Online Gambling Licenses: Where Are Casinos, Sports Betting, and More Permitted?
Online gambling first got approved in the nation of Antigua and Barbuda in 1994. What began as a somewhat niche experiment for economic growth quickly turned into one of the fastest-growing industries ever. The sector has maintained a reputation for rapid expansion, which has accelerated over the years, and now sits at an annual rate of 11%, per estimates from Pune-based researcher Grand View.
As this industry has expanded, so has the number of markets where remote wagering on sports, playing casino games for money, and enjoying poker over the Internet have been allowed. What has also emerged over the decades are information resource hubs that aim to help players get better informed about this sphere.
Casino Groups stands out as one of the top watchdogs in the online gambling landscape, with one of the main reasons for this being its jurisdiction-specific rankings. Understanding where gambling is permitted, who regulates it, and how, is something that not only lawyers should concern themselves with. These days, it is knowledge that every player can greatly benefit from, and below we present an overview of what Casino Groups presents to its readers.
What a Gambling License Actually Does
It is more than government-issued authorization that allows a company to offer its services in this domain. It is formal approval for business entities to do so only if they meet specific financial requirements, agree to undergo independent auditing, and follow strict rules about what they must provide to players and how they can treat them.
All licensed operators have to get the random number generators they use to produce game outcomes certified by a third-party lab such as eCOGRA, and take on certain liability responsibilities.
Licenses are not interchangeable, as some regulators have more stringent rules than others. Hence, two sites can be licensed, but one may be held more meaningfully accountable for wrongdoings and offer higher-end player protections.
Europe – A Patchwork of National Regimes
The EU does not regulate gambling in any centralized way. Each member state has its own framework, which has led to a fragmented environment. Non-EU countries also decide if they want to allow online gambling and how they do so.
The United Kingdom is the Old Continent’s best-known gambling regulator and is recognized as a trailblazer when it comes to protection standards. Its obligatory self-exclusion network – Gamstop was quickly adopted by companies in Nordic countries, which boast similar regulatory criteria as the UK. Italy was the first more developed EU nation that expanded into this type of remote entertainment via telephone betting. Malta followed suit at the start of the 2000s, establishing itself as the continent’s iGaming haven.
France and Denmark legalized their spheres in the second half of the 2000s, while most of Western Europe did so in the 2010s, with the exception of Germany and the Netherlands, which founded their restricted regimes at the beginning of the 2020s.
The Industry’s International Home Bases
These are the territories that Casino Groups’ team focuses on because they are jurisdictions that permit their licensees to target customers the world over. Malta is the main such region in Europe, but before it, Curacao and the First Nation of Kahnawake founded their regulators in the mid-1990s that approved so-called international brands.
Curacao especially has remained popular to this day, maintaining its status as an online sports betting and casino hotspot. In the past few years, it has gotten stiff competition from Comoros’ Anjouan, and a new competitor has emerged in another Canadian First Nation reservation – Tobique.
Costa Rica ranks high as a preferred country for companies looking to appeal to a mass crypto coin audience, but it is different than the territories listed here, as Casino Groups remarks that it has no dedicated regulator but allows online gambling entities to function from within its borders, registered as digital service providers.
North & South America
Most of Asia remains tightly restricted when it comes to gambling.
North America has a scattered regulated iGaming landscape, with only eight states approving online casinos and poker, contrasted with the thirty-one that have approved Internet betting.
Canada has a similarly fragmented landscape, with each province passing different regulations. Ontario stands as the most developed and appealing section of the Great White North regarding all things online gambling-related.
As Casino Groups highlights, even though Kahnawake and Tobique are in Canada, they are Native territories and do not follow all federal laws. They have the power to set their own.
