POKER LIFESTYLE

Online Poker in the Arab World

By Robbie Strazynski
January 01, 2013

Gambling is an illegal activity, per se, in the Arab world. That’s to say it is an absolute restriction under Islamic law. Furthermore, Arab countries consider the Koran not just merely the holy book for the Muslims, but also as the equivalent of a “Constitution”.  Hence, if you are caught playing card games, poker included (especially as it’s one of the card games to have originated in the West), a harsh punishment could be expected.

The Arab World

Many Arab countries (e.g., the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) make use of filters to block forbidden foreign websites. However, despite these filters, many players exploit loopholes to gain access to online casinos, bingo sites, and poker rooms.

Arabs Definitely Gamble

As time passes, some Arab countries are actually becoming more open to online poker games. Though statistics are a bit scarce regarding online poker play in other Arab countries, it’s clear that just like people of all other ethnicities, Arabs follow and enjoy the game of poker. On a country by country basis, the highest number of Arab online poker players hail from Lebanon, followed by the UAE (United Arab Emirates). The number of Qataris, Kuwaitis, Egyptians, and Jordanians who play poker online is also most certainly increasing.

Specifically, these trends are supported by a 2011 survey conducted by PokerTableRatings.com as well as keyword searches from those countries that are associated with gaming, including terms like “free play”, “Facebook card games”, and “Zynga Poker”. On the other end of the spectrum, however, is Saudi Arabia. With a 100% Muslim population, it’s no wonder that online poker is practically non-existent in the country.

What about French-Speaking Arabs?

Arabs from countries like Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria also exhibit an increasing interest in playing poker online. Obviously, a large amount of people from those countries communicate in French, so we examined keywords like “poker games” (jeux de poker) and “online poker” (poker enligne), and found that these were indeed highly searched for.

The Operators’ Role

Since online casinos and poker game sites are operated out of Western countries, Arab governments cannot actually prevent them from offering online poker to their countries’ citizens. That said, plenty of online casinos and poker rooms have their doors open to players from Arab countries. These include Party Poker, PokerStars, Carbon Poker, and Unibet Poker, to name a few.

*Cardplayer Lifestyle would like to thank the staff over at https://www.online-casino-gambling-strategy.com/ for their assistance in putting together this post.

0

LIKE THIS STORY?
GET OUR BEST ONES IN YOUR INBOX EACH MONTH!

Sign up
blog-author1
Written By.

Robbie Strazynski

Robbie founded Cardplayerlifestyle.com in 2009. A veteran member of the poker media corps, in addition to writing and video presenting, Robbie has hosted multiple poker podcasts over the years, including Top Pair, the Red Chip Poker Podcast, The Orbit, and the CardsChat Podcast. In 2019, Robbie translated the autobiography of Poker Hall of Famer Eli […]

Comments

Join The Discussion

Latest Post

Tags

Pokercoaching All Access

The Travel Shark

WPTGlobal Welcome Offer

Don’t miss our top stories, exclusive offers and giveaways!