Pakistan Betting Payment Methods

Is online betting legal in Pakistan?

No. The Prevention of Gambling Act, 1977 (Act No. XXVIII of 1977, 21 May 1977) defines gaming to include “wagering or betting”, bets on horses among them, and punishes keeping a common gaming-house (one month to one year in prison or a fine of Rs 100 to 1,000), being found in one (up to one year or Rs 5,000), gaming in a public place (up to one year or Rs 500), gaming in private places (up to two years or Rs 1,000) and repeat offences (up to three years or Rs 2,000). The Pakistan Code notes that the Act ceased to have effect on 15 March 1978 everywhere except the Islamabad Capital Territory, and the provinces passed ordinances of their own in 1978. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Prevention of Gambling Ordinance, 1978 (Ordinance No. V of 1978) carries the same definition and, since the amendment of 1988, harder penalties: up to three years or Rs 10,000 for being found in a gaming-house, up to five years or Rs 5,000 for gaming in a private place, up to seven years or Rs 10,000 for a repeat offence, and every offence is non-bailable. Sindh has its Prevention of Gambling Ordinance of 1978 and Punjab’s police list the 1977 Act among the laws they enforce.

None of these laws mentions the internet, and no federal or provincial body licenses betting of any kind: there is no regulator to name, which is what the box above says. Online betting is pursued as cybercrime. On 3 September 2025 the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency arrested a man in Lahore for advertising betting apps on YouTube, and on 13 September 2025 another for running online gambling through trading applications; both cases cite sections 13, 14, 25 and 26 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, as amended in 2025, and sections 294-B and 420 of the Pakistan Penal Code, and the agency calls the use of online platforms for gambling “a serious cybercrime”. The press pages of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority could not be read for this page, so nothing is said here about the blocking of betting sites.

Money follows the same line. The State Bank of Pakistan regulates the banks, Easypaisa’s among them, and since betting is an offence there is no tax category for its winnings: the Federal Board of Revenue’s rate card under the Finance Act 2025 withholds 20% (40% for anyone not on the Active Taxpayers List) on winnings from raffles, lotteries, quizzes and sales-promotion prizes and 15% (30%) on prize bonds under section 156 of the Income Tax Ordinance, and nothing on bets, because no lawful bet exists. Crypto, by contrast, has just been legalised: the Virtual Assets Act, 2026 (Act No. XIII of 2026), assented to on 4 March 2026 and published on 5 March 2026, created the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), and on 14 April 2026 the State Bank replaced its 2018 prohibition on virtual currencies with a circular letter that lets banks open accounts for PVARA-licensed providers.

Which payment methods work from Pakistan

Of the 47 bookmakers open to Pakistan, 38 list Visa and 36 Mastercard; 37 take Bitcoin and 34 Ethereum; 34 take Neteller, 32 Skrill, 22 Paysafecard, 17 Payz, 15 Jeton and 15 MiFinity; 15 list Google Pay, 11 Apple Pay and 3 PayPal. Twenty list a bank transfer. None lists JazzCash or Easypaisa, and 17 offer a rupee account. All of them serve Pakistan under a foreign licence, since no Pakistani one exists. The rules that apply:

• Every bet is an offence. The 1977 Act and the 1978 ordinances punish gaming, which they define to include wagering or betting, in public and in private, with prison terms that reach seven years in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for a repeat offence. The bookmakers’ lists describe their cashiers, not a lawful route for a resident of Pakistan.
• No published bank block. The State Bank’s credit card guidelines of 2009 contain no clause on gambling or prohibited merchant categories, and no SBP circular on betting payments was found; the cases brought in 2025 ran through the cybercrime law and the Penal Code, not through the banks.
• Google Pay yes, Apple Pay no. Pakistan is on Google’s list of countries where Google Pay works online and in apps; it is not on Apple’s list of countries that support Apple Pay.
• Wallets. eZeeWallet opens no account for residents of Pakistan. PayPal admits gambling payments only from operators it has approved, in jurisdictions where betting is permitted by law, which Pakistan is not. JCB issues debit cards in Pakistan and three bookmakers list JCB.
• Crypto has a regulator since 2026. Under the Virtual Assets Act, 2026 every virtual asset service provider needs a PVARA licence, and providers operating on 5 March 2026 had until 5 September 2026 to apply for a no-objection certificate or cease; PVARA’s site publishes no list of licensed providers yet. Banks may serve licensed providers since the State Bank’s circular letter of 14 April 2026, after eight years of prohibition. The 37 bookmakers that take Bitcoin from Pakistan are offshore sites, most of them licensed in Curaçao, whose crypto guideline of June 2026 requires them to screen the wallet you deposit from and to verify that you own the wallet you withdraw to; none of that changes what the gambling laws say about the bet itself.

Local payment methods

Pakistan pays through two mobile wallets, both absent from every bookmaker cashier in our data.

JazzCash

JazzCash calls itself Pakistan’s leading digital wallet and mobile account, with more than 1,500,000 businesses and 300,000 agents. Its schedule of charges for July to September 2026 makes wallet-to-wallet transfers free, bank transfers from the wallet free up to PKR 25,000 a month and then 0.1% or PKR 200 whichever is lower, Raast QR payments free for the consumer, and cash-out at an agent PKR 7 for amounts up to 200 rising to PKR 690 for PKR 40,001 to 50,000, tax included. The schedule in force since 1 October 2026 is published as a scan we could not read. No bookmaker lists JazzCash.

Easypaisa

Easypaisa, “secured and regulated by State Bank of Pakistan”, is a microfinance bank account of Telenor Microfinance Bank opened in the app with a CNIC number and a mobile number and no documents. Five transfers a month to other Easypaisa accounts are free, the sixth to tenth cost 1% and the eleventh onward 2%, tax included; Raast transfers are free; limits depend on the account level and rise to Rs 10 lac on upgrade. No bookmaker lists Easypaisa.

An Easypaisa account is tied to the holder’s CNIC, so a payment from it carries the payer’s identity; the JazzCash pages read here say nothing about registration. Neither publishes a gambling clause that we could read; the law that stops the payment is the gambling law itself.

How to deposit and withdraw from Pakistan

• Start from the law. Betting is gaming under the 1977 Act and the 1978 provincial ordinances, punishable by prison and fines, non-bailable in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and online betting is prosecuted under the cybercrime law. Nothing on this page makes a bet lawful; the sections above say what the bookmakers list and what the money services do.
• Rupee accounts. 17 of the 47 bookmakers offer a PKR account; the others hold balances in dollars or euros, and any conversion is done by the card issuer or wallet at its rate.
• Local wallets are not in any cashier. JazzCash and Easypaisa, the two wallets of daily use, appear in none of the 47 lists; Easypaisa is opened with a CNIC and says it is regulated by the State Bank.
• Phone wallets. Google Pay works online from Pakistan with a card saved in the Google account; Apple Pay is not available in Pakistan.
• Crypto. Since the Virtual Assets Act, 2026 a provider needs a PVARA licence and banks may deal with licensed providers; PVARA has published no list of licensees, and the State Bank’s 2018 prohibition applied until 14 April 2026.
• Tax. There is no tax rule for betting winnings because there is no lawful bet; the only withheld prizes are raffles, lotteries, quizzes and promotions at 20% and prize bonds at 15%, doubled for anyone not on the Active Taxpayers List.