Online gambling has proved to be a very popular and profitable concept considering the fact that the online gaming industry is one of the fastest growing ones in the world. Players obviously love experiencing the casino thrill from the comfort of their homes, browsing latest game releases and checking out various examples of no deposit free spin bonuses. However, this awesome concept isn’t legal everywhere yet and, truth to be told, it still has a lot of enemies worldwide. Customers that play illegally on online gaming sites are putting themselves at risk to become a scam victim or even be prosecuted for doing so. Therefore, it’s good to stay informed and learn more about the online gaming regulations around the world.
Let’s first take a look at regulations related to online gaming in the United States. Considering the fact that land based gaming moguls such as Sheldon Adelson strongly oppose the introduction and acceptance of online gaming, the changes come at a pretty slow pace. It should be noted that ever since 23rd of December, 2011 real money casino games, online poker and fantasy sports betting was removed from the Wire Act and therefore states got the right to either allow or prohibit these gaming activities within their borders. Not surprisingly, the first states to embrace remote gaming were Delaware and New Jersey; the two were accompanied by Nevada. Soon, the market saw its first legal online gaming sites including Bovada and 888. It is expected that more and more states will join these three with New York being the likeliest to do so.
On the other side of the world we have Australia and its interesting remote gaming laws. Namely, in 2001 the government passed the Interactive Gambling Act that made it illegal for operators to offer Aussies online gaming services. However, thanks to a clause that says playing at online gaming destinations isn’t considered an offence, many Australians ignore the IGA and gamble nonetheless. Unlike online poker and online casino games that are marked as illegal, sports betting online is completely legal and the government has already granted numerous sportsbook licenses to operators like Betfair and Centrebet.
Remote gambling is extremely popular in Europe and countries like the UK, Germany and Spain have well developed online gaming markets. The UK is possibly the best and the largest remote gaming market on the continent with a huge number of established operators and thousands of customers. However, even though most forms of remote gaming like online poker, sports betting and casino games are allowed, in order to operate companies have to obtain the UK gaming license first. Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands also issue their own remote gaming licenses that grant operators permission to serve on their territory. This type of gambling is allowed in Spain too, where operators get a 10-year valid license that gives them green light to serve Spaniards. Online gaming in Germany is still a bit of a grey area with the country banning online gaming activities first and then allowing only certain types. The true rise of Internet gaming in the country happened in the Schleswig-Holstein state when its authorities decided to come up with their own liberal laws and granted a huge number of licenses.
In terms of countries that aren’t so open to online gaming we can mention Turkey, China and Russia. In Turkey there’s only one legal outlet that can offer any form of legal online gaming activities to Turks. However, for now, the only service is Internet sports betting. In China online gaming is illegal, but its citizens often ignore these regulations and play at international gaming sites. Finally, ever since December, 2006, online gambling and any gambling relying on telecommunications technology has been completely banned in the country.
