INTERNET GAMBLING AND THE LAW

Different countries have different rules for gambling and this means that the legality of gambling and especially internet gambling often turns into a complicated legal conundrum.

While most people know whether or not different types of gambling are legal in their home area, they often become quite confused when asked if online gambling is legal or if foreign sport books are allowed to operate within their country. This is especially true within the European Union where the laws of member states are not always in sync with EU regulation.

When it comes to online gambling, many countries have enacted restrictive laws and regimes, or monopoly licensing that limits gambling online. These laws have more to do with maximising tax revenues than opposiiton to gambling itself - which is encouraged through physical casinos, horse racing, and state run lotteries.

Registering to play online from an area where gambling or online gambling is illegal is seldom something that is going to get you into trouble in your native country (but this is no guarantee).

The government and its law enforcement agencies are more likely to chase those who arrange and run illegal gambling or illegally promote gambling in your country that to go after individual players.

Gambling individuals are rarely given any type of penalty. This is in no small part because those are the individuals the gambling bans are supposed to protect, the perceived victims. This is also why the government is more interested in catching those who arrange games than trying to punish individual gamblers.