’ll find available to you include credit card, debit card, Neteller, Skrill, Paysafecard, bank wire and cheque by mail. Of these, the simplest would be credit/debit cards and Neteller or Skrill.

The one hitch you’re likely to run into will be converting convertible marks into one of the main currencies used by international betting sites. Gambling operators prefer to use one of the world’s more widely-used currencies in order to facilitate multi-player games such as poker that bring people together from around the world. The good news is that currency conversions are performed automatically on your behalf when you complete your deposit.

Gambling Law in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Any discussion of gambling law in Bosnia must first start with us noting that Bosnia and Herzegovina is one country divided into two mostly autonomous regions. These include the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Republika Srpska. Each maintains a relatively wide degree of autonomy although together, they both form one country.

Republika Srpska was the first of these two regions to fully address online betting, but the Federation now also licenses internet gambling under its Law on Games of Chance (Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH, nos. 48/15 and 60/15). Today a number of local operators hold online licences — in the Federation alone, seven companies (including WWin operator “Williams Kladionica”) plus Lutrija BiH are approved to offer games of chance via the internet. WWin is a legitimate place to play.

Enforcement has focused on operators rather than players, and many Bosnians continue to use larger, more established betting sites headquartered in other parts of the world.

In 2013, the government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina attempted to regulate online gambling with a bill issued in January of that year. The bill ultimately ended up calling for local internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to foreign betting sites. Local ISPs were threatened with fines ranging from 1,000 to 50,000 KM for failure to comply.

Resistance from ISPs and public outcry denouncing the move was enough to convince Bosnian courts to reverse the decision and leave the internet free of censorship.

Land-based gambling across the entire country is governed under a set of ambiguous laws that lawmakers claim are in need of reform. Specifically, lawmakers point to two key issues that need to be addressed.

First, they note that Bosnia has an extremely high ratio of betting shops to people. In total, there are estimated to be nearly 2500 betting shops across the country. This works out to nearly 1 betting shops for every 1,000 people living in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Lawmakers are worried about problem gambling given the wide access to sports betting. One politician specifically noted that current legislation only requires a minimum distance of 100 meters between schools and betting shops. He would like to see that distance increased.

The second change lawmakers would like to see is an increase on tax rates. In the Federation, operators must instead withhold a betting levy of 5% of every stake from the player at the time of each payment. The same news reported linked-to above notes that some have estimated that a 10% tax on winnings under 100 KM would bring in 23 million euros in additional tax revenues per year.

In summary, Bosnia and Herzegovina regulates gambling entity by entity, and both Republika Srpska and the Federation of BiH now have mechanisms by which operators may receive licences to offer online casino games, poker and sports betting — the Federal Ministry of Finance has approved seven companies plus Lutrija BiH to run games of chance over the internet. Major international betting sites have so far declined to apply for a license due to the complicated process, small population and lack of consequences for operating without a license.