Online Gambling Regulations: A Global Overview

Online casinos must comply with regulatory frameworks, regardless of the country in which they operate. This is crucial so that they can avoid legal troubles, fines, and even closure of their business. On top of this, gambling regulations ensure that the online casino you choose is highly secure. 

However, as there are online casinos everywhere in the world, knowing all of the regulations is almost impossible. Therefore, we’ll go over the ones that you should understand in order to be familiar with how casinos operate. So, let’s begin! 

Digital Proof of Identity

Online casinos from all around the world implement age verification. However, digital identity is an uprising trend for 2024. This is basically a reusable digital proof of your identity that will be government-issued. More precisely, the digital identity is related to your documents, like ID, passports, and driver’s licences, but they are digitally stored.

The question arises as people start living their lives online and sharing a lot of information. So, this method has a few advantages for your online privacy. Instead of providing an unsecured picture of your ID, passport, or driver’s licence or sharing your Social Security number, you can use digital identification. In other words, all of your confidential data will be encrypted. 

Aside from avoiding unauthorised access, digital identity is both convenient and efficient. You won’t need to look for physical documents and submit them to the site. Everything you need is available on your computer. 

However, this regulation has perks for online casinos as well. As the sign-in process is significantly more straightforward and your security is enhanced, the gambling traffic for these platforms will increase and boost their profits. 

Rigid Age Verification

Age verification is one of the top concerns of online casinos, and it’s only getting more serious. Governments are constantly blocking platforms that allow minors to gamble, as they tend to protect underage users from addiction. So far, the only age verification method was to rely on your birth date. 

However, as technology advances, online casinos have started employing stricter measures. In other words, some platforms already require biometrics, like a scan of your face or fingerprint when you sign up. But that’s not all!

This year, we may even face constant monitoring so that casinos can ensure that there aren’t any minors sneaking in.

Advanced Anti-Money Laundering Practices

Another crucial concern for the online gambling industry is money laundering, which is why governments are constantly working on combating this issue. Luckily, the age of artificial intelligence helps them regulate this. 

AI has a fantastic tracking, analysing, and tracing ability, which online casinos can implement for transactions. Therefore, it’s much easier to trace where the transaction comes from in real time and detect any suspicion immediately. 

But let’s go a bit back. Money laundering is not a new problem. In the past, a criminal group managed to find a way to win or lose games on purpose so that they could transfer money for their fraudulent activities. 

More precisely, the criminal uses the online casino as a tool to turn the gains from one person into legitimate wins for their accomplice. Afterwards, the accessory to the crime returns the laundered money to the criminal in exchange for a percentage of the sum. 

Due to this, governments from all around the world decided to pass rigorous regulations that require online casinos to implement anti-money laundering detection and reporting. Therefore, many online gambling platforms employ KYC verification, which includes enhanced due diligence procedures.

On top of this, AML screening runs simultaneously with identity verification to reduce the possibility of fraudulent activities. However, this approach is common for more sophisticated systems. 

Privacy Regulations and Data Protection

While technological advancements are positive and innovative for the online casino industry, they still bring some potential risks. More precisely, players worldwide are concerned about how secure their data really is. 

Fortunately, authorities from all around the world are tightening the data privacy regulations. In EU countries, for example, the legislation sets very strict standards for how the casino platform gathers, stores, and utilises your sensitive information. This approach is crucial for preventing identity theft, which often occurs due to weak security practices and data breaches. 

However, hackers and malicious actors are always a step in front of security measures. They have learnt how to exploit any system vulnerabilities, hijack user accounts, and steal deposited funds from your casino account. 

Therefore, online casinos must employ advanced authentication procedures. Instead of two-factor authentication, most online casinos have switched to multi-factor authentication. This approach goes way beyond simple passwords, as it requires additional verification steps (biometrics, verification code, etc). 

Additionally, stronger passwords are also one of the newer regulations, asking you to come up with a password that isn’t easy to crack. More so, some online casinos require biometrics for high-risk transactions. So, don’t be surprised if you win a more significant sum of money and encounter a fingerprint scan or facial recognition.

Data Protection Challenges

Unfortunately, collecting biometrics is restricted in some countries. For example, the Biometric Individual Privacy Act in Illinois doesn’t allow businesses to gather this data without explicit consent from the user. 

There are also similar laws in other states and countries, which makes online casino regulations even more complex than they already are. 

Obtaining a License

Each online casino needs to have a license in order to operate legally. This is the golden ticket for entering the gambling industry, and there is no country where this regulation isn’t in place. In other words, the online casino must request a license from the local governing body. This ensures that it will provide you with fair play and high-end safety and implement responsible gambling measures.

Of course, this regulation also comes with some challenges. As every country or region has different requirements, the online casino may have a hard time obtaining the certificate. Even within countries like the US, each state has different requirements, making compliance with the law overwhelming. 

Promoting Responsible Gambling

Responsible gambling has become increasingly popular in the last few years. Although regulators from everywhere tend to promote responsible gambling practices, the accessibility of online casinos has made this problem even more significant. 

Due to this, almost every casino needs to implement various measures that will reduce the issue of compulsive gambling and irrational decisions by providing help and resources for responsible gambling. Ultimately, the option for self-exclusion is also mandatory.  

A helpful tip: You can find the section with the responsible gambling practices at the bottom of your favourite online casino, regardless of whether it’s Master of Casinos, BigWin, BetMGM, or another one that you prefer.

Regulatory Trends Around the World

So far, we have discussed the general regulatory requirements that almost every online casino must follow. However, regulatory frameworks vary depending on the country and the region, so let’s check some of the most prominent policies for a few areas!

Europe

• Licensing
• Taxation
• Consumer protection 
• Responsible gambling
• Advertising restrictions

North America

• Increase in gambling legislation
• Data security
• Consumer protection
• Responsible gaming practices
• Not all platforms are legalised

Latin America

• Increased taxes
• Strict restrictions on gambling marketing 
• Promoting responsible gambling

Asia 

• Ban on gambling (in some countries)
• Rigorous gambling regulations
• Gambling in China is illegal
• Horse racing, cycling and lotteries are allowed (not in all countries)

Africa 

• Not clearly regulated online gambling (in some regions)
• Promote a fair, transparent, and legal gambling environment
• Ensuring fairness, preventing fraud, and promoting responsible gaming practices

Oceania

• Fully legalised offshore gambling operators
• Preventing the use of credit cards to place bets
• Ads must use consistent messaging on the risk of gambling
• Providing training on responsible gambling for the whole staff

Conclusion

Each country has its own gambling regulations that the local authorities issue. However, some of them are the same all around the world. For example, each online casino needs to provide age verification, privacy regulations, anti-money laundering scans, obtain an operating license, promote responsible gambling, and verify your identity.

However, although these practices are the same, laws in different countries may have different requirements. Therefore, complying with several laws can be harder than you might expect.