Uruguayan online casinos for Real Money

Uruguay first legalised online gambling way back in 1819, making it one of the first countries to do so. Back then, lottery gambling was legalised. Sports betting was legalised when the National Directorate of Lotteries and Pools (known as the DNLQ) was created in 1856. However, an 1882 law made all forms of gambling illegal save for those two options, and those gambling games were run by the state monopoly.

That all changed in 1936 when the City of Rivera was granted permission to open casinos tied to hotels, predominantly for tourists. Villa del Rio Branco followed suit in 1940, and additional tourist casinos were opened elsewhere in 1970. Five years later, the situation changed, with land-based games largely open to everybody in the country. Today, the Law for Gambling Games (known locally as Proyecto de Ley Para Juegos de Azar), first passed in 2016, dictates the gambling law in the South American country.

Online gambling is a trickier minefield to navigate. Prior to 2018, online gambling was largely unregulated. However, in 2018, the Uruguayan government decided to make all forms of internet betting illegal, save for La Banca de Quinielas de Montevideo (the state-run monopoly that controls the lottery) and its betting site, La Banca. A 2017 presidential decree has made all forms of offshore gambling illegal. Despite this, Uruguayans are not punished for visiting such sites. The operators who cater to Uruguayans are not prosecuted (this would be tricky to do), so this leaves options open to those in the country.

Technically, any licenses to legalise a gambling business in Uruguay must be issued by La Dirección Nacional de Contralor de Apuestas y Juegos de Azar, otherwise known as the National Directorate for the Inspection of Betting and Gambling Games. However, regulation is handled by another authority, namely the Dirección General de Casinos or the General Directorate for Casinos in English.

It is worth noting that these authorities only handle land-based gambling games, as online gambling (save for a precious few exceptions) is illegal in Uruguay. Licenses are usually only handed out to businesses affiliated with the state-run monopoly. The exception here is the lottery, which runs its own affairs under the Dirección Nacional de Loterías y Quinielas.

If they want to bet online, Uruguayans are going to have to look to offshore casinos. These will often be licensed out of Curacao and may still offer gameplay in Spanish. However, the level of regulation at these sites can vary wildly.

Lottery games and sports betting are the two most popular pastimes when it comes to gambling in Uruguay. However, this shouldn’t surprise anyone. These were the only two forms of legal betting until land-based casinos came along. Even though they won’t be prosecuted for betting on slots and table games at online casinos, many Uruguayans prefer to stick to these two forms of betting. However, poker and slot gaming are on the rise in the South American country, so this may change in the future.

If Uruguay is home to any major casino software providers, we were unable to locate them. As Uruguayans must head to offshore casinos to play, the type of software providers they will come across are largely the same as other Curacao-licensed casinos. Real Time Gaming, Rival Gaming and BetSoft Gaming titles are commonplace. However, if Uruguayans sign up for crypto casinos, they can occasionally find titles from some top-tier developers, like Pragmatic Play, Yggdrasil Gaming and Spinomenal, amongst others.

Uruguay doesn’t license online casinos. Therefore, if you want to bet online in Uruguay, you’re going to need to head to offshore foreign casinos. Many of those open to Uruguayan residents are licensed out of Curacao, and they do offer gameplay in Spanish. Players in Uruguay who choose to play at these sites are not going to be prosecuted, so this is an option worth considering for any player who wants to gamble online.

Offshore casinos catering to Uruguayans may offer support in Spanish, but they seldom specialise in Uruguayans, even though they accept them. This means that the Uruguayan peso is often not used at those sites, while the payment methods available tend to be more international options than specific South American options.