The Great Khural of Mongolia has voted on legislative amendments that will prohibit all activities related to paid predictions, sports betting, and online gambling.

Announced by the Great Khural’s press service, Mongolian legislators have reviewed and approved amendments to the country’s Law on Licensing in March which clamp down on both online and retail betting. 

Montsame, the state news agency of Mongolia, also reports that predictions have been banned as well. Mongolians have also been banned from using payment accounts, electronic money, virtual assets, communication networks or electronic IDs to organise betting, gambling, or predictions.

Anyone who organises online or in-person betting or gambling will be considered breaking the law under Mongolia’s criminal code and could be subject to fines, community service, travel restrictions or imprisonment.

This marks a further shrinking of legal gaming activities in Mongolia, which already has quite strict laws around gambling – something that is not that uncommon in East Asia with most countries’ possessing frameworks that are far cry from the liberal standards seen in markets like the UK, Ireland or France, for example.

Mongolia has had legal sports betting markets for some time, as well as legal lotteries, but both physical and online casinos are illegal. According to Montsame, legislators have now put betting in this bracket.

Choosing prohibition, Mongolia take a markedly different approach to gambling regulation. In the run-up to March 2025, the government signalled support for a launching a  tightly regulated licensing regime for sports betting, while maintaining a blanket ban on all other gambling activities

The country’s strict standards on gambling are well-known to most stakeholders, however, with the likes of Meta being aware enough to include Mongolia on a list of countries where gambling ads cannot be displayed on its social media platforms like Facebook.

The sweeping prohibitions in Mongolia’s gambling laws coincide with the arrival of new leadership under Prime Minister Zandanshatar Gombojav. While the People’s Party leader has not publicly addressed the reforms, he has emphasised his commitment to tackling money laundering, financial crime, and the outflow of national capital.

A stumbling block for Asian gaming

In the grand scheme of things, further restrictions on betting in Mongolia will not come as much of a shock to many gambling PLCs during H1 results season due to the market being relatively untargeted.

It may come as a blow to some stakeholders hoping to see a wave of liberalisation across Asian markets, however. Some, like Sportradar, expect regulatory transitions across the Asia-Pacific region in 2025 which will present opportunities for betting and iGaming firms.

Thailand has been mulling up launching casinos to further bolster its tourism sector, the UAE has launched a gambling regulator for similar reasons, and the South Korean esports industry is calling for another look at betting regulation in the country, for example.

The recent developments in Mongolia show that these trends are not universal, however, as do the recent calls for a ban on online gaming in India while the country’s eighth largest state, Karnataka, is moving to ban online betting.

Predictions included

The inclusion of prediction markets in this legislative move, according to the state news agency, is also interesting. 

Mongolian authorities have clearly paid attention to the growth of prediction markets like Polymarket, which has found success globally and has just marked its return to the US, where Kalshi has established itself as the prediction market leader.

The popularity of prediction markets in the US has prompted a debate as to whether these companies’ products can be considered a form of gambling or not. This debate has quieted down at the federal level, but Kalshi is still finding itself at odds with several state regulators.

Meanwhile, countries in Europe and Asia like Belgium and Singapore have also decided against prediction markets, with both nations declaring Polymarket an illegal gambling website. Mongolia seems to be taking a similar approach to prediction markets.

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