Growing up in the UK, it wasn’t uncommon to see betting offices on the Main Street (and not so main streets). People visit their bookie to place bets on anything from the sex of the next Royal Baby to whether it will snow on Christmas day.
In the U.S though, it isn’t nearly so common – that isn’t to say that there isn’t still gambling on – well – anything. It just isn’t always legal and/or Government sanctioned. Of course each State has their own rules and laws when it comes to Sports betting online and in person – so, how do you know what is legal and what isn’t?
In the U.S, it is (currently) illegal to place bets online. Well, that is – Federal Wire Acts prohibit the electronic transmission of Sports betting across telecommunications lines. The Federal Department of Justice insists that this encompasses all forms of online gambling. Search engines block certain gambling site traffic, banks even prohibit the use of their cards by Americans on gambling sites.
Of course, laws vary from country to country, too.
Many countries prohibit online gambling in any form. Countries like Australia make it an offense to use a service located in Australia, but not based elsewhere.
In the United Kingdom, online gambling is heavily regulated.
Laws, rules and regulations are sometimes so vague because servers that host sites are often in one or more countries, the owners could be in another and the company behind the site can be based somewhere entirely different. The end-user doesn’t have to be in the same country as the site, company, owner, football team, horse.. or anything.
How to know though? use only legitimate, reputable sports betting sites. These sites will typically geolocate you using your Internet Service Provider information and will let you do or not do on the site what is legal in your region. Even registering for an account will determine what you can do on the site.
