Online gambling can both be considered legal and illegal, which places it in the grey area of gaming. Technically, online casinos are illegal in the USA, but with the lack of strong online gambling laws, they continue to flourish and operate.
Another reason why it is hard to penalize and prosecute online gamblers is that they play from their homes. Online casinos also set up their servers outside their country of operation since it is illegal to operate within the nation. Today, about seventy nations allow casinos to operate on the Web. The list includes some parts of Canada, Finland, New Zealand, Denmark, Germany, South Korea, and France.
If you are interested in online casinos, it will be your sole responsibility to check the legality of the operation and the online gambling laws in your country. If you are aware that it is illegal and you still pursue with the betting, your winnings could be forfeited upon discovery.
Before one is able to start using a site, a person needs to register and agree on the terms and conditions of the casino online. Since personal information will be asked from the players, be sure that you are giving out personal details to a legitimate site. There have been reports where some bogus casinos make use of the site to phish for information that they can use in hacking.
Sovereignty and jurisdiction issues have even made the laws on online gambling even blurry. The Wire Wager Act of USA pronounces electronic transfer of money wired in a country where online betting is prohibited illegal. Say, if a player from USA bets with a casino operating in the New Zealand, the former breaks the law. It is impossible, though, to penalize and prosecute anyone from another country. This leaves many violators unprosecuted. When cheating takes place, it would be very impossible to press charges.
Still, there are some countries where online casinos are operated legally. Strict laws are enforced to ensure that players are paid properly. The law also obliges casinos to publish accurate actual and odd matches. Two of the countries that adhere to the national rules and standards are Finland and Australia. Most countries are not that strict with the rules and are only after the taxes they can get from the operation of the casinos.
One of the most popular games in online casinos is poker. In the USA, laws on online gambling, especially on online poker, are drastically changing. This started when government lawyers announced that the US Wire Act couldn’t be used in prohibiting states from running online poker. Now, many online casinos clamor to get licensed for operation.
Today, states like Delaware, Nevada, and New Jersey lead one of USA’s billion-dollar industries. Many other states are not looking into penetrating online casino world in the coming days.
With the changes in law, it is projected that there would be more online gamers from more than a dozen states by the end of the year 2015, and yes, they can play legally. The expected growth will even be higher should the Internet Poker Freedom Act of 2013 be approved.
While some states are already looking for license to operate, Georgia seems to be one of the last states that would legalize online casinos. In fact, poker players are still arrested and that its operators are prosecuted. One reason why online gambling laws in the state have remained rigid is that the state has remained to be a hub populated by extremely religious individuals.
There sure is fun with playing online casino games, but be responsible enough to check whether they are illegal or not in your country to avoid cash forfeiture or worse, prosecution.