Nepal orders immediate nationwide shutdown of online betting apps and websites

Nepal has moved to block all online betting apps and related websites nationwide after the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology instructed the telecom regulator to coordinate immediate enforcement with internet and mobile service providers.

Nepal’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology sent a letter to the Nepal Telecommunications Authority over the weekend ordering it to ensure that all betting apps, websites and related electronic betting platforms are blocked within 24 hours. Local and industry reporting says the NTA then moved to coordinate the shutdown with internet service providers and mobile operators across the country.

The directive followed a government decision tied to a broader 100-point governance reform agenda. Reports say the move was driven by concerns over illegal financial transactions and capital outflows linked to online betting, with authorities presenting the crackdown as both a regulatory and economic-control measure rather than a narrow telecom action.

Enforcement appears to have started immediately. The NTA’s spokesperson, Min Prasad Aryal, was quoted as saying that the regulator had begun identifying IP addresses and associated URLs connected to betting platforms, while at least 16 betting websites were initially targeted for closure. He also indicated that the authorities were not working from a fixed public list of brands, but were instead instructed to block all suspicious sites identified through the process.

For Nepal’s gambling market, the decision marks a major escalation in the state’s response to online betting. Rather than targeting only selected operators, the government is pushing for a system-wide blocking regime covering the full digital segment, which suggests that online gambling is increasingly being treated as a matter of financial governance and digital enforcement as much as gaming control. That final point is an inference based on the scope of the order and the implementation model described by the authorities and local media.