Thanks to the advancement of internet gaming technology, players now enjoy the effortless convenience of playing in top-notch online casinos such as the VulkanVegas Live Casino. It’s as simple as logging on to your computer, and you can play any casino game as much as you like at the comfort of your couch. However, as good an idea as online gaming seems, there are still many jurisdictions across the globe that have declared it an illegal activity. Today, we take a deeper dive into the world of internet gambling with a focus on what the laws of different jurisdictions say about the practice.
How Online Gambling Regulations Vary
It is safe to assume that in every country where online gambling is legal, the governments have a set of laws to regulate the market and levy taxes, like with any other business. While the regulations are explicitly straightforward in most countries, different regions may have a much more complex gambling regulatory process.
For instance, in the USA, there is a separate set of laws per state after the federal government has recently passed a law that gave power to individual states to legalize online gambling. As such, gambling via the internet is only legal in states like New Jersey, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania with many more states on the path to legalized online gambling. At the same time, there are so many other states that are somewhat reluctant about the idea of making internet gaming legal.
Jurisdictional Stalemates
Sovereignty and jurisdictional issues continue to create grey areas where parties could easily take advantage of each other. How is that a problem? Well, if you consider the Wire Act of the United States of America, for example, it is illegal to use any electronic wire method to take in staked bets from places where gambling is not legal. This, therefore, means that a casino in the Netherlands will be breaking the US laws if a player residing in the US gains access to their games.
But then again, since the US doesn’t have the legal authority to prosecute operators from other countries, players are seldom prosecuted either if they decide to access off-shore sites. This leaves us with an illegal act which goes unpunished. Things could, however, go sour for such players because if an off-shore casino decides to cheat them out of their rightful winnings, there’s nothing they can do. If online gambling is not legal in that region, it will be impossible to sue the casino.
Laws That Changed the Gambling Atmosphere
Other than the Wire Act and the recent overturning of the PASPA in the USA, the United Kingdom Gambling Act of 2005 was a gamechanger. It was passed to regulate all forms of gambling in England, Scotland, and Wales. Thanks to this, the licensing process shifted from the local level to the federal level, establishing the UK Gambling Commission, popularly known to be the governing body of the world’s largest gambling market.
Online Gambling by the Law
On the flip side, for the countries that permit online casinos to operate, there are usually some strict guidelines and regulations that ensure the casinos operate legitimately. Bodies such as Curacao eGaming, AGCC, and UKGC are often formed and given the mandate to make sure that the casinos pay out whenever participants win, and that the games are 100% fair. As a result, Finnish, British, Canadian and Australian online casinos are popular for adhering to national and international standards.
On your part as a gamer, when signing up for an online casino, you are required to be of age often between 18 and 21 years depending on your country. As standard procedure, you will usually be required to verify your identity, among other things. Moreover, finding out whether gambling is legal or illegal where you live is your responsibility.
On the same note, we also encourage interested players to carry out due diligence of any platform they may want to play with. By all means, you should avoid platforms that don’t openly show/display their gambling licence or fairness certifications that guarantee the legitimacy of the platform. Fraudsters these days are getting sneakier, and so, if you aren’t keen enough, you could end up playing in an illegal platform.