Egypt is a country laden with history. While there may be some dispute over the topic, with China and India staking their own claims, Egypt is arguably the world’s oldest country. Its currency has changed countless times over millennia, but today’s Egyptian pound has its own glorious history, stretching back to 1834.
Until the 1960s, the Egyptian pound was pegged to the British pound sterling before swapping over to the US dollar at a fair rate of £E1 to $2.30. Devaluation has since occurred, and today’s exchange rate is worth £E15.67 (give or take) to the US dollar. While lavish coins and banknotes showcase the glory of ancient Egypt, none of that is relevant when betting online with EGP.
Finding an Egyptian pound casino is not as difficult as it sounds, and we’ve put together a great list for you below of quality, trusted and safe EGP online casinos. However, gambling from within Egypt itself may be tricky. Tourists are permitted to gamble (Nile riverboat casinos are an option, for instance), but locals are forbidden under Islamic law.
The Egyptian pound can be used to gamble at local establishments if you are a tourist; there isn’t much of this occurring. However, the country’s gambling laws (which expressly forbidding gambling) make no mention of international offshore betting sites, and this is something that many Egyptians take advantage of. To date, the laws are considerably flexible, with no known instances of Egyptians being punished for doing so. Moreover, the Egyptian pound is widely accepted at these sites.
While the Egyptian pound is used outside of Egypt by fellow Middle Eastern and African gamblers, it is only the default currency of Egypt itself. That said, the Gaza Strip is an unofficial user of EGP, although not in any online betting capacity.
Gambling of all kinds (bar lotteries) is effectively outlawed in Egypt on account of the country’s Islamic laws. However, special mention must be made of online betting. Egypt’s anti-gambling laws do still apply, but they are not exactly upheld when it comes to offshore internet betting sites. As a result, most EGP online casinos tend to be based elsewhere, and they readily accept players from Egypt.
As there is no blanket ban on using the national currency to wager at Egyptian pound casinos (assuming they are based offshore), Egyptians have quite a few payment methods to choose from. We’ve detailed some of the most popular payment options with bettors in the North African country below…
While PayPal is known to accept payments using Egyptian pounds, it only facilitates these transactions at nationally licensed online betting sites. As these don’t exist in Egypt, don’t expect to be able to use PayPal to deposit at EGP online casinos.