You don’t have to be a legal expert to enjoy online gaming, but it sure helps these days. While few countries have completely and concretely banned internet casino actions for their citizens per se, many European nations sit in a state of prohibition with regard to this law; though European Union courts have defended “fair practice” within the internet casino industry, i.e. disallowed Country X from banning websites owned by a citizen of Country Y, the big organization has yet to release a definitive law on gaming on The Continent.
Here’s roughly how things have been going lately.
The U.K. has the most rational system in place to regulate online gaming. The government there holds a “white list” of nations that the Queen’s Government has apparently deemed to be capable of ensuring fair play, payouts, etc., to its customers. That list currently includes all EU states, Antigua and Barbuda, Curacao, Gilbratar and other territories; such organization allows great freedom for U.K. players while protecting casino-goers from unscrupulous outlets based in place like Belize, wherein the law is quite, um, open.
After wrangling with the question of monopoly for years, France finally appears to have set a date ending the state’s stranglehold on legal online gaming: June – just in time for World Cup soccer action, incidentally – will see La Republique allow privately-owned internet-based betting businesses. Similarly, Italy is quickly become one of Europe’s more liberal nations on the issue, with applications for state-accepted gaming sites now being accepted and some 40 new brick-and-mortar casino openings under debate in that country’s parliament.
Further east, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia have in 2010 opened things up to private online operators as well, but not all is rosy in the Central Europe region. Indeed, Poland, Hungary and Estonia have gone the other way and are cracking down on gambling websites appealing to their citizens; these governments are said to seek out sites with material in these countries’ native languages to catch offenders.
Finally, Russia has reverted to the most draconian attitudes of all on gaming with a complete ban on all forms of playing with fate for money except in designated regions. Statistics show, though, that this law has not been effective in stopping Russian players from visiting virtual gamerooms throughout the interweb.