ShareThe legality of online gambling around the world is an incredibly complex situation. While there are some jurisdictions that make the situation crystal-clear, most of the world sits at least partially in a grey area.
Seeking out a properly legal online casino isn’t as simple as most would like.
Still a Young Industry
The online gambling industry is roughly 25-years-old. Many would argue that this represents a fully-matured sector, but it doesn’t take much research to confirm that this is not the case.The internet arrived, almost without warning, changing the face of the world forever. Governments have since struggled to keep up with proper regulatory requirements to both protect consumers and facilitate the smooth running of an industry that pays billions of dollars in taxes around the world.
The American case was the most visible as Las Vegas moguls, such as Sheldon Adelson, lobbied hard to encourage lawmakers to do something about this new “menace” that was threatening their profit margins, no matter how slightly.
The result was the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) which set the wheel in motion for the almost complete destruction of online poker in the United States five years later.
In the case of the United Kingdom, the Gambling Act 2005 is already considered out-of-date and is currently being updated to reflect how the industry looks today.
In some regions we have seen outright bans, in others a lax attitude by politicians who clearly feel there are more important tasks to be dealing with. The latter situation has left many regions falling under one of the grey areas where the casual gambler doesn’t always know where they stand.
It’s going to take a long time before a state of legal equilibrium is reached, and probably by then attitudes will have changed and a new generation of legislators will be in power.
Why Is Licensing Important
Although playing on an unlicensed site might help a user circumvent local regulation, it does come with added risk. If a site displays a selection of licenses we can expect the business to be a trustworthy one and have no fear of depositing funds there.Licensing bodies perform a great deal of checks to ensure that the site is worthy of conducting business in that region.
A typical investigation will focus on matters such as:
- Game integrity
- Protecting minors from predatory behaviour
- How well customer support responds to complaints
- The character of the owners and managers
Checking game integrity might be an obvious place to start but how do customers know which sites to trust and which to void? A licensing check saves a lot of effort, particularly if the license is in one of the more trusted regions such as the United Kingdom.
The Future
It’s difficult to pin down any kind of a predictable pattern when it comes to the legalisation of gambling and provision of licenses. Currently, the Netherlands is revamping its own laws, both kicking out unregulated sites and handing out the first 10 licenses.The United States is changing on a state-by-state basis after the federal ban on sports betting was lifted. Online casinos and poker are also in the mix, depending on the politicians involved.
As good as proper licensing can be, unregulated online casinos will always have a place in the industry. Often the lack of paying to go through the procedure means that better bonuses and promotions are offered. It’s up to the customer to decide.
