Our Guide to The Best Lebanon Casinos Online
At present, online casino gambling is not regulated in Lebanon, so you might find it hard to find a reliable site to trust your cash with. This is where our casino review team comes in – our experts rigorously vet all casino sites accepting Lebanese players to bring you the very best ones right here.
Below, we’ll walk you through the factors you need to consider when choosing a great Lebanon casino site. We’ll also guide you on the online casino games, bonuses and payment options available to Lebanese citizens.
Safety, Security and Fair Games
Since Lebanon doesn’t currently have an online gambling authority regulating online casinos, it’s important that you still choose a site that is licensed by a gaming regulator in a reputable jurisdiction. We always ensure that the Lebanon online casinos we list on this page hold a valid license by an established regulator, such as the Malta Gaming Authority or the Curacao Internet Gambling Association. These regulators also legalize the best casinos from Vietnam or USA.
Our licensed casinos must comply with various strict safety standards so that you can enjoy casino games in a secure online environment. They also utilize SSL encryption to protect your personal information and banking details, and get their games tested to guarantee their fairness.
When in doubt about an online casino in Lebanon, we suggest reading unbiased casino reviews to get a second opinion.
Great Promotions and Bonuses
Most online casinos in Lebanon nowadays offer a sign-up bonus to its players. But you’ll want to choose a gambling site with truly unbeatable welcome bonuses and ongoing promotions for its loyal players.
Before signing up to a Lebanon casino online to claim a welcome bonus, read the terms and conditions of the offer to make sure you’re getting a fair deal. You’ll also want to see if it has any exciting bonuses available to you once you’ve used your new player bonus. We suggest having a good browse through our Lebanon casino site list above to see what tickles your fancy.
Common bonuses you’ll come across at our recommended sites include no deposit bonuses, free spins, match bonuses, and cashback. Some of our online casinos in Lebanon also host prize draws or multi-player slot tournaments, which you can participate in and win real money. Loyal members will often get access to the casino site’s VIP club. This club typically offers personalized customer service, exclusive gifts, and higher withdrawal limits among other perks.
Variety of Slots and Casino Games
Before creating an account with a Lebanon casino site, you’ll want to check out its lobby to see that if offers the games and activities you like. Luckily, our review team only lists casinos on this page which features hundreds of casino games. You can spin the reels of classic three-reel slot machines or try your luck on big-money progressive jackpot slots.
If you prefer table games, our Lebanese betting sites will give you access to dozens of different blackjack, poker and roulette game variants. You can play these games with random number generators (RNGs), or with a real, human dealer via live stream from a land-based casino.
Some of our Lebanese online casinos also offer sportsbook, allowing you to place bets on many international sporting events.
Lebanon-Friendly Casino Deposit Methods
Ideally, you’ll join a casino site that offers a good number of banking options so that you can deposit and withdraw cash with ease. You can use credit and debit cards at most Lebanon online casinos; however, we don’t recommend this payment method. Since online gambling isn’t regulated within the country, your Lebanese bank might decline your payment to the casino, or worse, withhold your winnings. You should opt for a more discreet deposit method instead, such as e-wallets and prepaid cards.
If you want to be more cautious, using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Litecoin are your safest bet since they guarantee complete anonymity. It’s hard to trace a cryptocurrency payment back to a person. The downside that is that not all Lebanon online casinos may have this option. Our team makes sure to list sites here that have a rich selection of deposit and withdrawal methods, including cryptocurrencies.
An Overview of Online Gambling in Lebanon
For many years, Lebanon had a relatively lax relationship with Internet gambling sites. That’s not to say that the government actively supported them or was happy to see them flourish, but officials didn’t go out of their way to prevent people from playing on them, either.
That seemingly changed in the summer of 2013. Suddenly, gamblers in the nation found that they could no longer access many major online casino sites. The order apparently came from a judge who found that the Internet gaming sites had to be blocked in order to comply with that same 1995 law that guaranteed a monopoly for the Casino du Liban. That certainly wasn’t a good day for players who had online accounts, but it wasn’t the end of the story, either. To this day, many online casinos accept Lebanese players.
And with no apparent effort from the government to criminalize playing on such sites (officials have even shown empathy for players who could no longer access accounts on sites that were blocked), many people have continued to play their favorite games for real money at reputable online casinos.
A large variety of sites still operate here, and many of them run software from a number of award-winning providers, meaning you can find quite a good choice of games in the market. Just a few of the companies that you might see at online casinos in Lebanon include:
• Microgaming
• NetEnt
• IGT
• BetSoft
• NextGen Gaming
• Bally
Aside from offshore casinos accepting Lebanese players, the next best thing for locals when it comes to online gambling is PlayLebanon. This site sells lottery tickets, and it’s owned by Libanaise des Jeux, the only operator of lottery games in the country.
Full online gambling regulation in Lebanon, however, could well become a reality in the years to come. Back in 2017, Casino du Liban launched a tender for an online gambling technology partner, but the necessary legislation was not passed due to politicians fighting over who gets to oversee Lebanon’s online gambling. In May 2020, Lebanon’s sole legal casino operator was once again on the hunt for an online gambling technology partner. They ‘ve announced a request for proposals (RFP), and currently hope to launch their online platform by the end of the year or early 2021.
While this might strengthen Casino du Liban’s monopoly over Lebanon’s gambling landscape, it’s likely that it won’t dither Lebanese citizens from enjoying casino sites licensed in offshore jurisdictions.
Land-Based Gambling Options in Lebanon
If you want to talk about land-based gambling in Lebanon, the conversation starts – and largely ends – with the Casino du Liban. Located just north of Beirut, the facility was first opened in 1959, and was once considered by some to be one of the more lavish resorts in the world, attracting the rich and famous from Europe and the Middle East. The venue closed for a time in 1989 but was reopened in 1996 after a long refurbishment project.
Today, the casino features more than 400 electronic gaming machines, 60 tables running popular games like blackjack, roulette, and baccarat, and a poker room (opened in 2007) that hosts tournaments and cash games. The interest in poker should be of little surprise, considering how many well-known poker pros are of Lebanese origin: the biggest names among that group include luminaries such as Sam Farha, Joe Hachem, and Freddy Deeb.
Horse racing remains a popular pastime in the country. The sport has a history in Beirut that stretches back thousands of years, back to the time of the Roman Empire. A historic hippodrome still exists in the site from that time period, and though there have been attempts to build on the land where the ruins are located, the site has been protected thanks to protests by the public and lawsuits against plans to build luxury residential buildings there.
As you’ve probably guessed, there’s no racing at that facility anymore. But the Hippodrome du parc de Beyrouth – which you can safely call the Beirut Hippodrome – has been in operation since 1921. For a while, the track was one of the biggest hosts of racing in the world, holding a year-round calendar of races for spectators to enjoy multiple times a week.