Gabon is an African country on the West Coast, neighbouring Congo. It does not have a large tourist industry, but it does have a large petroleum industry which means that it is not as poor as some other African Countries. This is a large part of the popularity of gambling and thus casinos with Gabonese locals. Many forms of gambling are legal in Gabon, including horse racing, lotteries and casinos.
Gambling in all forms in Gabon is regulated by the 2005 Gambling Act that states that any company providing any sort of gambling in the country must pay a 4.5% tax to the government. Online gambling however does not seem to have any specific regulations and is a bit of a grey area. This being said, about 40% of the Gabonese population make use of internet gambling in one form or another. The three largest Gabonese gambling operators as yet have no online games at all, in fact they don’t even have websites. Currently there are only about five legal brick and mortar casinos in Gabon, mostly in Libreville. That is not to say that there are no underground venues in the rest of the country.
Casino Croisette
Named after the casino in France, Casino Croisette Gabon is located in Libreville, Gabon’s capital. The establishment first opened its doors in 1997. Casino Croisette is a large casino by Gabonese standards, with a number of modern slots and some old ones too. Table games vary from Blackjack to Poker variants to French Roulette. Poker tournaments are a weekly occasion, with a wide variety of people competing. The casino closes every day at 4am and opens again at 11am. An onsite restaurant offers mostly African cuisine, but has a nice mix of European as well. The casino is frequented mostly by westerners and rich Gabonese.
Casino Port Gentil
Casino Port Gentil is located not hugely surprisingly in Port Gentil, Gabon. Port Gentil is a sea side town with a number of well off locals. Port Gentil is the second largest city in Gabon, after Libreville, and is known as a bigger business hub than the capital city. This is mainly due to it being the country’s largest sea port, and since the oil that funds the country is found at sea, this makes sense. Casino Port Gentil is the largest casino in Gabon, but still pretty small by world standards. It is like the majority of casinos found in this part of the world. It is in an unassuming building, without much glitz or glamour at all. Las Vegas this is not.
The casino is also not open the whole night. It opens at 10 am each morning and then is only open Thursday through to Sunday. There is no attached hotel, or fancy restaurant either. Luckily all the entertainment in Port Gentil is pretty much on the same block as the casino, which makes life a lot easier. The games on offer at Casino Port Gentil are the regular ones that you would expect to find in casinos of its size and stature. Newish slot machines rub shoulders with slightly more outdated ones, and table games come in the form of Blackjack, Roulette and Poker. The casino is very seldom crowded, so you can be pretty much guaranteed of getting a seat at a table of your choice.
