SAR – ريال سعودي – Saudi Riyal at Online Casinos in 2024

Saudi Arabia is an Islamic state based on Sharia law, and as such, gambling in Saudi Arabia is strictly forbidden. In other words, it is illegal. The penalty for getting caught can be quite severe, including 6-month prison terms or worse.

Whether you're a resident or a tourist, you will not find an official land-based casino or online gambling site in Saudi Arabia. While this may not be a problem with Saudi's who strictly follow Sharia law, to moderate muslims and the 9+ million foreign workers in oil and other industries, this is unfortunate.

Racing and sports betting are popular in some circles which have given rise to illegal unground betting, which is risky.

While we promote online casinos, we respect Saudi law. We do not recommend or encourage players located in the country to gamble illegally. We do hope that in time, Saudi Arabia will relax the rules and adopt a licensed and regulated industry as has been the case in some other countries.

The purpose of this page is strictly to inform players holding riyal outside of Saudi Arabia of some online casinos accepting SAR.

An online casino is like any other merchant, there are honest ones, and there are dishonest ones. While we believe that that the vast majority of casinos that accept Saudi riyal are honest, we advise you to use common sense.

Only play at a licensed and regulated casino by an authority that has a reputation for being tough. Fortunately, these do exist, and two that we recommend are the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) and the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC). These regulators are responsible for ensuring best practices: fairness, transparency, anti-money laundering and player protection.

This also means that games with a random number generator (RNG) have been tested to ensure that the outcomes are genuinely random and have not been tampered.

Although there are some great casinos licensed in other jurisdictions outside Europe, such as Curacao, you need to be careful. The reason is that a Curacao license demands less from their licensees with fewer audits, fewer regulations and light player protection.

Online casinos accepting SAR are not as popular casinos accepting other currencies such as USD, GBP, EUR or CAD, for example. If your home country's currency is accepted, then an obvious solution would be to use it. Many casinos accept a range of currencies while some might determine your currency based on your country location.

Whatever you decide, remember that once you select a currency at an online casino, it will be very difficult (even impossible) to change it afterwards. The casino will not allow you to open a second account with them and trying to deceive them by using a VPN or false credentials is a bad idea. When you're eventually discovered, you'll forfeit any winnings that you've accumulated. Speak to customer support and find out if there's another solution.

Some players might decide to convert their riyals into another currency, but this can be costly as conversion fees may apply. Your winnings, if any, will also be subject to conversion fees so you can be hit twice. Also, consider that foreign exchange rates fluctuate so unless your currency is pegged to the riyal, movements in the exchange can work for or against you.

You can find casinos that accept Saudi riyal, so SAR ر.س  deposits and withdrawals are possible. Keep in mind though that your selection will not be as broad as some European countries, dollar countries like Canada and New Zealand or South Asian countries like India.

If you're looking for a licensed and regulated casino that accepts Saudi riyal, then we invite you to view our recommended online casinos. You can find a casino review for each of them so feel free to have a read to choose the best one for you.

Qualifying for a deposit bonus, free spins or other mainly comes down to the casino's policy towards players from your country. Unless restricted by law, a riyal deposit will likely qualify for a casino bonus. Remember not to forget to opt-in at sign-up and that you'll need to make a minimum deposit to qualify. Always check the T&Cs as bonus terms will apply.

Casino payment methods may differ by country and by currency, so the options available in one may not be the same as another. Most online casinos will accept riyal deposits using a credit card (Mastercard/Visa). While credit cards can be a convenient way of depositing funds to a player account, we only recommend using them for convenience, rather than if you're short on cash.

There are also electronic wallets (e-wallets) such as Skrill or Jeton that accept SAR, and they offer a fast and convenient alternative to cards.

→ See all casino payment methods