Online Gambling is a form of betting that takes place on the Internet. It is regulated and legal in several countries, including the United States, some provinces in Canada, most members of the European Union, and many nations in and around the Caribbean Sea.
Legality and Regulation
In most jurisdictions, the laws concerning Internet gambling are very restrictive. Some states have banned it, while others have allowed it only for specific activities, such as horse and dog races and state lotteries.
Some states also have a legal age requirement for betting, but this varies. It can be as young as 18, although in some countries it is 21.
Regulatory Issues
The issue of whether or not to regulate Internet gambling has been a controversial topic for decades. In the 1990s, a new Internet service called World Wide Web made it easy for anyone with access to a computer to create a gambling site and begin taking bets. This represented an end-run around government control and prohibition and was a major challenge to the United States’s policies toward illegal gambling.
Legislation was introduced in the 1990s to limit or ban online gambling. Some bills were passed, but they did not stop the growth of this industry.
Credit Card Associations Block Gambling Websites
After a settlement between the credit card associations and MasterCard and Visa in 1998, it became possible for credit card companies to block transactions from online gambling sites. However, the coding system that identifies gambling sites is not perfect. It can be fooled by unscrupulous merchants who enter the wrong code, allowing them to make fraudulent purchases on their credit cards.