Bougainville Gambling Licence 2026: What the BOGA Act Says and Whether Bougainville Can Issue One

What BOGA offers

The Bougainville Offshore Gaming Authority (BOGA) presents itself at bougainvilleoga.org as the regulator of “offshore” iGaming in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea. Its home page promises a 0% gaming tax, “weeks” to approval, a USD 10,000 licence and certificates “anyone can verify in real time”. The licensing page lists six verticals under one licence: online casino, sportsbook, live dealer, poker, bingo and lottery, and eSports and virtual. The contact page gives an office in Kabu and one email address, [email protected].

The domain was registered on 26 November 2025, according to its registry record. Our profile of the other island-name licences is on the Anjouan page; this page does something narrower. It reads the three texts a counterparty would need to read before relying on a BOGA licence.

The Act, read in full

The home page links “The Act” to a PDF. It is ten pages, scanned images with no text layer, titled the Bougainville Offshore Gaming Authority Act 2025. We read all 22 sections by OCR and checked ss. 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 22 and the signature page against the page images. It has no Act number and no date, and ends with the signature of the Minister for Independence Mission Implementation, Justice and Attorney General.

What it provides:

Item	Act
Authority	Independent statutory body corporate, five-member Board (ss. 4-5)
Offshore gaming	Internet-based gaming offered to participants located outside the Autonomous Region (s. 2)
Application	USD 1,500, non-refundable; decision within 30 days or a request for more information (s. 10)
Licence fee	USD 10,000 on approval, before issue (s. 10(4))
Initial term	Three years (s. 11(1))
Renewal	USD 10,000 a year under USD 5m, USD 15,000 a year over; or USD 25,000 / USD 35,000 for three years (s. 11(3))
Tax	None (s. 12)
Records and reporting	Seven-year records, monthly revenue statements within 15 days, security incidents within 48 hours (ss. 14, 16)
Fines	Up to $50,000 (s. 7(1)(d)); obstruction up to $10,000 or two years (s. 7(2))
Register	Authority “shall maintain a public register of licensed operators and a disciplinary history” (s. 6(f))

The eligibility test (s. 9) asks for a registered company in good standing anywhere, disclosure of owners and key personnel, a responsible gaming plan and technical capacity. It sets no capital minimum and no local presence.

Where the text contradicts itself

The Act has gaps that matter to anyone relying on it.

1. Commencement. Section 1 says the Act “shall come into force on such date as the Autonomous Bougainville Government may appoint by notice in the Gazette”. We found no such notice. The ABG’s own legislation page lists acts only up to 2018.
2. The Board appoints itself. Section 5(1)(b) says four of the five members are “appointed by the Board”. Only the Chairperson is appointed by the ABG President. The Act names no one who appoints the first four.
3. An appeal to nowhere. Section 10(5) gives a refused applicant “a right of appeal as provided in Section 17”. Section 17 deals with suspension and revocation and contains no appeal.
4. Two meanings of GMV. Section 2 defines “Gross Gaming Revenue” or “GMv” as wagers less winnings. Section 11(3)(a)-(b) uses Gross Gaming Revenue and (c)-(d) uses GMV, with the same USD 5m threshold. The licensing page says GMV is “gross monthly volume”. Neither the Act nor the page says over what period the threshold is measured.
5. Tax, twice. Section 12 is headed “Gross Gaming Revenue Tax” and says there is none, while s. 6(d) gives the Authority the job of collecting “gross gaming revenue taxes”.
6. Currency. Fees are in USD. Fines are “$50000” with no currency.
7. An unnamed repeal. Section 22 repeals “any prior legislation governing offshore gaming” in Bougainville and lets licences granted under it continue. It names no prior law, and we found none.

None of these proves the Act is not law. They show that it was not drafted to be applied as written without further instruments, and the Authority’s regulations (s. 19) are to be gazetted; none were found.

Does Bougainville have the power?

The answer comes from three layers, not from the Act.

The Constitution lists gambling as available. The Bougainville Constitution reproduces, in Schedule 4, the National Constitution’s s. 290. Section 290(2)(t) lists “gambling, lotteries and games of chance” among the functions and powers “available to the Bougainville Government in and in relation to Bougainville”. Neighbouring entries include liquor, licensing of public entertainment and non-banking financial institutions. “Available” is not “held”: s. 295 requires the Bougainville Government to give 12 months’ notice and consult before a function is transferred.

The Sharp Agreement removed the notice step. Signed on 13 May 2021 by the PNG Government and the ABG, it dispenses with the s. 295(a) and (b) requirements (clause 2). Clause 4 says the ABG “shall as from this day be at liberty to legislate on any, or all, of those areas or matters under Section 290 in accordance with agreed plans”. The signatory for Bougainville was Ezekiel Masatt, the same office-holder whose signature block closes the BOGA Act. We found no published agreed plan covering gambling.

National law continues until replaced. Section 296(1) says national laws on a function available to Bougainville “shall continue to apply until replaced by Bougainville laws”. The national Gaming Control Act 2007 is therefore the starting point for the question of what applies in Bougainville. We could not read that Act: PacLII returns an access error to automated requests, so this page makes no claim about its online-gaming provisions. Section 293 adds that Bougainville’s powers are not to be exercised inconsistently with PNG’s international obligations.

Two further limits. First, the powers are “in and in relation to Bougainville”; the Act’s own definition of offshore gaming covers participants anywhere outside the region, which includes the rest of Papua New Guinea. Second, the Constitution we read is the 2004 text hosted by the ABG; amendments after 2004, such as the 2015 amendment Act, were not read.

Is the PDF a law?

The Constitution says how a Bougainville law is made. Under s. 65 the House of Representatives makes laws. Under s. 66 the Speaker certifies a law under the Bougainville Seal, gives notice in the Bougainville Gazette, and the law comes into operation on the date of the certificate unless it says otherwise.

The PDF has a minister’s signature. It has no certificate date, no Speaker’s certificate, no Act number and no Gazette reference, and s. 21 refers to “the Parliament of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville” where the Constitution speaks of the House of Representatives. The ABG’s Acts page, read on 17 October 2026, lists nothing after 2018, so it can neither confirm nor rule out a 2025 Act. A certified copy, if one exists, would settle this; we could not find one. The PDF’s metadata gives a creation date of 23 June 2026, which says nothing about when any law was made.

Verification and the register

Section 6(f) requires a public register. The home page links a “Verify a License” portal. On 17 October 2026 both portal.bougainvilleoga.org and its /verify path returned a JSON error, “Application not found”, with HTTP 404, and the main site lists no licensees. We found no count of licences issued and no licensee named by an independent source. Compare registers that can be counted, such as Nevis and Tobique, tracked monthly on our register page.

What it costs, computed

The home page says “$10k flat annual license fee”; the licensing page says the licence fee is “paid once, on approval”; the Act says USD 10,000 before issue of a three-year licence. The three readings differ by USD 20,000 over the first term.

Scenario	Cost
First three years, Act (1,500 + 10,000)	USD 11,500
First three years, “annual” reading (1,500 + 3 × 10,000)	USD 31,500
Next three years, annual renewals under USD 5m (3 × 10,000)	USD 30,000
Next three years, three-year renewal under USD 5m	USD 25,000 (saves 16.7%)
Next three years, annual renewals over USD 5m (3 × 15,000)	USD 45,000
Next three years, three-year renewal over USD 5m	USD 35,000 (saves 22.2%)
Six years, Act, three-year renewal, under / over USD 5m	USD 36,500 / 46,500

These are authority fees only. They exclude the company, legal, audit, testing and banking costs, and any tax in the operator’s home jurisdiction (s. 12). Because “GMV” has two readings, the USD 5m threshold can differ greatly: at a 4% hold, USD 5m of gross gaming revenue is USD 125m of turnover, and USD 5m of turnover is USD 200,000 of revenue.

In practice

For an operator. Get written answers before paying: the date the Act commenced and the Gazette reference, the Speaker’s certificate, the regulations under s. 19, whether GMV means revenue or turnover, and a sample licence you can verify. A licence from an island authority is also not evidence of acceptance by banks, payment providers or the markets you serve; see how that played out on our Anjouan legitimacy analysis and the Comoros review.

For a payment provider or bank. Ask for the licence number and the verification URL, and treat an unverifiable URL as unverified.

For a player. A BOGA logo does not tell you where an operator may lawfully accept players. That depends on the law where you live.

What we could not read

The PNG Gaming Control Act 2007 (PacLII blocks automated requests); any National Executive Council decision or agreed transfer plan on gambling; the Bougainville Gazette; the Authority’s regulations; and BOGA’s December 2025 launch announcement, which we could not retrieve. We did not contact BOGA, the ABG or the PNG National Gaming Control Board, and we did not apply for a licence.