How Legal is Sports Betting?

How Legal is Sports Betting?

In their quest to discover the world of sports betting, inexpert gambling enthusiasts sometimes worry about the legal aspects of getting involved in this activity.

Most of us have seen movies where bookies get busted. One reads about it in newspapers how they shut down betting syndicates because of shady management.

Gambling Rookies

We cannot blame these gambling rookies for being hesitant when it comes to choosing a legal betting site. Let’s face it, who wants to end up with a fine, or worse? In my research for this article, I became gradually aware of the intensity with which both legal and illegal organizations endeavor to stake their claims in this increasingly lucrative industry.

As an aspiring sports better, the first thing you need to know is that every country has its proprietary laws that rule internet gambling. Gambling in the United States has legal restrictions. An interesting detail is that there is no particular entity that controls the betting industry on a global scale.

US Legislation

In the U.S., online sports betting is legal in only a few specific states. And the law forbids the transfer of gambling gains in and out of a state in which it is illegal. Factually, scores of U.S. citizens successfully flaunt these betting laws on a regular basis. Still, online gambling sites are, for all intents and purposes, illegal in the majority of the States. Punters gamble at their personal peril. To be sure, these are state laws. There is no U.S. federal law against online gambling.

Everywhere in the world, different rules and regulations that govern online gambling apply. It is the better’s responsibility to inform himself adequately about the laws in a particular jurisdiction.

Well-known examples of bookmakers’ jurisdictions are Alderney, Antigua, Costa Rica, Curacao, Gibraltar, Isle of Man, Kahnawake, Malta, and the United Kingdom.

According to the American Gaming Association, an industry trade group founded in 1994, gaming in the U.S. is a $240 billion industry, employing 1.7 million people in 40 states. If you decide to play the Super Bowl, you are in good company. Myriad amounts of money are bet on Super Bowl events, once every year.

Perils and Profits

The influence of gambling on the well-being and health of individuals, families, and communities, has become a fiercely debated public issue. Presently, with the coming of age of new technologies, facilitating and creating new gambling products become more accessible in our surroundings than ever before. On their part, governments are weighing their response to the inherent perils and profits that these potentially unsafe products pose.

Risky wagering is a public health concern, affecting adults and children alike. With the continual development of a range of new gambling products and the marketing for these products, it exposes minors to gambling more than ever before.

Many insist on developing strategies to protect individuals from unsafe gambling products. But to date, one knows very little about the dynamics that may influence children’s attitudes towards these products. Currently, studies explore children’s gambling attitudes and consumption targets, including the range of consumer socialization factors that may influence these behaviors and outlooks.

“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
~ Socrates