The legality of online gambling is not a uniform governing legislation for all of the countries in the world, because there isn’t a law in existence that can govern all the countries that would allow online gambling to be legal, across the board. Countries, independently of each other, set up their own laws and are ruled by the laws, which allows online gambling to be legal in some countries and illegal in others, depending on the legislations that are adopted in each country in regard to gambling. The countries in which online gambling is legal, are bound by laws that are responsible for controlling necessary legal and regulatory issues. In some cases, these laws that make online gambling legal, may allow all forms of online gambling to be legal, or they may allow some kinds of online gambling to be legal, and other kinds to be illegal, or all kinds of online gambling may be illegal. It depends on the country, their legislation, and their motives for adopting their specific laws concerning online gambling.
On the Asian continent, the online gambling laws vary significantly from country to country, because each country is responsible for its own gambling laws. One thing is certain, online gambling laws are very strict in certain Asian countries, and lenient in others. Asia is the largest gambling market, at this point, since 60% of the world’s population lives in Asia. There are two Asian countries and one Asian city where some aspects of online gambling have been made illegal to some extent. These regions are Japan, Israel and Honk Kong. These three regions combined, represent a huge part of the Asian online gambling market. In Hong Kong, online gambling, with the exception of making legal bets on soccer because bets are placed through one government regulated website, casino and poker betting on the internet is prohibited. Japan has legal online betting on lottery, soccer, and public sports. Japan’s parliament has made an effort to legalize casino gambling, however, it has not yet passed. In Israel, online gambling is prohibited with the exception of the official sports betting systems and lottery that the government controls. Local companies are not allowed to operate online gambling sites, so the government has taken steps to prevent its citizens from participating in online gambling.
Even though online gambling is illegal to some extent in these regions, hardcore gamblers find a way around the restrictions. For example, the Japanese gamers access foreign gambling sites because the government can’t prevent it. Another example is, the gamers in Hong Kong, will travel to Macau, where online gambling is legal to bet at the online gambling sites. There has been no attempt by the government to legalize casino and poker betting via the internet in Hong Kong. Also, in Israel, online gambling is also illegal, but that doesn’t stop the gamers from accessing foreign gambling sites. For these three Asian regions, the governments are slow to make online gambling legal, in fact, the opposite has happened where there has been an increase to forcefully restrain illegal betting by shutting down illegal betting sites and arresting the managers of these illegal gambling sites. Because the governments have continued to make online gambling illegal, the serious and determined gamers will continue to find a way around the restrictions.
Should these determined gamers travel to foreign countries to engage in the favored past time, and their money is wagered to play these games in these foreign countries, they will benefit these other countries and not their own. The money spent to place bets will not benefit their own countries’ economic growth, but it will help other countries’ economic growth. In fact, the popularity of online gambling would suggest, that the legalization of all online gambling could help any country’s economic growth, significantly. Countries who don’t legalize the ever growing, ever popular industry of online gambling could be left behind as far as taking advantage of all the benefits that online gambling offers. Governments can regulate the industry to their satisfaction to maintain control, and also reap the financial rewards of economic growth by allowing the industry to legally exist in their country, by keeping the determined, wandering gamblers from venturing into other countries to spend their money, thus allowing the gamblers to spend their money in their own country.
True, online gambling opens the doors for undesirable elements to infiltrate their country and its citizens, like identity theft, theft of money through unsecured banking transactions, gambling addictions, money laundering, etc. Taking the necessary precautions and setting up the essential regulations can prevent those things from happening. Monitoring the online gambling sites will also create jobs. It seems the countries who exert so much control trying to keep gambling out of their countries, are fighting an uphill battle, because gambling will exist in their countries, whether it takes place in their countries, or not. The determined gambler will certainly find a way around the restrictions. By allowing the gambling to be legal, the government would be keeping their citizens at home, in their own countries, where they have control over the citizens, if this is a question of the governments’ control over their people.
