Sangsad Bhaban, June 23 -- The Gambling Prevention Bill, 2026 was placed in Parliament on Tuesday to replace the colonial-era Public Gambling Act of 1867 with a comprehensive new law aimed at tackling online gambling, sports betting, digital casinos, gambling-related fraud and financial crimes conducted through modern technologies.

The proposed bill has been drafted to address the growing use of online betting platforms, virtual private networks (VPNs), proxy servers, mirror sites, social media, mobile financial services (MFS) accounts and digital payment systems in organising gambling activities.

Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed placed the bill, which was sent to the respective parliamentary committee for further examination. The committ...