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Egypt is preparing to clamp down on online betting apps, with a senior MP saying the government will begin blocking platforms “soon” and is drafting new legislation designed to keep them out for good.
Ahmed Badawy, head of the Communications and Information Technology Committee in the Egyptian House of Representatives, said the state is moving to shut down and block online betting apps operating in the country, naming the 1xBet app as an example. He said apps that are blocked will not be allowed to return, as lawmakers work on tougher deterrent penalties aimed at closing loopholes that helped betting platforms spread in recent years.
Badawy also sought to draw a bright line around the government’s intent. Egypt, he said, is not fighting technology or digital transformation. It is targeting what he described as harm to society, arguing that the response needs clear laws and firm enforcement.
Egypt’s tough line: block first, then lock it in with new penalties
Badawy’s comments set out two tracks moving at the same time. The first is immediate disruption, blocking and shutdown action against betting apps. The second is legislative: a bill in the works that would introduce deterrent penalties for apps and services that encourage betting and gambling, with the stated goal of removing legal gaps that previously allowed them to operate or reappear.
In a separate TV phone-in earlier this month, Badawy said the committee was following what he called the “most dangerous three” e-betting apps and coordinating action with relevant bodies, including the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) and the Supreme Council for Media Regulation. He said the committee had received dozens of complaints, including reports involving children and teenagers, and framed the issue as one with real household consequences, not just an abstract debate about “online risks.”
Egypt wants someone to answer when platforms cross the line
Badawy said every electronic platform operating within Egypt will have an accredited legal representative—someone authorities can contact and hold legally responsible when violations occur.
If the legal-representative rule is written broadly, it could have effects beyond betting apps. But in this context, it is being sold as a way to stop gambling promotion from hiding behind offshore structures and hard-to-trace digital storefronts.
Details, possible timelines, and which agency pulls the lever
Badawy said blocking will begin “soon,” but no public schedule has been attached, and no formal list of targeted brands has been published in the same breath as the enforcement talk.
Even the draft legislation itself has not been disclosed. What penalties are proposed, who is liable, how the legal-representative rule works in practice, and whether the law targets only gambling promotion or takes a wider sweep across digital platforms operating inside Egypt.
For now, the direction is unmistakable. Egypt’s lawmakers are signaling that the era of “download the app and hope nobody notices” is coming to an end, and that the next chapter will be written with blocks, penalties, and named individuals who can be held to account.
