Discover Mauritius: The Rising Hub for Poker Enthusiasts
Mauritius, a small island nation by the East Coast of Africa on the Indian Ocean, has become somewhat of a gambling hotspot in recent years.
In many other African countries, the gambling industry is either suppressed by legislation or in a fledgling state. Meanwhile, Mauritius can boast 16 licenced casinos, according to worldcasinodirectory.com’s numbers. That is a great ratio for a population of a little over 1 million people. Many of these gambling rooms are newly built and are inside of hotels, targeting the influx of tourists from other countries.
Here’s one interesting tidbit for you if you ever visit Mauritius to gamble: according to a site dedicated to Mauritius’ attractions, it is customary to dress sharply, or at least in casual-smart clothing, when you visit a local casino.
As for poker players, there’s plenty of choices in this country for them as well. In the Hendon database, the largest live poker event directory on the internet, there are 5 different poker venues in 5 different Mauritian cities – more on those later.
Famous Mauritian Poker Players
Hendon also has 187 players from Mauritius tracked.
The one with the most in live tournament cashes is a man named Josian Deelawon who has cashed for $154,502 during his career. In March 2011, he took down the €2,530 Main Event at the Mauritius Paradise Poker Tour for €65,000. That is his biggest single live tournament score to date.
Second behind him on the Mauritius all time money list is Brahim El Welly with $117,451 in live cashes. His biggest payday so far is $45,026, which he got for winning the FCFA2,100,000 No Limit Hold’em event at the Dakar Poker Sun – 2nd Edition in Senegal in March 2018.
On the online poker scene, Sylvain Liotard who plays under the screen name “aragon3974” on Winamax has Black River, Mauritius set as his location. He has $19,703 in online MTT winnings, according to his Pocketfives profile. On Hendon, he has an additional $34,027 in live cashes, but he’s listed as a French player – despite most of his live results coming from events played in Mauritius.
Online Poker in Mauritius
Online Poker Legislation in Mauritius
In Mauritius, online poker, like other forms of online gambling, falls under a strict regulatory framework. The government oversees all forms of gambling through the Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA). However, online poker is not explicitly legal or widely available in Mauritius, as the country’s regulations primarily focus on land-based gambling activities.
Best Online Poker Sites in Mauritius
Live Poker in Mauritius
Live Poker Legislation in Mauritius
Gambling first became legal in the island nation of Mauritius in 1973. The legislation pertaining to gambling that is in effect today is the Gambling Regulatory Authority Act of 2007.
This new law gave the responsibility to licence and regulate gaming establishments in the country to a newly formed government body, the Gambling Regulatory Authority. According to their own website, they have the authority to “issue, renew, suspend or revoke any licence; and issue directives to licensees and impose terms and conditions on licensees; and issue guidelines to licensees; and approve rules of gambling, lottery games, sweepstakes and lotteries; and impose any financial penalty for non-compliance with the conditions of a licence, rules, directions or guidelines; approve any event or contingency on which betting is to be conducted; and register lottery retailers.”
Live Poker Venues in Mauritius
At Casino Ti Vegas in Grand Baie, you can find a poker room running year-round with both cash games and tournaments. Alas, no information is available about the stakes and game types in their cash room, but their website does confirm that they host poker cash games.
As for tournaments, they regularly host African Series of Poker tournaments. It’s a tourney series that has events on their schedule with buy-ins ranging from MUR10,000 ($227) up to MUR50,000 ($1,135).
We have a very similar situation with the venue Monte Games – Casino Mauritius in the town of Vacoas-Phoenix. The website claims they have a poker room, with no additional info on the games. From 3rd party sites, we know that they have hosted poker festivals in the past such as the Little Big Revolution and the Million Revolution. The same goes for the Port Louis Casino Caudan Waterfront in Port Louis – they have a poker room according to their website, but nothing more is known about their game selection.
At the Pallagames Poker Circle in the town of Trianon, you can play No Limit Hold’em cash on MUR25/50 ($0.57/$1.14) stakes. They also host monthly 2-day events with MUR7,700 or MUR9,900 buy-ins. However, their social media has been silent since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020 – they’re possibly closed for good, but there is no public announcement of their closure either. In the past, they have hosted tournament series such as The Pallagames Mini Festival and the Mascareignes Poker Series.
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