There is no question that gambling has helped play a pivotal role in the development of early America, the expansion of land casinos in the US continues to this day despite online interests and a growing industry.
In early America, gambling was everywhere, it made its way into pop culture with movies and celebrities turning Las Vegas into another all-American dream come true.
This is now almost 100-years ago, so how does the gambling industry work in modern times? We look at how online gambling is regulated and serves players in the US and compare it to how Sweden handles their gambling interests.
US Gambling Laws for Online Casinos
There are a few ways to gamble in America already. There are open sports betting, state-controlled casinos, and the option to safely play online, but all these options are clouded by the unclear laws that leave the gambler not rising the chance of playing when there is entirely nothing to fear.
Online gambling in the US is restricted. This is the same for many countries. Many of the laws circulated more around the financial elements more than the gaming, as money laundering became a huge issue during the 1950s and its impact was a law update in 1961.
Online gambling under federal law is banned, illegal, but this is the grey area, if a state offers a license, online sites registered in the state can run an online service. States that do not offer a license mean that no businesses within these states can create a gambling service online.
Furthermore, players are not prohibited from accessing online casinos that are registered overseas. There is no US law stopping this because there is no way of governing what people do when they are online. This is the area of law that very few American players know about.
Playing online inside foreign casinos isn’t restrictive or complicated. 99% of online casinos are registered in Europe, but this doesn’t mean you have to live there or play with Euro currency. Online casino services function just like any other online service. They can support players playing with US dollars and can pay out in kind also.
These establishments are licensed by regulatory bodies within the E.U which host the UK Gambling Commission and the Malta Gaming Authority to name just two of the six bodies that control the entire online licensing services.
This complex narrative is not just to the annoyance of American’s up and down the country but is also felt across other places like in Sweden, where their gambling laws are just as counterproductive.
Sweden Gambling Laws for Online Casinos
To help explain the laws in Sweden, we spoke with Carita Gustafsson, Editor-in-Chief at Svenskaonlinecasino.info which is a casino online comparison site for Swedish players.
“In Sweden, player’s rights to gamble are held under the care of the state. There are two main gambling acts that cover the lotteries that take place and the casinos that are found in our main cities. Though having these two laws that effectively make gambling legal, it is the state that is only permitted to provide the service and is looked over by Sweden’s own regulatory body. So unlike America, Swedish players are actually left with no choice. Whether it is sports betting or games within bars or gaming centres, it’s a monopoly held by the government. Where the liberties of gambling are shared with US players, is found online.
Our role at Svenskaonlinecasino.info, is to introduce Swedish players to the safer legal options they have online within casinos that are registered outside of Sweden.”
There is a clear indication that whether you play in the US or in Sweden or any other country, as long as the government benefits, your freedoms to gamble and also benefit will be restricted. The full force of the restriction, however, comes through knowledge. Once players are able to understand their rights, they can successfully prosper online through the loopholes that the internet provides, and, to which, no government dares to force unpopular laws upon yet.
