Gum odina, a natural polymer of carbohydrate moiety, has already been shown its potential as pharmaceutical excipient as a binder in tablet dosage form and also as an emulsifying agent but very little data are available regarding the use of it as controlled release polymer. In the present study the objective was to investigate the potential use of gum odina as natural release retarding material in sustained release drug delivery system (matrix tablet) using tramadol hydrochloride as a model drug. Tablet containing tramadol hydrochloride was prepared using gum odina and further coated with Eudragit L 100 to prevent its release in stomach. The prepared tablets were evaluated for physical characterization and in-vitro drug release. The results of this study has proven the suitability of using gum odina as an alternative to existing natural polymer in the field of controlled delivery of drug with a significant effect on drug release and desired release rate of drug from tablets.