Restricted Casinos in Azerbaijan

A special place in the entertainment industry of Azerbaijan is occupied by gambling establishments and casinos. There are not many such ones in the country, in connection with the legislation banning gambling, but they exist and are actively working. Most of them offer inexpensive online casinos or slot machines.

Most of the entertainment and gambling establishments in Azerbaijan is located in the capital of the country – the city of Baku. All gambling houses located in Baku and in general in the country are severely limited in their actions by the legislation of the state, but they are very popular among the locals and among the guests. For the first time gambling houses and casinos in the form in which they are now appeared in Azerbaijan in the 20s of the 20th century, and this is despite the fact that it was Soviet time. But by 1928 all of them had been officially closed. At the same time, a number of underground gambling establishments appeared, most of which were located on the territory of Baku.

New gambling establishments of a more legal kind began to open only after 1991 with the collapse of the USSR. The flagship of gambling houses in Azerbaijan was the Admiral Eka casino, which was opened in autumn 1991 in a building opposite the Government House in Baku. From the same moment, the country began to enact legislation prohibiting gambling. Amendments and changes to the new law were introduced until 1998.

It was at that time that the organization of the casino was banned completely. Only the national lotteries and sports bets fell into the list of permitted activities.

Thus, by the end of the nineties of the last century, Azerbaijan’s gambling business returned to the state of the Soviet Union. Until now, it remains in this state, but the issue of softening laws on casinos and gambling in Azerbaijan is already being actively discussed. Show less