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Have you known that there is an age restriction in gambling? But it is varied among the countries in the world. I have just checked in wikipedia that commonly someone can play gambling starting from the age of 15/16/18/19/20/21 years. It depends on where he lives, every country may have different regulation related to the age restriction. Below I classify some countries based on the age restriction:

Age 5: Malawi (Casino)

Age 15: Iceland (lottery)

Age 16: United Kingdom (Football pool, Scratchcards), Estonia (other), New Zealand (instant kiwi)

Age 18: Australia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand (horse racing), Palau, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Vanuatu, Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, México, etc

Age 19: South Korea, Canada, USA

Age 20: New Zealand (Casino), Sweden (Casino), Japan, Nigeria

Age 21: Belgium, Estonia (Casino), Armenia, India, Lebanon, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines (casino), Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Namibia, Niger (casino), Bahamas, Saint Kitts and Nevis, US Virgin Islands (casino), USA, Macau

Age 23: Greece

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Source & more detail information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambling_age#cite_note-27

is this serious?that Malawi is allowing their Children to Play in Casino as in?does the child has their own money to spend for?
the 15-16 from Iceland and UK is tolerable because as i remember i learn gambling at that age but 5?seems very unreasonable to allow to play in CASINO.

Age 5? lol, I have no idea there is some kind of restriction like that and what kind of government they have.

Actually restriction nowadays is not really a problem because crypto gambling industry have solve it, most of the gambling sites does not require a KYC so there is no way they will know your real age, and I believe, kids nowadays are a heavy gamblers as well.

I just wrote what I got from the source (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambling_age#cite_note-27). If you are interested in that thing, you can explore more the information by googling. For the first time, I'm also surprised to know children playing Casino at 5 years. But it may be legal there and the government may have a certain consideration, buddy.

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Please no need to quote all thread!  

This is the first time I have heard that Malawi allow kids at the age of 5 to gamble.
I just can't imagine that a five year old kid can start playing, I don't think that they can actually understand what they are doing, it can also lead them to early addiction.

I don't know about the age restriction in certain countries but age 5 as in WTF? Do they even know what they are doing at that age? Imagine the risk they can get upon growing since instead of playing outdoor game some of them playing the game of adults. Their government should look up to that since that is serious issue on there country and they should take away those innocent heads out of that platforms.

As I have also tried to see if this is real or not, I research about it and yes at the age of 5, they are legally allowed to gamble.
It's hard to think whether the kids know what they are doing or where they get the money to play. But I think they should be more strict when it comes to the legal age of allowed gamblers since it is not proper for kids to grow in gambling.

Me too. It is something unusual if we look at the age, 5 years. Children at 5 years seem too young to play Casino. But whatever the regulation, we only can criticize and don't know what really happens there.

Of course, they won't really understand. And surely they won't play for money. Maybe it is a special Casino game made appropriate for children. So, don't imagine that they will get addicted as a real gambler.  :D      

In real gambling they not allowed minor to play gambling, but when playing in online gambling is not easy to determine if the players is minor or not. Also the the one to blame is the parent because they not give attention to their child, parent should guide their children particularly to their minor child. Minor also know their limit and responsibility because they can only help themselves in any harm that they can encounter once they in gambling site.

Age 5 is so unreal, man. Technically, children with such age doesn't even know how to count 1 -10 properly, well they could barely. But anyway it is just a restriction, and besides ain't no parents would allow their children, and neither the child could go anywhere to gamble as they are in total custody of their guardian/parents. Or on the other hand, may be there were parents who uses their children to bet on something 'cause they think that their son is lucky? But whatever, not reasonable either. Who ever made such rule, is so unreal, I couldn't believe that someone would stoop that low, ain't thinking rationally.

Age 5: Malawi (Casino)?

Unbelievable.  ;D

When I'm 5 I'm still drinking in my baby milk bottle how the heck is this government allowing this and what sort of gambling game do 5 year old kids bet?

That was shocking I didn't know that there would be a place that would allow a 5 year old child to gamble.
I also agree that at teenage year it is tolerable since I think gambling would be one of our way to have fun and excitement.
I remember that I started to gamble at early age maybe around 12 because of basketball.
But to be able to gamble at casino at an early age I don't really think that it would be a good idea.

I'm also surprised when I see five years old, the child cannot even think correctly, there should be parental guidance on this, a child cannot make a decision on his bet or even how to play poker I don't know why did they allow it, it's more like child abuse, a child should be in a proper surrounding, and casinos is not a good place for children.

This is really interesting at the age of 5 in Malawi they are allowed to play gambling in a Casino? they can be manipulated or get tricked by the older ones at that age, is it really legal? This is a interesting topic though. However you can also play gambling online (Cryptocurrency gambling) at any age even though there's pop up that will ask you if you are at 18+ age for me I think this is just formality.

Age-restrictions on gambling is a must IMO no matter what the age bracket they see fit. During a child's formative years, they should not be exposed to any forms of gambling since it may affect their development, so Malawi's age-restriction is kinda surprising and should be changed if they want their future governance to be effective and comprised of bright people not ruled by greed within their minds.

I have a serious doubt in this information. Well, in the first place, Wikipedia is not really a good source of information. Also, the source specifically cited on Malawi does not point to a definite or reliable information which explicitly states that the country allows gambling to little children as young as 5 years old.

Or this might simply be a case of misunderstanding or something presented in a misleading manner.

Wikipedia's exact words do not clearly state that gambling is allowed to 5 year old children in Malawi.


Permission to get inside a casino does not mean permission to gamble. In fact, it is stated that children as young as 5 years old are allowed inside casinos because they do not know the meaning of money yet.

This specific datum, to me, does not fall under the subject of this thread which is age restriction in gambling. I guess this information should be corrected as previous posters are assuming the data presented in the OP are correct. Reactions are basically under the impression that Malawi is really allowing 5 year old children to gamble, which is most probably not the case in reality.

 There is also an age restriction in "sensitive" websites and nobody cares about that neither right? So they wouldn't on gambling as well. It just has to be online. Sure regular "sensitive" subjects are illegal under certain ages too but online it is open to whole world. Gambling is same, I have never given any ID to any website so far for gambling, why would I and that means they don't know how old I am, I am way over 18 now (unfortunatley) of course but that doesn't change the fact that as far as casino knows I could be 15 years old as well.

 When technology improves this way, the freedom becomes more popular and that freedom to be your own individual gives you great stuff as far as horrible stuff as well. For example darknet now can share child pornography too and rarely get caught, but not wanting to be watched gives you rights to not get targeted ads while givint those bad people those rights. Age restriction is one of those things that is gone first.

You're amazed by 5 but not by 23? People can drive a car and drink alcohol in Greece at 18 but they have to wait another 5 years before they can enter a casino? That's ridiculous. They can also marry at 18, but they cannot gamble. So you have a total grown up, 21 year old, who has a wife, a child, a steady job, can legally drink and smoke, but cannot bet a few dollars on a football game or play poker with friends. Who makes these laws?

I have also tried searching about it but I can't find any site aside from Wikipedia but based on the information, I don't understand why would the government of Malawi allow young children to gamble? They should have been focusing on growing those children's young minds and teaching them what they need to learn instead of gambling. They shouldn't let children get exposed to this kind of environment at a young age because they'll end up growing as a gambler. But I really wanna know if this is true because I can't believe that the government would even let that.

Oh thank you for sharing that information all just what i know is those minors Ages 18 belowis restricted on some gambling session specially underground and casino now i know that there are some country which prohibited gambling session with that kind of age restriction. i think this age restriction on gambling is just for those casino and underground gambling because if it is online then probably there is a high possibility that still there will be some minor can able to play or gamble.

I was also shocked knowing that there's a country that allows children at the age of 5 to gamble. That's inhuman for me because they shouldn't get exposed to gambling but rather focus on things that kids should be doing that would contribute well to their growth. However, the age restriction is quite not applicable to online sites. It's just for us to keep our kids away from gambling.

This is a nice topic, I didn't know there was a place who has a limit of bigger than 5 years to play casino, why to ad a limit if it will be that low, lol.

By the way, I would like to add México to the list, here the limit is 18 years.

Yes, and that gives a shocked to everyone here who have read about this topic,

Imagine, a five year old kid is already in legal age to play casino, they really should not add an age restriction since a kid at the age of 5 is something that we can't imagine to see inside a casino.

As for my country, the limit is 21. We have a very strict regulation in terms of gambling.

And I thought that the legit age to gamble is when a guy has a job so he can spend his own money to gamble, but five years old, I don't see the logic and I don't see how any five years old can go to a gambling casino, there should be a parent to accompany, I consider this inapproriate for a parent to teach their children to gamble at that age.

Kids of that age are not usually wandering around unaccompanied. What that rule means is that they are allowed to go inside and play, but, of course, they can do it only with the help of some adult.

Why did that restriction appeared, in the first place? I think, it can be explained in the following way. Many gamblers are superstitious, and some of them believe that luck is on the side of the youngest. So they bring babies to casinos to hit the spin button of a slot machine, or for some similar reasons. Hence the restriction, to stop them from bringing kids at the age below 5.

So do I, not sure how this regulations allow young children to play gambling from their jurisdiction, it's unusual but to those who are conservative and responsible enough the rules needs to be 18 years old in age same a like with online gambling where players need to provide verifications.
It Should be that way in order to save those youngsters getting attached and addicted to this business.

This is really a very interesting topic in which we are informing that there is some rules and regulations or any restrictions about playing or gambling for those ages below 21 when which it may be really a burden for those gambler that who wants to gamble and practice gambling in some casino but i think the age of 50 is really below for gambling session because at the age of 50 the mental mind of the child is very sensitive so i can't imagine on how they will be able to play with those ages.

seems like everyone of us have that Malawi's attention because it is really intriguing ,imagine a 5 Year Old kid can play Gambling and not only in ordinary place but in "Casino's things that i don't get whats the reason for letting that age when they don't even know what money is all about and don't also know what is gambling can bring to their life.

maybe this means  the parents can bring their 5 years old children to casino or being allowed to enter?sorry but this really shocked me reading the source .

Kids at the age of five are still wondering how and why things happen, they should just play and study to enhance their knowledge than spend time on gambling that may negatively affect their way of thinking. Besides, how can a five year old kid decide for himself? when they can't even decide what to wear. It is the reason why they should be guided appropriately because gambling at a young age can possibly lead into serious risk such as addiction. As a parent, they should be setting limits and educating their children with regards to the effects of gambling that may influence their mindset and behavior.

Casinos serve beverages too. It'd probably avoid sitting beside a 5 year old kid having a brandy and giving high fives every time he wins.

It is quite surprising that a country has set such a low age restriction when it comes to gambling since in many countries you cannot gamble until you are legally an adult, personally I think age restrictions are a good idea, I like gambling and I do it from time to time but we need to be very responsible about it and a kid does not have enough maturity to know that what he is doing may have a negative effect on himself and his future if he does not control himself.

Its just right to have those low age restriction yet we know on how accessible we are when it comes to gambling specially now on a high tech era which we can easily visit out those sites
even on young age as long we are already aware on its existence.Its just right even on low age and its true that young minds shouldnt really be get involved into these things
on early yet there are lots of things that should be think or prioritize first when you are still growing rather than engaging to these.

nice to see a new topic that are not common . never see a simillar topic like this on the past days , so its refreshing to me and anyway thanks for the cool info you got here @op   .

 i say cool because every country have thier own age limit and the lowest was 5 age  ?  lol  i dunno if a 5 year old kid can gamble . it does not makes sense to me , it was a kind of a joke or something  ?  maybe higher than age 5 or should we say over 10 is more realistic  . 10 year old kids are can now think and act properly  . 

Yes, I was really surprised by these laws that allow children to gamble!!!I think children if they learn to gamble at this age will affect their school future. ;D this will cause them to steal for gambling because they have become addicted

This is somewhat a very worst scenario for this type of restriction, and I view it as an uncommon place for a 5 year old to be part of gambling. If parents brought their childrens on that place, they eventually trained their child to become a future potential gambler. What they parents did, this will also influence the kids as they grow up which I think no appropriate for their young ages.

Actually, this age restriction only applies strictly to physical casinos in most cases in general. People can't really just walk by in a casino even they want. However, in crypto, this age restriction shouldn't be a problem nor be treated as a major concern so I think not a big deal after all.

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If gambling is like a daily routine at these places, even those parents don't bring their kids to casinos or decided not to involve their children on this, it can't be avoided in an area where doing gambling is just a normal day in the office.

Malawi 5 and Greece 21 seems to have a very different approach in gambling, Malawi is very liberated when it comes to gambling and Greece seems to have a very high restrictions, I am in favor of Greece's policy because at that age a guy can think for himself and has a job already compare to a five year who cannot even think for himself.

I don't know what was the reason of Malawi government to approve such age limit in gambling. I don't think there are kids that could actually play gambling at that young age and even if that's the limit what I worrying about is the age above 5 since most countries their minimum age restrictions is only 15 and now, Malawi?

A rule like that should be owned by every country that legalizes gambling, because even though they have legalized gambling but there should be an age limit that is allowed to gamble and not, because if all these countries authorize children aged 5 years gambling it seems like something is wrong. But after checking the source it turns out to be true, because before I thought OP was just typo, the reason we can get about Malawi is "Children aged five are permitted in casinos. That is because the younger children (babies) don't know the meaning of money." Lol

Does this age restriction followed properly in these countries?

How will the casino know if a certain person is saying the truth about their age? Fake IDs can be created simply without doing hard work. Looks can also be deceiving as there are persons who look matured but still young at age.

I think this restriction isn't really strictly implemented after all. It's just to show their people that not all ages are free to play gambling. The one that I think the authorities are more focused on is tracking illegal gambling activities that aren't regulated.

Lol, are you sure its age 5? Probably the place where you found the statistics had a typo or something. Why would it be legal for a 5 years old to play at a casino? I mean would they even know what gambling is in the first place? That is really weird.
15 years and above seems to be a reasonable age to set. During this time, they at least learn to take their own decision and starts to understand the "financial" aspects of the life/world.

Done. I have updated and added it to the list. Thank you.

You are right. Although many other countries on the list, all people only talked about Malawi's age limit on gambling. But it is normal because it is something very unusual. I understand that people worry about children and their future by the regulation. I also think the same but we cannot do anything because of only the government or the authority there who can change the regulation.

Read yourself, buddy. I enclosed the link to the source above. And the description there fits with the age.  :D

Not really sure to answer this one. It is what we all think about, not only you. Only the authority there who can answer this question or ask wiki to clarify.  

I do have the same question when i do able to read it up about that age 5 is already legal to play on a casinos which im pretty sure these young minds doesnt even know yet about handling fiat.

How much more no playing, im not really sure if this one is a legit info or just some sort of typo.When it comes to restrictions then it should be standardized on age 18 but due too high-technology nowadays
its really hard to suppress for young minds to get involved on early age without being detected.

I cant be sure that these laws or restrictions is being followed well on said countries.

Crypto-based gambling's probably one of the biggest ways that minors in countries where the minimum age of gambling is 18 or more circumvent their local laws, sometimes with additional help from a VPN, but it's still relatively difficult for most people in this demographic to acquire cryptocurrency in the first place in order to gamble, and many sites limiting certain jurisdictions doesn't help their case either. I'd say most of the barriers put in place to enforce local laws and regulations are working decently well because of these reasons.

I don't think it related with crypto at all since actually they can play gambling in their neighborhood since there are card games which can easily and other outdoor betting stuffs since I saw it on my country to, and I think the government struggle to giving a helping hand for that case since sometimes there mother tolerate this act.

The age of 5 is too young for someone to gamble. They should be learning how to value money during that age and not to risk and waste money.

This age restriction doesn't matter since there is online gambling that doesn't require KYC. This age restriction can be bypassed minors easily.

The Age law of Iceland about letting 15 years old to bet in lottery is reasonable because i think Lottery is not that addicted betting place and also needs no skills for teenager to bet and have a chance to win.

But the 5 years old in Malawi?and allowing in Casino's?for me personally this is not right even i am sure there are only so Few of parents will bring their children in casino houses.

i will Not allow my child going any near gambling until they become Teens or much better if they will not the rest of their Lives.

I cant believe the country of Malawi are allowing 5 years old kid as legal age to play in casino.

That age should be studying at school or playing with friends. Its not an acceptable age to expose a kid in gambling.

Well its their law and discretion anyway so I think they know better whats the effect of this to their people.

I've also seen this age limit in our country and I think it needs to be higher.

I know that 18 is the legal age and 21 is the best age to move it but still, I think the better age is 24 or 25. At that age, people tend to think and process things more maturely. Still, I know that 24 and lower ages will still find a way to gamble the same with the current age at 21 where I know 20 and lower years old gamblers are still finding a way to gamble.

No way! Really?! Mate when I was on that age, what I knew is just play, eat, sleep then repeat ;D. Hmm, don't tell me kids on Malawi got more mature minds among the rest of kids in the world that's why they can gamble ::)? I don't think so.

Kidding aside, the only reason I think of why their government allow minors to play despite of very young age is poverty. I mean, Malawi is a country in the Africa and we all know that the kind of living there is hard. Providing consistent education for the young is a challenge that's why they find gambling as gateway to have purpose ~ to earn money even a little bit just to sustain their daily lives.

Here in my country once you reach the legal age which is 18 years old.
You were able to gamble in casino or even online. But i can say that online you can fake your age whenever you like.

Even if you say that kids can't wander inside the casino by their own, I just can't imagine that those parent was exposing their child in the world of gambling. At a really young age, they can already experience gambling, it is not a proper way to raise a child.

What? Kids 5 year old can play gambling in Malawi? To be honest, I am shocked to read it. But it says in the article that the younger children (babies) do not know the meaning of money. Perhaps the government needs to change the rule not because the kids don't know about money but because if they gamble since they are young, it can be a usual activity when they are growing up, and they will still playing gambling because of money.

It is okay to see gambling is legal for people who already 17-18 years, but for kids 5 years old, hm that seems not right. But it is interesting to know the minimum age of playing gambling in all countries.

I agree, Parent should be more responsible to their child because exposure to gambling at a young age may put the minor at serious risk of developing a gambling addiction later on their life. Parent must know what is the best for their children and do it because theres positive effect when they growing.

http://www.casinocity.com/malawi/lilongwe/american-palace-pirates-casino
Arcade (Children over five years old are admitted, as there is a childrens' play area with fifteen video games and six gaming machines)

How surprising LOL. I expect that even though there are different age restrictions from one  country to another to be above 18 years of age but 5 is quiet sever tho. What can a children possibly understand what they are doing and also to be introduced into this kind of addiction at a early age is quiet sad if we think about it. Though if there are children playing then it might possible that some adult are just using them with no good intentions of course.

Yes, me too, I'm still trying to remember what am I'm doing at age 5, lol, but for sure gambling is not one of them. So it really surprises me to see that the age restriction in Malawi is 5 years old, what are they trying to achieved here? By age 7-10 they're no longer going to school and probably be gambling, becoming addicted at a young age? Doesn't make sense at all.

Wow what's happening in Malawi, can't believe citizens can start gambling at the age of 5 that means before they get to adolescent they're already addicts or professional gamblers, regards to the outcome of their previous bets over the years. Since my county age restriction isn't been enforced effectively it t means same fate is happening in other countries.

It's written that one must be 20 years and above before you can gamble in Nigeria although when you visit game houses, you'll see different range of children playing bet don't understand why the system isn't working over there.

Well,  in my reaserch Malawi is underdevelop country thats why they are no legal papers probihited those child to play gambling.
https://www.borgenmagazine.com/why-is-malawi-poor/

And also it's true that they allowing child age 5 years old to play gambling. And also its surprised me that Tunisia and Algeria don't have regulation in age.

Source.
https://www.analyzecasino.com/news/how-old-do-you-have-to-be-to-gamble/

i didnt know if i will be happy with that or not because i cant totally say that gambling is bad but some says its bad that why they provide age restriction limit  .

id say not because i think its better if the younger the person will engage on gambling activities so that when he is on the right age he will now be profesional and he will now know the do's and dont's on gambling.   others say its bad because i think they the person can be addicted on an early age and he will forgot his responsibilities as a young person like schooling and stuffs like that . guidance of the older will be needed to patch these thing up

I was just amazed that Malawi allowed children at the age of 5. Like maybe when they are just started to learn how to read and do some maths, right? This just means that a younger generation will be allowed to gamble on their place especially when they are over 5 yrs old. I don't wanna judge them but they are attracting more people to gamble at the young age. They should be enjoying there life playing games and not playing in casinos.

On the other hand, i thought Philippines age restriction is 18 yrs old. Thanks for providing this information. Honestly, I am in favor that Philippines integrate that law.

It is also surprising to see that in Malawi the minimum age restriction is just only 5 years old. I've searched if the country's main source is in gambling industry but it tends to be not.

Based with bestuscasinos.org, around the world the estimated minimum age restriction is from 18-21. I didn't expected that a country like Malawi will have the lowest age of 5 and maybe there's something more with that country that allows these kids to be dealt with.

As far as I know, anyone can gamble so long as they are 18 years old and above but I was really shocked that there is a place that really allows a 5-year old to gamble. I think it is too early for a child to be allowed to gamble. In our country on the other hand, only allow those 18-year old+ before they can go inside a casino and they need to present an identification that shows they are really 18 years+. For Malawi, I'm not sure if this is true but I don't think it is a good practice. Children with this age should be at school and not in a casino doing gambling.

Malawi's reasoning for allowing kids over the age of 5 to gamble is incredible. According to https://www.bestonlinecasino.com/blog/gambling-age-around-the-world.html# they claim that kids aged 5+ should already have an understanding of the concept of money.  ???

Before they understand how to read and write Malawi officials think they have had enough time to understand where money comes from. I didn't understand the concept of candy when I was 5.   

Everyone who sees this age restriction will wonder how on earth does a 5year old child able to play and understand gambling in a casino? Maybe its a different casino which also has special games for the children but of course with the parental guidance. I'm no sure though, I feel lazy to check this things out.
IMO the most appropriate age for gambling is 21, because at this age people starts to find job to sustain their daily needs and wants. Age 18 are still living under their parents houses or being supported by their parents for education at some of the countries listed above the OP.

We see that younger people can play gambling in many countries, and we also see that kids in 5 years old can play gambling too. It needs more attention from the government. Although they don't know about money, the old people better do something to prevent the kids become addicted to gambling. It is better to avoid playing gambling while they are still young than prevent when they are growing up because that will be difficult to do.

I never knew in other countries there is too young minimum restriction in gambling. I'm just surprise to know that Malawi restriction age in gambling is 5 years old. I've just know until now, when I was at that age my only concern is to enjoy in playing not like this in a casino gambling. One should have at legal age like 18 yrs old above, that could able to understand the risks in playing in gambling.

As far as we concern those things needs a serious actions but actually the government cannot end this up if there's no local will report the insane situation about young gamblers but since the data has been release the government should impose a bigger fine or sanction so that this problem will possibly stop.

I do see the maximum age restrictions is 23 in Greece but I do believe around the globe it should be at least 30 so that both men and women will feel their life's responsibilities so that they will gamble accordingly. I am not seeing any possibilities for such world wide standard for gambling restrictions age wise.

I guess we do have standardized restrictions for porn and drug consumption but gambling also should be treated similar to those things so that people will enter into gambling only after with matured mindset which must be very basic requirement for avoiding gambling problems.

I personally think that the age restriction must be 21, at least, because teenagers are very vulnerable to various addictions, including gambling. What I like the most from the OP's list is Greece making it 23. I just expressed my view on what could be the reason for the Malawi's restriction, but, of course, you have lots of better places to go with your 5 y.o., than casino.

Malawi implementing that 5-year-old rule that allows you to legally gamble I think is really bad. A child at this age or let's say 5-15 years old with gambling habits will surely have the urge to steal money from their parents because for sure they don't have their own money to gamble and their studies will surely be affected because kids at that age are very vulnerable and they will surely develop a bad attitude with them being legal to gamble at this age.

In the Philippines yes 21 years old below is not allowed to play gambling , and here in my country once you are player like in casino you need to register and every time you wsnt to play you need to show your ID before you can enter the Casino and start play. But they have times that rules are not follow because when Im minor I go to the Casino without showing my ID .

Its a different story if we do talk about actual physical gambling this is why getting rid of it completely wont really be possible yet there are lots of various ways for a certain kid to gamble.

But at least we do see some effort on governments side which is good but dont hope on 100% effectiveness as there would be young people will really be able to take the wrong path of gambling.

It isnt bad though as long you are on the right age and right mind to be aware on the risk.

i can feel you because i also have children and i will break the casino house once they accept my child inside their establishment though for sure the age 5 wont get casino without having mature people bringing them inside.

and i also dont want being in that country,wondering what kind of community they have if even 5 years old can gamble?so all over the place people are gambling?

At the age of 5 you can already gamble in Malawi (Casino)? What kind of law was that?
Glad to be aware but what was the justification on why this law is created, isn't it encouraging the kids to gamble and be a gambling addict when they grow up?

wow this is a cool stuff brother,imagine even a child having lollipop can now play gambling?i wanna see it live if how can a 5 year old beating the House,or making Jackpot from the slut machine  >:( >:( >:(

but i will never let this happen to my child.

hoping this is not really happening in Malawi.

I’m on the same page as you man. What does a kid aged 5 know about gambling? Maybe he doesn't even know what more money means to an individual. And this is the age where they should study, play and learn to adopt with the society and so on. Any parent letting their child of 5 or 6, I would consider him as a failed parent. So, there should always be a limit to age, while gambling.

With such young age not sure if they can play or can go to a gambling place, knowing that base from own experienced from that point in life most
might be still drinking milks or happy playing with other kids around, but gambling in particular it doesn't fits to uch young minds. Every government
have their own explanations and opinions about this matter, their land their rules.

Maybe we can consider the culture as well, I am not so familiar with the certain country but in our country that is allowing minors to gambling and it could be a child abuse case or worst than that.

Even if 5 years old kids are permitted to gamble, I do not think there are many kids do it in Malawi. Simply because they do not understand it yet, and they have other activities at that age.
I also believe that most parents wont let their children to gamble at the age of 5. Frankly speaking, I wonder what is the purpose of the Malawi's government by letting such young age to do gamble legally.

I learned to play cards games when I was 8 to 9 years old. I used to play it with my cousins. It became our past time and bonding. Then we put small betting to it. Our parents allows us because for them we are just playing. Even though it is only for me and cousin I can say it is still a gambling because it involves money. Maybe I am still young at that time and of course government did not knew about what we are doing but it is not a big event wherein we are really involving ourselves to serious betting.

It's so funny! :D someone can play gambling starting from the age of 5. It is better to give no restriction than to give "5 years" restriction in casino platform. Does a 5 year old child have the ability to understand good or bad!

Kids shouldn't learn about gambling in the first place because it will be a big risk if they'll focus on it and see it as the only way to earn money as they grow up. They will have the wrong interpretation of it which might destroy them at a young age psychologically speaking. Kids especially those who are young enough and incapable of making their own decision still needs further guidance and gambling is not a thing for them.

you can add Brazil to OP if interested.
here legal age for drinking/driving is 18 years old.

we don't have casinos and many laws are kind flexible but this is the written/formal thing.

I bet Malawi has a huge number of gamblers because they can start at a very young age, I don't know about Malawi, but whoever passed that law is not right, it is encouraging children to gamble, here in our country you will be charge with child abuse if you teach or let children gamble at a very young age.

If someone here wanted to make his/her own kid/s a gambling prodigy (any sort), This could be an option. I bet that Gambling is a part of a kindergarten's curriculum, I guess it falls under the Arts class. *Imagining it makes smile* Group yourselves into five, 1 would be the dealer and the others are the players. starting bet would be 1 color orange crayon. *LMAO* and the Slots would be there vendo machine *Ching* WINNER! MILK!

---

Kiddin aside, This is really absurd and somehow unbelievable. This could really raise a question for UNESCO.

In my own personal opinion, people should really start to learn and experience to play gambling in a casino in the age of 21 because they are all mature enough to take care themselves and they are ready to take on their own journey. I also think it is improper to allow a child to gamble in a age of 5 because he could already learn to become aggressive and greedy in a early age.

When I saw 5 years old is allowed, I tried searching where this country is. And Malawi is in Southern Africa.  
The country had suffered poverty over the years, Country hardly recovered depression and still the exploitation of the large estate owners. Maybe at early stage people are resorting to gambling but its still quite not right to have it approved by law to allow 5 year old to gamble.

At age 15 I already engage in gambling so I'm not surprise bout Iceland. Bacarrat is my fave in the back of our classroom.

If the country is poverty stricken then we can say that they allow children to play in back yard gambling but not in casino gambling, we never know what kind of gambling they are playing maybe they have a local form of gambling in which children can participate, but like all the others here, children should not be allowed to gamble at a very young age.

I'm not surprised by this data because the country which is in the African continent (Malawi) is a poor country.  the lower or poorer a country = the crime rate is higher and human resources are low.

Where are you getting at? Are you trying to create some kind of connection about them having a high crime rate and a low age of restriction just by them being a developing country? I don't even know how you get to connect their age restrictions when your whole point is about them having a "high" crime rate. Also they might have a very young age restriction for their gambling law but does that mean that children at this age instantly want to get involve? Of course not that kind of age restriction is just there but it's not necessary that they will start gambling at a young age, we don't even know if there parents would give them money to start gambling. Like what any form of entertainment or hobby it is always a choice and they have their parents to basically restrict them on what they can. Their low age restriction does not mean they are also the most active gamblers in the world, just try searching what countries they are and you'll see Malawi isn't even on the list.

This doesn't make any sense to me Children aged five are permitted in casinos. That is because the younger children (babies) do not know the meaning of money. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambling_age)

I mean, seriously? that is exactly the whole point, why are you going to let a child play in the casino if he doesn't know the value of money? no sane parents would allow their kid to be expose in something like that in his early age, the consequence will backfire at him when he grow up, as well as to the parents, unless his parents are gambler too and have a lot of money to support their gambling habit.

This is interesting, not to mention that their country is a poor one, so why waste money in gambling instead of buying food to save their lives from hungriness...

This is not only hilarious rather cruel and sad to introduce a naive mind to something that is not meant for him and is harmful as well for his mental and physical health. 5 years old shall play in ground and must be involved in physical activities and games related to language rather gambling.

They only allowed it, they didn't say anything that it is required for a kid that once he reached the age of 5, he must gamble in the casino. It is still a choice, and will always be a choice of parents whether if they will expose their children in the gambling world or not, because they are parents, they know that is good and bad, but sometimes there are parents that are so irresponsible when it comes to parenting.

Everyone know wikipedia but I'm sure they also can edit it because knowledge always grow up. I never see age is problem because addicted is the real problem, for this one we should fight together. When people gambling they put their life into deep dark " rich " imagination and could not come back normal again. I suggest we keep promote safe gambling, don't stop it just make it as safe for everyone for various age.

That is ridiculous  ;D at age 5 already playing gambling, maybe it is just for fun not serious, I am curious what type of gambling this kids are doing. Maybe it is just stated on their rules but literally no one plays at those age. Well there are some exemptions, there are some kids that are born a genius.

But what do you think everyone that they already allowed to play those 5 years old children?
Just like, if you are the government, you have the reason why you are allowing those 5 years old children, probably a good reason?
Nah, we all know that gambling is really risky and lot of people or family can be destroyed. Maybe there is just a limit for those 5 years old children who can gamble.

The age restriction limits show to me how greedy the casinos are and allowing a 5 year old kid to gamble is like considering him mature enough to know what is good and what is bad for them which I am sure is not true. I really hope there is a international restriction that should set standards for every casino.

I agree that it would be a negative impact overall while they will learn the importance of money but at the same time there will be no fun in their life because they won't be able to able sports and other activities once they are into gambling.

Letting your kid to gamble in a age of 5 is really not a good example of parenting because it could affect his future that he will learn negative or bad activities in a very young age, that is why proper parenting should be advise and not letting your kids to gamble until they are not in an age of 18 or 21 for their own sake and safety.

I guess this is only restricted to casino locally but some online gambling sites doesn't require age and also some sites doesn't require KYC or personal details this are mostly crypto casino's and betting site. They're completely anonymous that's why their convenient because in my country online gambling is banned.

These are my top recommend sites: OneHash, Kawbet. No age or country restrictions

The very reason why gamblers loves to use crypto, they can conveniently use the sites without worrying about sending their fund and playing thier
favorite games, though there are still crypto sites who ask for this information after you win a huge amount of money, you can't withdraw unless
you send proof ot your identity. But if you are a regular gambler who only use small amount of money using crypto sites will not be a problem.

How the government of Malawi part of Africa can free a 5-year-old child in the world of gambling, mess, chaos, 5-year-old child who already knows gambling, no, it occurred to me that a child of that age would become a leader someday he was an adult, his brain was money, gambling, women, and alcohol, that's for sure if he was involved in gambling.

If I think about it, children of that age have fallen into gambling. Certainly, there is no supervision from the government and their parents, like a lion, born and looking for his own hunt, (actually): a 5-year-old child is still in the stage of basic education that must not gamble, be strangled.

Good job.
This could be used as guide by the under age on this forum who are not qualified.
I guess online casinos should include it during signup so that alot of those who aren't qualify don't bother to try when they see the requirements. It should be clearly visible on the screen, and people should probably be made to tick yes/no when question on age is asked.

I wonder how accurate the Wikipedia age restriction is currently.

Thanks, buddy. Yes, the owners of gambling sites on this forum can use it as consideration. However, we cannot force them to apply it since they may have different views. Anyway, I think in general the limitation of the age to play gambling is 18.

Good idea. Surely it is possible to do. To minimize fulmination, why not include the age restriction on signup process (registration). So, only people who are eligible and fulfill the age limit to be there.

Always double-check and find out other sources to ensure the data. But I'm pretty sure that wiki updated the data. We can see from the "References", some of them are retrieved in 2019.

The age restriction I think is only applicable when you go physically on the gambling location. In terms of online gambling or the gambling sites, I think even though there is an age restriction, they will never know if their players or clients are above 18. Since there are gambling sites that didn't require KYC, minors are free to play.

I've searched about Malawi's age restriction and 5 is indeed the age restriction for this gamble. Imagine someone at 5 making money or losing large amount of money without any guidance of his parents, that could get more worse as he grows up. I think we should start regulating and considerating the right age where a person could make a wiser and more strategic decisions.

That's the problem with the signups, it doesn't require us much information. Even with just an email, you can already sign up anonymously. Anyone can fake the age verification as long as they know how to use some of their relatives identification cards. We cannot really stop so we better start informing everyone for the better to lessen the dilemma.

Malawi allowing 5 year old to gamble is very uncalled for I would likened it to child abuse that country constitution should be amended  and reviewed straightaway such age is too small to take decisive action to gamble of course putting such a child to a psychological unbalance in an event of losing money while gambling,
Kid at that age bracket should be in learning how to read, memorize and write it quite unfortunate a bad precedent allow to thrive in that country.

I do not understand how the Malawi government can allow a 5-year-old child to have a gambling casino permit. This can damage
the future of the child in my opinion, a 5-year-old child should not be allowed to play gambling. I hope UNICEF take action related
to this, because children are the future of the world. According to the results of the research I did the right age to get gambling
permit is 21 years old.

The most right age for the person to play is more than 21 because they can decide and their brain is fully developed and maturity is there also.

Can anyone tell us if the Malawi allowed 5 years old child to play any kind of gambling to their country and the governement really allow it? Im just cruious about it and I hope anyone can share real exact informartion about that.

Whats wrong with Malawi who are documenting that 5 years old can play the casino. Five year old kid does not have complete sense and he cannot play  /deposits/withdrawal without the help of an elder or parents.

To be very true, no matter what you write in the rules on permitable age of gambling, these days anyone can play gambling without disclosing it through online gambling casinos.

It is suprisingly to know that government allows this kind of rule. However, I am having a doubt upon your source, coz I've been heard some news that Wikipedia was not credible enough to be the source of info due to the fact that anyone can alter the data within the said website. But anyway, I never imagine that they lower the age restriction at 5 years old in which I think will cause a damage on youth's mental health like falling into addiction at early age.

It is not surprising if this info was true. Most of the country doesn't really need or doesn't have the right government that is going to restrict people from doing gambling.

In my country, I think only legitimate casino or licensed casino that has an age restriction other than that other gambling games was done manually which means anyone could join the game as long as you know how the game works and how to bet in the game. Also, poverty is widespread in my country so gambling was kinda popular for most of the people since it easily is an easy profit for most of the people just like a lotto where you have a chance to win Millions win just a .5dollars of the ticket.

Other than that since there are no KYC in most of the gambling websites here in cryptocurrency meaning anyone could do gambling as long as they know how it works.

Well, I think there's nothing to surprised about simply because expect that as long as there is high rate of poverty within the country gambling will be always there, people hoping that they will win in the fastest and easiest way. Hence, whether their government make a law against this activity or not, people will still choose to defy the law. Just like in my country where gambling is prohibited but they still find a way to earn in a fast way in which they thought gambling was the key.

But most of the online gambling sites doesn't care about the age.All we have to do is click,yes I am 18 or 21 or whatever the age required to register there.

Did you ever noticed that any gambling site asked you to verify the age limit at the time of registration itself?

Many of Fiat based gambling sites requires you to provide your identifications. Crypto sites don't really care about them and they'd ask you your KYC only when you are suspected of money laundering.
I also don't think it's necessary to filter them as it's upto the parents to restrict the amount of money their kids use. If the kid is earning money for himself/herself, they would have knowledge of what they can risk and what not.

Children and minors shouldn't have access to gambling sites. They should develope mechanisms to control the age, either by providing ID or some other kind of verification. Gambling could really have bad impact on such young children and It's realy sad to see how some gambling sites are oriented only on profit.

What a f**k with such a child of 5years to participate on gambling? Come on, that age is not to be consider for any reason for gambling because at that age a child still under mother for care. Though at age 5 nobody is expected to gamble, as the sense of such child still developing to hold some good information about life. The government that allow such age to stand at the casinos and gamble should reconsider that as abuse which will probably lead the country into deep mess of gambling addictions all over the  country.

Restrictions aren't going to work again in these countries due to the advent of cryptocurrency which has great impact on freedom of surfing through the internet without be monitor. Even right now, any age can gamble online through cryptocurrency as it is anonymous in nature. Age specified on the OP are for formality sakes or for the fiats purpose and not for cryptocurrency. We'll know that, cryptocurrency allow any gambler inrespective of their age and country to gamble casinos without they be notice at the end. The world of gambling has gotten better than before, so, age restrictions are just not valid with cryptocurrency.

Actually you have to understand why they have been restricted.Kids means they are not matured enough to understand the consequences of doing such things so they might get affected and in country's point of view they think that a whole generation might get affected so they are restricted from doing such things.

But in reality most sites or persons don't care so they can do anything from everywhere if they got internet connection and money in hand.

The governments may think playing gambling is a human right. They cannot really limit people to access it. But we can see that most countries stipulate in 18 age. I think it is the most appropriate age for gambling age restriction.  

It is true. As long as no KYC is required, everyone of any age can participate in gambling. So, It is not surprising if children are also permitted to join gambling although they basically are not the members expected to register. Well, children still have many limitations, not only about the knowledge about gambling but they also have limited funds to use.  :D

Can someone comfirm this age restriction from malawi.? Personally I think people should have known what's right from what's wrong and be able to stand alone before they are introduced to gambling. Age 16-18 is a good bench mark.

I am also surprised to see Malawi's legal age for gambling.

LOL 5 years, they are still feeding on their mother's milk but they are legal enough to gamble. I am sure the lawmakers in Malawi were high on something while discussing about the age limit for gambling.

They should just change it to 18 or something. Or the age when they are able to vote. Because I think if they are able to vote and make a decision to choose their future politically they should be able to do it by choosing their future financially as well :D

Basically, gambling is just game but when include money that's dangerous for every age. We can't describe gambling with age because many gambling site doesn't need KYC and now use crypto for alternative payment, more easier than use currency. I'm not deny your post but I think we should try giving explanation and education that gambling is not safe for everyone, stay away and use your money to take care your future.

By the way, I find this thread very useful because on our forum, we don't really know the ages of the people playing.

So, adding some information on this thread, the minimum gambling age of the country Philippines is 21, I could say that because I reside on that country and I think that rule isn't really been followed. Lets take for example, underage people is allowed to play sweepstakes and scratch game which could be considered gambling. And by means of international gambling, there is no restrictions that some countries could provide.

In terms of our technology right now, gambling exists beyond the limits, that is because, most of the gambling sites aren't really performing a strict KYC to determine the age of the players.

Here in Philippines age restriction is 21 just like in the post but, it's only applicable on casinos. Many 21 and below and below here that can gamble to street and even at "perya" where it's a street reception for gambling and you can see a lot of kids there that are betting. Gambling here in Philippines is very popular and there's a mild sanctions for those people that are doing illegal gambling, Just in the street whether it's night or day you can see a lot of people there that are gambling or betting for a street cock fight. Age 21 is for casino only, and only few people here are gambling to casinos considering that it's available anywhere.

As a trader, I knewed that the allowing age to enter a gambling is eighteen years old (18) so that I didn't even expected that there are some countries are have restrictions to allowed a one's gamble. Beyond reading this, there's a thing that gets my full attention. It is the country of Malawi I was shocked that this country allows to join in gambling at the age of five(5) years old, because when I was five years old I didn't really mastered how to solve a simple operational problem. So that I didn't agreed on five years old allowing range of age in gambling.

The rule is more likely as a suggestion or the reference for the gamblers and gambling sites. Whether they will obey or break it, depends on their understanding and awareness. I don't see that the government will take them to the prisons when they break it. So, it is surely possible to break by some bad men. But I hope you don't!  :)

True. They may not really care about who plays their gambling games. They must be happy to have new players, it will take advantage to them. The KYC process looks like a formality only on some gambling sites. To be honest, I'm not surprised in it yet the gambling owners should focus on the profits (money), not to the quality (capability) of the players.

Thanks for the information and actually their currency is called as Malawian Kwacha and 1 USD gets you 732 MW which shows us how terrible the condition must be in that country and I really feel for the people there.

Maybe even the law is bound to make such decisions to get enough profit to run their government but I indeed agree that allowing a 5-year old kid to gamble is just like allowing him to take drugs and I don't know this country will recover in future because their condition is dire financially and they are not making wise decisions either.

That age restriction from malawi may affect the nations economy by being children able to gamble early in their years.
Maybe that is one of the reason why the nations growth is slow.

Yes only gambling casino is not allowed to the person who under 21 to play gambling. But for the other kinds of gambling in the Philippines many people allowed a minor to play and that is not good because instead of studying other teenager wantd to play gambling I believe those teenager their parents did not guide their child carefully so they become addict not only in gambling but also drinking alcolhol and drugs.

For me the real age that person can allowed to play gambling is 18 and up because that age our mind is fully developed and we can decide what we want.

But for under 18 I think  the government needs to force the gambling place to give order to them that under that age is not allowed to enter and play gambling . Because other casino and who work in casino sometimes they allowed them .

Malawi just like have $19 million total population, and at age starting to 5, they can gamble, so it's like 70% or more population are eligible to gamble.

https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/malawi-population/

This country is ridiculous, I bet this country belongs to the underdeveloped countries.

Age 5? is the bad thing for the young one to learn how to waste his money and most of the time when He became addicted he will learn to still some money on his parent's pants. This is some bad regulation here, they need to adjust it because at that age he is not capable to earn his own money, he may end up losing all of his allowances at a very young age.

They don't bother really.

I am not saying that all gambling sites are like that but there are a lot of gambling sites that don't have a KYC so young gamblers could easily get in. If they will be having strict policies in registrations to gamblers, those people who don't want to be taken off their anonymity will be finding other gambling sites and that is what they don't want to happen. At the end of the day, these young gamblers will find a way to gamble in that site or other sites so better now dwell on something that you can't really stop.

Yes because its just a form of business so all they want to make profits and they also wants the users to agree above the age restrictions so users at their own discretion if they are entering into sites and play bets there.More kids have got enough knowledge to handle these situation and they won't have much money to gamble so it won't bother them too much...

I am not aware at first that there are age restrictions varying across different countriws and some of them are below the 'standard' of the majority, but despite of this, we should respect those countries that allows 'minors' of other countries to play. But still, I am against allowing people, especially students, who are not having a job to gamble. Why? Because that is not their money in the first place giving them no reason to play.
It is really a strange thing. At that age, I am just playing toys and I am not even that of a master when it comes to numbers but if that's the reality then it is awful. How would a child in such age, learned to gamble? Also, what would they do in gambling? They would more likely bet as they want to without analysis of what could be the outcome, giving ghem no rights to play to be honest. An age of 21 above, in my opinion, wohld be more valid because gambling is not a 'free' activity where one could just be chilled.

Here in Italy also you need 18 years to be able to play for gambling, online/live.

I think this should be increased at least to 21 but you know since licenses are provided by governments and govs eat from gambling it will never happen, it may go lower in the future to increase the earning.

I, myself, dunno if it really affects the economic sector in the country. You need to take a little research to prove it. At least, you need to google and gather some data related to Malawi's gamble restriction and their economic growth. Who knows that the 5 years old children only play simple gambling games with nothing to do with money or profits.  :D

That's true, mate. Someone with 18 years old is considered already quite mature. At this age, someone already has enough insight to determine what he should do. He also may have already got a job and can live independently.

Now it is almost impossible to avoid that kids get access to those sites if they want because even if you were to install a parental control software on their computers and smart phones they can still get access through the many devices that they are in contact and that do not have that protection, so it seems the best thing we can do is to warn them about the dangers of gambling at such an early age and hope they listen to you and do not gamble until they are old enough to understand what they are doing.

For the children who already know about gambling, yes that way seems good for them. But we must ensure that they really understand what we warn or advise to them. As they are still at a young age, they may have difficulties to understand the warning.

However, the best way is not "warn" them. But how to make them don't know about gambling. Keep away from them all things related to gambling. So, we don't need to warn them because they don't know about gambling.

Giving them a warning is fine but that's where the kid's curiosity about what's gambling is all about starts.

If I'm a kid, a 6 or 7-year-old boy, always seeing an active gambling community around, I will ask myself, why we kids aren't allowed to play gambling by our parents or seniors even it was allowed on our Law. I saw other kids doing gambling but they aren't stopping. Gambling operators will allow these kids to gamble since it's legal and it's not their responsibility to stop these kids if they really like to play.

So I'm thinking, why not just turned this kid's gambling activity into something resourceful. Let them gamble instead and help them enhanced how to analyze things in a certain situation while doing gambling.

I agree, but the kids will try to search what is gambling, and if they find it by coincidence, I think they will try to play. The kids will have a big curiosity about something that they don't know, and they will search more and more until they found it.


I guess they will not ask about that, but they will search what gambling is, and if they see that playing gambling is excited, they will try to play. That is what the kids do, but some kids will ask about something that they don't know as that is what my nephew asked me about some games that his brother played on his computer.


I think that is a job for the parents or adult people around the kids to tells about gambling, what is the advantage or disadvantage so they know why they should not trying to playing gambling. I think if we can say or teach about a good thing and also tell about the wrong side of something, they will feel that they should not do that bad thing. Perhaps, it's like mental training or planting into the subconscious about something that can give bad things.

is this true?does a country allowed children in Casinos?

this is the perfect age for me to let one going on gambling legally,because i think 21 is the tender age for every people to learn His maturity and making good decision for life,because younger can be desperate and possessive to act specially in this gambling risk.

Its inevitable or cant really be stopped and as said just let them be if they do force out because as a parent we cant monitor our child 24/7 in our eyesight knowing that accessibility is high.
Operators wont surely care yet they do know that its out of their scope and also this is business, the more the merrier as long it is legal and allowed then its non of their business if they would
allow those young minds.Its sad to look at that some places do allow a very low age on playing on a casino which isnt really that right.We know the risk and we know on how young minds cant
handle out emotions when it comes to gambling specially on losing money and the addiction that it gives.

There's a lot of ranting in this thread about the age restriction in Malawi, but have you guys thought of where a 5 year old kid can get money for gambling, in the first place? Right, nowhere, nowhere except from an adult person, a parent, most likely.

So it's not like little kids are encouraged to gamble in Malawi, rather it's their parents are allowed to bring kids to a casino starting from the age of five.

Yes, it is true. Have you checked the detail information on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambling_age#cite_note-27? Or scroll up to see previous comments about it?



However, it is clearly stated in Wikipedia "Gambling age". It means a minimum age required to play gambling. What do you think about that, mate?

I think that age restriction should be on an average on 20 years old.
My point is that people should have a decent living and making an amount of money before they are pushed - for any reason - into gambling. This makes their hobby healthy and they risk their own money instead of borrowing for gambling.

As you may have noticed, there's "None" in the "Minimum age" column opposite some countries, like here, for example:

https://i.imgur.com/AfQ1jQ8.png

which means that there's no age restriction there at all. And I don't understand why are people outraged by Malawi's law, while there are countries where kids below 5 years age are permitted in casinos.

 I think the idea that there is "none" means that legality is not based on age and that is understandable, it doesn't say that 18 year olds can play or 16 year olds can play or anything like that and it basically makes sure that there is no legal age thing going on and it is basic common sense. Just to give an example in my nation it is 18+ as well but when it comes down to real life I was capable of gambling, hell buying cigarattes was not allowed as well yet I started smoking at 16, so that means practice is different than reality.

 So the problem between "none" and 5 is the simple fact that when you are "none" you are telling people "there is obviously an age when it is too young but we will let you decide that and return customers if they are young and let you decide that age yourself for each individual case" but when you say 5 you are basically telling them 6 years old is fine and can gamble however they want to.

each country has their own reserve about how to treat gambling so we really don't know whats their input for allowing younger age but for sure they have reason for this,maybe it is their ancestral whos gives them these rules?we don't really know but for us who is not comfortable on their rules can only questioned but cannot do anything to change their rules.

rules are being adapt from the elders or ancestors but as time goes by they also do modification   .  its normal for some country to have a strange rule or celebration  and one of it could be gambling at a verry young age . on ours i think the limit here is 18 and above but i did started gambling when i was verry little  . we only hide at close places because police are patrolling  but they are only hunting for adult agamblers  because there is also a law here that underage people should not be jailed or punished by higher authority

Where ever money is involved age restriction should be implemented. The legal age for gambling in most countries is 18, as by that time an individual does understand the value of money. I do not yet understand what Malawi has 5 years as the minimum age for gambling.

LOL, how many money can make a 5 year old kid in Malawi?
Has it have the reasonable mind to spend it wisely and get money from gambling activity? Letting a 5 yo kid gambling will create him an experience that would be very difficult to overcome in the future.

Exposing at this very young age is really entertaining those kids to start at the very early stage of their minds, it will be developed all along knowing that the parents are okay with this kind of settings.
Don't have any idea from how they treated gambling from their country and how responsible those parents who are allowing or bringing their kids inside the casino.

I didn't know that 5 year children as no restriction in gambling but it should be allowed at least 12-14 years above  would be good ,in my country below 18 are not allowed to do gambling

but i think modification to 5 years old?seems not appropriate but yeah this is their rules and we must respect also it happens that we have different countries and different rules .

but i am still hoping this will change to at least 18 years old and up.

Yes. Don't blame the government of Malawi, they must have a strong reason to allow children in gambling. As long as we don't know what the reason is, never blame or judge the government of Malawi. Let's try to have a wise comment or opinion, guys.  :)

Of course, it is changeable. You are right if 18 years old seems more appropriate for the minimum age. I think Malawi's government must consider it to make a further decision.

I know the reason because the baby does not know the meaning of money.
See Malawi : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambling_age#Africa
And Afganistan, they allowed every age who want to play online gambling, No limited.
See Afganistan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambling_age#Asia
Extreme country than Malawi I thing.

Knowing about the age restriction about gambling, and being applicable to online gambling as well. Is it really effective to limit the players? Because from my experience playing through different gambling sites, I don't see any that most of there are strict. They are just allowing you to create account and you can even fake your credentials to enter age above the limitation. There are some sites that don't really have anything to ask their players, and will allow you to directly play after your email has been verified. Yes, you have set your age in your email, but what if you exceed your age in your email as well?

That means, players of any age has really no restriction in gambling because of the weak regulation. Though, I don't like KYC to be a mandatory to every gambling sites. Maybe these sites could just improve or develop a system to detect if the players are really in legal age to play.

I could not think of any other way but KYC to verify if the one joining a gambling site is legit and of age, people want anonymity, and because the competition is very high in the online gambling sector they do away with KYC so, in reality, we'll never know if the one joining is of age and not a child who wants to gamble his allowance.

Yeah! they should also implement something like KYC to prevent some underage to play even though they did not even reach the age of puberty yet. The case here is, they might become addicted and do some crazy things with those addictions blindly. unlike those 18+ people, kids are more prone to some extreme because most of them don't know how the outside world works. most of them don't know how hard to earn those single buck they often lose in gambling.

I doubt those legal age are really enforced that much in many countries. My first public gambling (prefer to call it betting) was at a very young age in a church compound (probably during something called bazaar or something) yet it was allowed back then. The games were appropriate for kids though and probably traditional.
Many of us likely bet as kids especially in our homes. I guess the problem is indulgence, which is gambling, if it doesn't benefit the kids positively. Kids spending lots of time (without spending money) on nonbeneficial games could be termed as gambling aswell.

This is the reality thats why getting rid of minors on gambling sector cant really be wiped out totally due to anonymity and kyc-less for some gambling sites.
As long you do have the internet then accessing these sites are simple and cant be traced anytime.This is why when it comes to parenting then we should
really tell our kids at least the risk on playing gambling which they would able to foresee on what are the consequences when you do get involved at early age.
Its quite surprising that there are places on the globe that legalize on very low age.

For age 5: Malawi (Casino)? This get me worried, how possible is it for a 5year old to gamble? Hmmm, this is ridiculous and should be revisited  by the country policy markers. This will definitely lead many of these country men and women who engage in gambling get into addiction. Starting to gamble at early stage in life will not give a good result to anyone involve in gamble, rather a bad effect at the end. Probably Malawi should have the highest cases of gambling addiction and possibly the most Highest country likely to have depressed individuals.

Sounds like something silly but thats the reality because babies under 5 years are those who dont understand money and this is a statement we met from Wikipedia. But I am not sure how they allow a 5-year-old to go to the casino, maybe just to watch his father bet or start being taught to bet. This LOL cant be trusted and thus Malawi can be classified as a country that has a tendency to gamble by its citizens because the age limit allowed to go to the casino is 5 years. :D

The 5 year age looks unbelievable but I consider those kids that play chess and piano. It all depends on the children and how they are trained. Some go to the extent of designing a syllabus for the kids to learn the profession. Am usually scared of the addiction in gambling and the terrible havoc and extent of loss. Every gambler must have had there losses, some which is close to losing there lives, which demands training a gambler on how to know when to walk away.

I agree that KYC can be the solution to prevent underage children to join in gambling. However, it seems not all gambling sites to apply the KYC procedure. Moreover, if the gambling sites are fully anonymous and the anonymity is one of their advantages. We have no institution to force them to apply the KYC procedure for their members.

KYC can serve as the way to the underaged from gambling, but this isn't the possible solution. However we stricten the KYC procedure it is impossible to stop people from filling up with fake IDs to get into gambling. However things get advanced there will be gambling websites that give access to KYC free usage, and users to love it more than gambling sites where KYC is mandatory.

I am just thinking about even if the younger people can lie about their age, they can still register on the gambling site, and they can start playing gambling. With the easiness of the register in online gambling, the younger people can access and visit the gambling site, and if their access gets blocks by their internet provider, they can use VPN that will help them to visit and play gambling.

The parents should take care of their children, and they always watch and know what they do with their computer and mobile phone, so they can know if something wrong is happening. But with some explanation to their children, I think their children will see the danger of playing gambling.

Age 5: Malawi (Casino) ??????

Is this for real? Surely it's a typo or a joke.

Yes it's real it's not a joke and it's also not a typo error OP included the article where he extracts his post you can check it all here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambling_age#cite_note-27 is really stated that Malawi is letting 5 years old to gamble, other countries do not have a restriction at all.

Well, At the age of 5 in Malawi they are allowed to gamble which may result to early addiction. If the country permits this, all we can do is to guide the young ones of what they are doing and what are the impacts of it. Each country has there own rules and regulations, legal age for gambling may vary place to place. Age Restrictions is a must on Gambling, with regards to young adults like 18 years old, they are not kids anymore they are now accepted and responsible or have control over their actions. This is the reality that we should know from the first place, anything is possible if one permits it.

How much possibility does it have for a 5 year old to get a job and spend his own money to gamble?  Zero. A 5 year old kid wouldn't even know how to shine a shoe.

To my curiosity, I searched youtube whether I can find 5 year old boy gambling in Malawi but I think youtube will also be deleting it if there is. Or its possible that its just the law says but people there in Malawi doesn't really allow their 5 yr old kids to gamble and I mean people in that area of course has common sense.

Either you do or implement KYC and lose your customers / players (because many gamblers do not want themselves to be disclosed who they are) or Do not make KYC compulsory and allow the under-age play the gambling. It's a trade off and you have to choose between the two.

I prefer no KYC on gambling sites and parents / elders looking after their kids activities and keep the check & balance on them. After all, if parents can't control their kid to avoid gambling, why would the gambling sites care who is playing and who is not. Also the purpose of the casino is to collect money and they don't care the age of people playing.

Of course people would really choose up to play on a place or site that doesnt have KYC and as said people do give out importance into their privacy.
If you do own a site and implement strict KYC then it would really just restrict out most users yet you are just similar to those traditional fiat gambling sites out there.
This is the only way on stopping minors on playing into a certain site if it do have some verification but if not then expect that we cant just filter out those young minds
to jump in to the place.We know that accessing sites are way too simple to be done these days.

Why it isn't a possible solution? Do you have another option as a better solution? I think KYC is the right solution, it has been implemented in various platforms and proven quite effective. We just need to make strict and clear procedures to ensure it works properly.

How if the new members must do a live video for data validation? I think it is possible, I ever did it in one of the exchanges. Even if we cannot remove the possibility of fake IDs totally, I think we can minimize it.

Gambling could induce a higher risk for minors that are already engaging in the actuvity because, underage are more vulnerable in acquiring bad habits due to the fact that they do not still have fundamental mindset that will guide them on what is right and wrong. Here in our place, even though there is also an age restriction for gambling, the government cannot still always monitor people doing gambling in the streets even with minors in it because,  people can do it anytime and anywhere.

Well age restriction in gambling is really important, restricting kids in gambling is really important, it is really bad if the kids would be exposed in any gambling websites and casino gambling  because gambling can destroy our lives, especially on those kids who cannot still think properly. They should prioritize first their studies before anything else.

But the thing about the online gambling restriction age is it can be fooled, it can easily for the kids to say that they are already 18+ above.

LOL, I think those 5 years old and below means that they are not allowed to bring their kids on casino gambling, not a 5 year old kid that will play casino gambling because obviously that kind of age cannot play well.

Regardless, in our country, I think you need to be 18 above to be allowed to gamble or to enter in a casino, below 18, you need to stay at home and maybe just play on crypto casinos since most of them does not have a KYC, you'll certainly enjoy it but going in a physical casino, it's a big no.

Maybe their kids watch their parents gambling in one place, so their kids are trying to do the same thing as their parents. But still, the parents need to watch out their kids, and the parents should prohibit playing gambling if they still less than 17 years old. It will needs contribution from the parents to take care of their kids, and the parents are not just searching for their pleasure because their main jobs for their kids are how they can be responsible for their kids as well.

I am surprised by the age restriction in gambling:
Age 5: Malawi (Casino).
This means that when a child in Malawi is 6 years old, he can attend casinos.
What is the government of this country looking for with this? Exploiting the Casino industry as the main source coupled with tourism is what I believe. Boys at an early age learn the activity and therefore will be exploited for work.

For me the extreme on this part is a 5-6 years Old can even learn how to play casino games at that younger age?if i see it by my Own eyes for sure i will be amazed.

in my Country that age is just even starting to learn Games outside the house like any normal children games and not Casino Games that can teach them how to spend millions in one day.

definitely i will never Let my children do the same if i am on their situation.

When I was young, we have some things that are similar to gambling it is allowed along with certain festivals. On that day, minors and elders are free to play. I thought it was legal since those elders are also playing. But when I'm getting old I realize that it was not. The policemen raid those places and capture those people who are behind those illegal activities. so until now, I never see them doing that thing again. if their government is just, they will make laws that give their citizens a good place not to turn their places into casino country.

The age level is kind of low.
However, we have to consider how easy is in Malawi to access a casino.
Maybe people are not restricted by age but with other means such as the income level, etc.

World wide Greece got the highest age limit to get into gambling still I believe there should be uniform restriction world wide which should be above 30 years so that we can expect everyone will be gambling responsibly.

Some studies are indicating that men are realizing about their social and family responsibility only after 30 years of old. Women are quicker in this category but varies from 22 to 28 based on education and cultural environments. So, I guess to prevent the all dangers of gambling, I guess world wide gambling age restriction should be st above 30 years. This way we can expect less gambling addicted people and people may not lose big like how they are doing currently at younger ages.

That's too old mate. I think 21 (adult) is enough considering they will have their own income at that age, not stealing from parents. It's true that the older you get, there is a tendency the wiser/more responsible you become. However, if they already considered an adult, they should freely choose whether to gamble or not.

seeing that many people were shocked that there is a country that allows five years old to gamble doesn't know that there are a lot of countries that have no age restriction in gambling. I remember reading that some of the reason why some countries have no age restriction in gambling is that they believe that young children have no idea what is the purpose or meaning of money(which I think is BS).

I think it is right to ban all games (intended as games of chance, bets) to minors (the age varies according to individual countries) but only because it can cause them addiction which is then difficult to control / cure...

Right young age people should not allow for gambling as they may lose patience in case of loss and its really harmful. So better gamble age above 25 as this age people can control their emotions and they better know how to gamble properly and young age people should only learn about gambling and betting at home, but don't waste your money and time if you are under 25.

For me i do not agree with the ageb5 of a thing.
The age restrictions should be 17 and below.

Once you are 18, and oast teenage years you can decide for yourself, such age should be the starting points to enable any one to gamble.

Anything other than 18 years of age, i do not agree with it

Possibilities to be engaged as this stage will comes out with heavy addictions, gamblers who  begins very young most of the time are
having difficulty of controlling their addictions. They are engaged that deep and hard for to them to cope up.
Best to practice from each government rules to avoid minors to play ahead.

I didn't expect that there's a country where kids with an age of 5 allowed to play gambling legally. Gambling at early age will just cause you a bad habit so I wonder why they allowed it.

But if their perspective towards gambling is just for fun or entertainment then it's fine, it'll just be in the category of games.

no one will get addicted if they educate their child well .

 it was like gadgets and computer games being introduced to children when they was still young but many kids are not getting adicted and still study welll  , that is because their parents are strict with them . they can do that discipline on gambling  too  .

many gambling were designed for all ages and most of those are for entertainment so its okay for the kids  to get expose with it  and mostly those can be found on a real life amusement center/park  .

Even if someone is educated very well how things work, when greed hits you, it'll just destroy your life. We know that no one can control the addiction towards it especially when a kid knew they can earn money on it. It's very wrong to expose a kid on money, it'll just bring chaos in their life and will be contented on the result of gambling.

All the people showed the same opinion as you. Unfortunately, nothing we can do unless accepting that fact. Each country must have different considerations to decide the age restriction. Don't easily judge that the Malawi government did wrong regulation in this case.

17 and below? below or above?
Ideally 18+, it is the common age limit on many sectors. But it isn't applied to all sectors because every sector has a specific factor.

Agree. Having 18+ means you are already mature enough. You have sufficient knowledge or competence to determine a good thing or a wrong thing. Teenagers at this age can start living independently and decide what they will do in the future their selves.

It's interesting but if you look at the wikipedia article you will see for Iceland for example, the 15 years old threshold is only for lottery. For other gambling games the threshold is at 18 years old in fact.

Search about this one and surprised that it's true. It makes me realize that some games in arcades imitates gambling as well. it's all fun and games for the kids but we know it's where gambling starts. Haven't found the reasons about this '5 year old restriction" but if a 5 year old is gambling, they won't know it's gambling, they will be happy winning, they will be sad when losing. And they will want more.

Gambling requires a great deal of responsibility that's why most of the countries use 18-21 as their minimum age to gamble. I hope kids who gamble can still control themselves to stop when they grow up.

This sounds immediately quite strange to me,,, but there is probably something in there that we are not aware of. Five year old kids can maybe GO inside a casino but I doubt the employees would actually entertain a kid walking inside it right?

That has to be a very bad wikipedia entry:)

If they get entertained, they will treat the casino as an arcade store that all are just games and for fun only. But when there's money, the perspective of a kid will definitely change and even it's a kid, it will stimulate his brain and get addicted to it.

Employees will entertain him if he/she was accompanied by an old person. But I feel that 5 years old are allowed but definitely it still depends on the casino house and more likely 18 above is the preferredage.

Even if they allow it I will not allow my 5-year-old kid to spend times in casinos there are a lot of bad things that your kid won't want to see in casinos, and the kid will learn that it's ok to spend your parent's money in gambling because they not have the means to support themselves maybe it's just a bad entry, someone has to confirm this. 

If that's the reason of Malawi, It's still absurd.
There are many countries that have a good education system that makes kids have deep knowledge of things at an early age. Even though they have it, there are existing studies that kids are not good enough to understand the logic behind the money. Therefore, gambling is not really for kids and shouldn't be allowed for kids. There are also many studies that money habits should start at the age of 10 years old.

and your info with the same use of words can be found here: https://www.bestonlinecasino.com/blog/gambling-age-around-the-world.html

But there are kids who makes money via illegal ways and they choose to spend it on gambling and its strange that some countries allow those crime kids to play legally just because they are going to bring income to the governments. ???

Agree, kids are still blinded on different situations happening behind a real-world that consists of money so definitely it'll be dangerous for them if they adapt it an early age. I doubt the Malawi government did good research about the age restriction when it comes to gambling. Even until now, grown-ups that's exposed in money can't even handle a huge amount of money, then what about a kid without any experiences?

As much as possible, in my opinion, kids should not be exposed to any form of gambling. Because this is the stage where you shape a growing individual. Because if it is my kids, I really will not let them explore the world of gambling at all cost. Better guide them to other valuable activities and hone their skills and talents rather than introduce them to gambling.

Agree, definitely kids should be at school or home enhancing their own skills or doing some house chores that will help the family. Kids going  to casino is very absurd and the reasoning of Malawi is also absurd. The future of the kid depends on how do they act at an early stage so don't let them expose on gambling or money if they can't still determine what's right and wrong.

this is just my guess before you explore deeper, maybe in that country there are not many casinos or the population is not too fond of it, judging from the Malay origin originating from africa, i guess african people don't really like things like gambling.

Having age restriction in online gambling and real life gambling is really important, kids should not be in the casino because that is so wrong for kids to be exposed in gambling because they are still not thinking so well. There are so many things that kids may do, more productive, more useful and knowledgeable, they may read some books, watch movies, bonding with family, play toys. That is greater compared to gambling.

Seriously? I can't believe that, a 5 year old kid cannot think well, they are not full developed mentally and besides how they are going to play in casino gambling, how could they bet, they are so young, but thankfully they implemented age restrictions to protect our kids.

every country is different  . you can find others strange and others are normal  , so is the legality of gambling are but this does not mean that they already have a bad government  .

of course they know what they are doing and they still have actions to take for the kids or to the gamblers that arent going to abide the rules . restriction depends on the country  and not if they require a kyc or not  but your right , most gambling site dont request of a kyc now . thats great because we can keep our data's safe

Yep, don't blame the government even if the regulation isn't like others. The government must consider some factors related to gambling activities in their society. Indeed to let children around 5 to gamble isn't a usual thing but the government never forces them to gamble. I believe it won't be applied to all gambling games, it's probably applied for the games appropriate for the children only.

Children who are around 5 years old and playing gambling is a very alarming situation knowing that they can possibly develop gambling addiction into themselves especially they are still children. I think they do gambling because of poverty because I think no parent would let their children experience gambling in their early stages of life and I think the government can't do anything about his because of their country situation.

The government can restrict the ages of playing gambling in real life casino. Still, I don't think that they can do the same in online gambling because once the kids using the mobile phone or computer or laptop, they can use it without anybody knows. We know that now, many kids already know how to operate the gadget. They don't have any problem browsing on many websites, including porn and gambling. The only way that we can do is prevent them from using the gadget for a long time, and we need to watch closer beside them so we can know what they do.

Actually, age restriction in gambling is only applicable in real life as no one will identify if someone is wether underage or not as they can just lie. Although some kids who are below age based on their country's regulation were able to manage to sneak in casino as they look mature, the security in real life casino with regards to implenting that regulation is still tight and intact thus kids really focus more on studying rather than gambling.

I think the legal age is 5 years old, but it is possible that they still have some restrictions like they are only allowed if they are with their guardian. Also, I don't think a 5-year-old kid will go to the gambling house by itself without knowing anything.

I don't know the reasons of the other country why they allow below 18 age to play gambling and bad with that is they have child they can play. I hope other country will follow the age limit of minimum of 18 to play gambling because that is the right age for us . Even they have law that still not follow because many children play gambling.

In the Philippines many teenager play gambling and bad with that is they play outside it is very sad to see those children instead of studying they do playing and mostly also of that are addicted to the drugs.

Its depend on the Parents how they brought their child in this world.

Gambling is just a material that can give people either a win or lose but the potential of being a gambler is from their society and community and the people surrounds them.

even the country will allow people to play in mature age still we cannot prevent youngsters to gamble.

The reason why they allow below 18 to play gambling is that it is legal with their law.
One more thing is that underage was allowed to play depends on the house rules of the house itself that even the law allows it.

In that case, their parents are the one who's responsible for their actions, and as far as I know, if those teenagers will be seen by the law enforcer, they will be punished.

Age is not always an indicator of how much a person is aware of. However, if we compare people at 18 and at 21, we can say that people show more awareness with age.
I would introduce an addiction test, only after passing through which you have access to the casino, but casinos would never do that, because addicts are their main profit.

Very well said. Age is some digits in which people rely when it comes to experience and legalization, but I think it is much better to expose people to the harsh reality of gambling so that they will realize early how much it will take to them when they gamble, money is so hard to be earn and so easy to be lost in gambling.

However, the result of exposing them too early in gambling depends on their parents and on how their parents raised them, because no matter how fun gambling is, if their parents raised their kids well, no urge or peer pressure will defeat them, because they are well disciplined and does have a good life perspective.

5 years old is such a small age that people should not allow their kids to gamble they should be restricted by parents as it's not good for them. I think people should let their children spend time in the study only and allow them to gamble after they become adults so they can control emotions and will know better about the win and lose.

I think 5 years is not a good age for gambling as gambling needs mental maturity to get profit or to earn game so better wait and let our kids stay away from gaming yet when they are the age of playing or they should focus on the study as at our place people of 18 years are allowed to gamble as they are adult and mature enough to handle the misfortune of unexpected loss.

This age restriction can be symbolic and there is no connection between the mentioned age group and reality. Third-world countries don't have the sense of gambling for children in general cases but some people make a funny games with their kids in online casinos. Exclusions don't break the rules. Simply, ignoring the nonsense legal issues will be beneficial for the both governments and the gamblers.

The first time I saw a list in various countries for a minimum age in gambling, I was surprised that where 5 years had played casino. In my country 5 years still playing like a child in general. 18+ years is the right kind in my country for gambling. If it's below that, then it still can. but the gamble in question is only local gambling.

True, parents have to control the children's activity and ensure that they do suitable activities. Gambling is indeed not suitable for them, but the government has another perception of it. However, I never heard that there is a country that forced children to play gambling. Even if the age restriction 5 years old, it doesn't mean all children there playing gambling.  :D

Not all parents allow their children to play gambling, even some of them never let their children know about gambling. And you must know that adult age cannot guarantee a good-control on emotion. It depends on the nature of someone and their intelligence. But surely when someone is in adult age, he can think independently.

https://i.imgur.com/jsOT83v.png

got the above reasoning from this article. i guess, these kids are getting the concept of money wrong if it comes from gambling. but seems that it is innate from their culture so really hard to remove that from the youngsters. wonder how they are doing financially when they are adults already, if their foundation comes from gambling...

https://www.bestonlinecasino.com/blog/gambling-age-around-the-world.html

It is very bad to allow the age of 5 years to gamble casinos because they will be addicted early and cannot control themselves until they are adults. I can't imagine what life would be like between them, I honestly want to see every child grow smart as a successor to the nation.

Yes, even their reason is kids from their country have a good understanding of money, kids will still become addicted to gambling. Grown-up that has a wide understanding of money and gambling is still exposed to being a gambling addict, what more on kids.

Kids are not good logical thinking so definitely they will not understand what's the real purpose of money, it might get lead them into danger.

I think it is already discussed many times above, just scrolled up to know the reasons & some answers. You must know that every country may have different reasons and considerations to establish a decision. However, I'm also not really sure about the main reason for the Malawi government decided the age limit in Casinos. You are right it is a careless decision to allow a child at 5 years playing gambling/casino. It is not a proper age for a gambler even if the reason is for having fun.   

and also how come can a 5 year old child can play things on a casino,... even on an online platform? A child like that will surely just waste a lot of money without knowing its real value. Also I doubt parents who's on the right thinking will allow their child to play on an environment such as that. Maybe the government just wanted to tell that Restrictions aren't supposed to be a hindrance on playing which is solely for entertainment but the thing is, that's really an absurd decision for it might get abused by the others as well.

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Anyways, as for this matter when playing in an Online Platforms, age restrictions doesn't help that much for it can be bypass easily, especially in this current era where all can be easily edited. There are a lot more who can use fake identities just to play these kind of games. Such rules only applies on RL Casinos.

As you see, this is just the rule for Malawi.

Majority of the world this is unacceptable but I we don't know what's the reason why Malawi allowed this or have this standard for allowing kids to gamble.

It's the stage of honing the kids skills and hobby and it shouldn't be considered to teach them to gamble.

You are right. Good parents mustn't allow children at 5 years to play gambling. Whatever the reasons, it is not a suitable place for them. Then if they play it regularly, it will be their habits. And surely it is not good habits for children at 5 years.

Well, to be honest, I agree with you. The decision seems very unusual and never applied in my country exactly. That's why I said "it is a careless decision", it can be abused by irresponsible parties. Hemm.. I think we will see that this regulation to be revised very soon.  :-\

Also, You have to see Afganistan > has unlimited age ( every age can play Online gambling)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambling_age#Asia

A simple reason mentioned above, That is because the younger children (babies) do not know the meaning of money.
See Malawi Note https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambling_age#Africa

I'm surprised when I saw that the age restriction in Malawi is only 5. I think there is such a reason why their government allow that law. It is a strange because kids can become addicted to it. In my country you cannot go in casinos if you are not 21 years old. Before you get inside the casinos, you need to have I.D. that is proof that your age is 21+years old and above.

You're right, its just that each country has different age restriction in gambling but despite that parents should not allow their kids to gamble at a very young age. We need to guide them on the right path because there's a time for everything. Even the country allow kids to gamble it doesnt mean we will let them to play, we as parents knows whats best and that is to teach them how to strive by studying and earn a diploma to have a better future.

What i believe is in Gambling it is the community that Builds us so even how age is restricted but this is for Casino Live only and not in the street Gambling and in Online because someone can create account for another young player to qualify since they only need small amount to play.
but i am very amazed that there is country that allow CHILDREN to play in Live casino,Damn i never thought of seeing such for a Child to play gambling instead of toys.

Age restriction is a must in gambling, so we can protect our kids from playing gambling. However, we never know if they don't gamble when they play with their friends. Maybe we can say that 5 years old prohibited from playing gambling, but I guess that children with less than 10 years old or more than 10 years are gamble with their friends. But of course, they don't visit the casino because they know that it is prohibited and they can't go there.

Then age restriction wouldn't matter in that case.

No need for them to visit the casino, they can create their house casino if they want to. Kids today are explorer and they would love to explore in things that will give them curiosity.

Indeed it is not appropriate for the age of 5 years have been allowed to play gambling should they be more focused to learn compared to gambling at the age of 5 years maybe Malawi has a strong reason to apply underage?
Of course in other countries the age of 5 years are not allowed to play gambling for fear of being addicted from the start and even if they grow up they will not be separated from gambling can be self-destructive if they continue to play gambling.
If you just have fun, you have to play with your friends, not gamble.

One thing that it is harmful for the under age is that they may not have that much sense at that age about what is right or wrong. How money is earned or how much people have to work to make little for their living this all thing only those who earn knows about it. For children it would be like it is easy as they will keep getting money without realizing the worth of it and they would not even know when to stop. For them everything is free so it would not be beneficial to allow for underage.

I cannot say that it is true that Malawi Allows an age 5 to gamble, because the source is the Wikipedia (articles may edit it for free), also age 5 cannot read nor write in a straight language or can compute but this one is acceptable if the IQ of that kid is high, but then I do not think that it is good for a teenager or a child to play in that age, also 18 above is more good since, they can be put in jail if they are disobeying laws regarding gambling.

depend in which country you are residing because check the list and you will find that even 5 years old is allowed in one country lol.
Nope as a parents ?we must know thew activities of our children because that is our obligations,if we are a functional parents we will find even they are hiding their activities.

OMG, I can't believe that there is a country with no restriction for the player's age in gambling. I'm worried that this potentially causes to child exploitation. With no age restriction in gambling, doubt about the future of children in that country. I don't try saying gambling isn't good but playing gambling too early should be avoided.

Yes, it is a simple reason but totally unclear. Even if the children don't know about the money but playing gambling repeatedly can make it be their habit. I think it is a bad habit for children, gambling isn't suitable habit while you are still too young. If I were a father in that country, I must complain about this regulation since it triggers the deterioration of the next generation.

It is not appropriate for the 5 years old kid to play gambling on that age they need to study first and to learn about in the world.
Their brain is not fully develop on that age so I do not why the government are allowing that age to play gambling.
I don't where that idea came from and I hope they change their ruled about age of playing gambling even 18+ is enough .

Legally, the age restriction is a must. But practically, children can play gambling secretly with their friends.

Hahaha yes, I know that they are smarter than us when we were a kid, right? ;D

Yeah, I read that too. But most country, kids prohibited playing gambling, and it feels strange to see one country allow kids playing gambling.

We think that we know all of their activities, but the truth is we don't know. We don't know that they have a little secret and they keep it for them and their friends.

Don't worry about that, the Afghanistan government knows what they did. It's okay, everyone can play online casino, but how when the Internet going slowly and hardy to access?.

That's happening IRL.

I don't know but if they are exposed in discussions like this, idea will just pop out of their heads and will just think of it as a play.

^ Definitely right, I can not almost believe about this. How that young age understands gambling. Even 10 years old did not have much idea at their young age. There must be an age limit to those who want to gamble and probably the right age is above 23 years old. At that age for sure they will know the value of money because I assumed at that age they will probably have a job. Nevertheless, that was their law their government know much better.

Actually, it's not just fro Wikipedia. I "googled" for the Malawi age restriction and other web sites says that the age limit in Malawi is 5 years. We can argue whether this is OK and normal or not, but that's their law. I personally think that it is a stupid rule. Why can't a 4-year old play casino? What is the difference between a 4-year old and a 5-year old?

Other sources:
- https://www.analyzecasino.com/news/how-old-do-you-have-to-be-to-gamble/
- https://www.bestuscasinos.org/blog/why-are-there-age-requirements-for-gambling-online-and-off/
- https://online-slots.co/what-is-the-legal-gambling-age/

But the question is, how about age restrictions in online gambling? Gambling in physical casinos have a lot security measures and assurance that their players are on a legal age or accompanied with an adult, yet can we do the same restrictions on online gambling? I just doubt that as most and even any one of any age can play casinos online and easily use other people especially their relative's identity for the KYC (if ever), and then they can play whenever they like.

BTW, We all know that wikipedia is not a good source of information, hence malawi having a 5 year old restriction is just unbelievable.

It seems like the discussion has been only going around the 5 year old age which are allowed in Malawi (Casino), I haven't seen any topic that is discuss here, I suggest you OP to review the comments and maybe it's time to lock the thread since information that we need to know has already been discuss.

As I go thru the link I found this on the details of Wiki.


Somehow it is a good explanation.
Parents won't give them money since they know nothing about it.
How could they bet on something if they don't know the purpose of money or they don't even have the right amount?

But when the kid goes 8-15 years old then he knows it.
That means they could gamble their way if they have the amount needed.
There is also a chance they will make that money with bad ways.
There is worse than this.
Gabon - There is no official gambling age, although many incorrectly believe it to be 18.

True... They don't know the meaning of money. But neither does a 3-year old kid and yet he is forbidden to be in a casino. That's why I think it is a stupid rule. Either way, I think that any underage person have nothing to do in a casino.

Good information, I never thought that there will be other countries who let their people gamble even if they are still minor. In our country, you must be 18 and above in order to be allowed if you want to gamble in any type of games,lottery and etc.

Age 5 is the lowest and I am very surprised how the government of Malawi allowed it even if they have reason for it as they are encouraging the minors to gamble.

It is the first for me to see that there is a certain country which is the Malawi where they allowed children ages 5 years old and above to play casinos. I think the reason why they regulated it is because of their culture and tradition. I think the society accepted that kind of culture where they allow children to gamble.

Maybe that si their culture before we are now in the moderm world that a child need to focus to their study not to play gambling.
But if they are really ulture we need to respect that because we have own too.

But most of the certain country right now the age that we can play gambling is when the age reach 18 plus and above.

Well, it is possible that this is already part of their culture.
Aside from that, I think even if their legal age for gambling is at the age of 5, I don't think that a child can really play by itself in the gambling house unless they are with their guardian. Think of it where those children will get their money to start gambling aside from their parents and how in the world they will know about what they will do inside the gambling house.

I do agree with you mate people who made this rule must be crazy when they clearly know that gambling is not good for even teen agers as they can not handle the lose of their money we should not put our young generation in this kind of activities. Better let you children grow mentally then let them gamble and ask them to learn how to gamble first then enter casino.

I think they're just very confident in their education system that's why they thought that through education and learning systems, kids will understand the advantages and disadvantages of money. Obviously, even until now, there are many flaws and holes on the education system, it keeps developing and improving until we reach the peak of gaining knowledge.

But personally, even the child has knowledge through the whole art of money, the temptation to gamble and lose a good future is very high. So it's not recommendable for me even for college students who still getting taking their undergrad, they shouldn't gamble.

Financial literacy has not been taught to kids in school and the students don't have an idea about personal finance. Without knowing how to control personal finance, it is hard to imagine responsible gambling from the same students. The knowledge factor is the main case for controlling the money activity during gambling but no one can swallow the loss without the emotional reaction, honestly.

According to them, the reason behind this is they're confident that children know already about the money. On some sources, babies don't really understand the art of money so there's no need to worry about it. But I doubt it also, I think there are some factors they didn't consider and just allowed 5 years old in casino houses due to their own beliefs without good research.

I just read some e-books about gambling for kids and I found this, it might help you guys also:

• The dangers of youth gambling addiction (https://knowtheodds.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/NYCPG_ebook_YouthGambling_052114.pdf)

they should also do some kinda study for those young ones who got involved in gambling and what they have become. pretty interesting to know about what happened in their adult age!

Children don't know about the money. But even if the children don't know about the money, they may still get another bad impact from playing gambling repeatedly. They will make gambling be their habit because playing on it regularly. It is not a good thing for children, they can be addicted too early to gambling. Addiction from a very young age will be hard to recover, this will harm their future.

Before implementing some rules, they should have definite research regarding this before allowing it.

I doubt Malawi done anything of it.

• Problem gambling in adolescents: what are the psychological, social and financial consequences? (https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-019-2293-2)

The research was done in Canada with 366 participants. The study shows that most of the affected gender of gambling addiction are males. Students with poor school achievement and grades, not financially stable, have problems in behavior and their own social life are those who exposed themselves to gambling.

Yes, addiction at an early age might get continued throughout the entire life and the young minds might go unproductive as the mind won't think anything out of gambling. These days such kind of young people are very low in number. They always have their limits set, and the same makes them consider it an entertaining and fun source rather than losing big and getting into frustration.

The perceptions of gaining money in this kind of ways in life will be established as they will think that gambling is a good source of earning money.
Children mostly can't justify what's good and what's not in life they should be well guided if they will be allow to gamble from their young minds
it will be difficult to change them once they've got addicted.

That is why the age restriction in most of the countries are 18 and above because those persons are now mature and they can now fully control their emotions and their thoughts. Those countries who have regulations where the children can play gambling will have a bad effect especially if those children will become addicted to it. It will become a big problem because those children doesn't have fully control their emotions and thoughts that can affect their psychology.

Yup, they will bring it even in school. Just like my classmate in grade school. We always play everything with the involvement of money because of him. He always urge us to gamble with his money so we can double up our allowance to buy a certain toy after school. Now I think he is cheating, he always win. We are always the losers. We think its cool back then, but that's gambling.

At a young age if a kid is exposed to gambling, that kid has a high chance to become a real gambler when it gets old. A life wherein it is all about gambling. We know how gambling affects the life of some adults. How much more to a 5 years old? Even though a 5 years old has the mental maturity to play, he /she must not exposed that early.
18 ? A college student in my country. We cannot say it would cause good. Because there many student who have lost their life in drugs, alcohols, smoke, and gambling.

I think on their country they are supporting the people to make more gambling because sometimes some of the people even playing gambling on their house with their children they learned by just watching and some of them are willing to learn about the gambling world, and soon they become a good gambler only earning a lot of money by their skills but still it is better if there is a guide came from the tutor or mentor or especially to the parents so the child does not bring too much pressure in playing gambling also it is money related so it might risk and even if you lose a lot of market income it can cause too much depression and regrets.

I also remember my classmate in college, we ended in guidance office because we got caught by one of our professors. He is the most punished since he was the one who brought the playing cards to the school.
I can tell that he is addicted to gambling because he always tell us that he started at a very young age and he learned playing to his father. So I guess one of the main factor is also the environment.

Correct. It will be a very bad mistake if the children believe that gambling is the best option to earn a regular income for their life. I doubt they will underestimate the education and advice to get real jobs for their future. Except they can build a gambling company, I am worried if they only rely on gambling for their future.

Indeed. Being addicted from a too early age and make gambling be a daily activity (habit), will be too risky for children. The children will be severe addicts and must be hard to recover. Well, I think the government should take attention to this problem. It is a serious case and cannot be handled by parents only.

One additional problem is gambling in games. For most Apps there is not age restriction. Even if there is almost all children are able to overcome these restrictions. As a consequence young people get addicted to in-game-buys and other mechanisms. However, as the provider states, the games are not designed to appeal to children under the age of 16. This is contrary to the presentation in friendly, bright colors and the comic look. Marketing also contradicts this statement: For instance Coin Master is targeted by influencers like Bianca Heinicke. These people are popular within younger age groups.

    I agree with you BTCliz! Children at young age get involved with online games, and in some of them you need to gamble! Is it for some in-game-coins, or is items, or game itself is gambling oriented.
There are many gambling games for free for android, from slots to roulette, for free!
   We can't stop all children from gambling, I guess each parent is responsible for it's own kid. We can have age restrictions, but in same time we need to be aware that we are gamblers and that our
kids needs to be free to try that if they want. I have a kid, and I will let her gamble once she is aware of what gambling is, in what age that will happen, I don't know! My kids are between 2 and 6 years
old, I think I have time before they get involved in sports and after that in betting, it's the same way I passed before!
   There should be age restrictions, but before all others parents should be responsible for their child! Not every kid is the same, but who can know kids better than their parents!

Many games for kids are somehow simulating gambling. It is true that they may develop gambling habits during their young age by playing online games, arcade games, and some video games. Coins used in a certain game can be bought by money too. So how can we avoid this, it is crucial for them to be informed and warned about gambling. And it is the responsible of the parent or anyone who is responsible to the child.  Aside from infroming them, they need to teach the kid how to stay in control in playing video games, it is one of the most important thing in this world that can be applied to everything, being in control.

But they can install the games on their computer or mobile phones so that makes them can play the games. I have already seen that young people addicted to games, and some of them are too busy to play those games. I think many games that can be a gambling game for the kids without we know because we don't have much time to take care of our children. I hope that our kids can understand how dangerous gambling games, and we can give attention to them while they are playing any games they like.

I think age restriction in gambling is not strictly implemented. People will always find ways to gamble if they want. Here in our country there are a lot of minors who are gambling in the street and even in crypto since KYC is not required. What I find hilarious is making 5 years old kid being legal to gamble. During this age they should learn how to value money not to take risk to earn money.

Few people would always exists who would not listen to it . But we need to look at major picture and have a age restriction and if it is followed or not. If not and they come under law purview then we know how much penalty they would have to pay depends upon country and could also result into imprisonment and this would spoil their career. Also, child would not understand what money means unless they start earning themselves when they grow up.

Then thats your country's weakness to not implementing the laws about gambling,I must admit that there are some guerilla type of gambling happening in the street but law enforcer must be there to take them down.
Also some may be can hide butt hose who will be caught make sure to let them suffer the required law so others will not follow their steps.

In your local.

The local government should implement the law with fang and remind the parents of those minors that will be found gambling in the streets.. But for known countries, the first world countries, cmiiw, they do implement rules strictly for age limits.

Malawi allows children to gamble once they'll know how to use their parents' credit cards seems like. What a lol

Youth should not engage in any gambling platform that's why laws are implemented to secure those gambling casino. There are a lot of people who teach their siblings to gamble and that's pretty bad for their financial state. There are families who encounters financial issue and the main reason is that their father spend so many time in gambling. Most especially the kids will adopt what their parents is doing, gambling is uncontrollable and youth is also uncontrollable. That's why it should start inside the house, teach your kids to explore about important things and not in the things where they mental health will be affected. Age limit is necessary so that there are no underage can access the gambling platform, also identification is the key to prevent dummy account to enter the platform.

True. I have a niece who got addicted to using mobile phones most of the time cause both of his parents were often at work. I was really surprised. The kid was searching stuff he didn't even know about, even installing games that he didn't understand. Note that the kid is still not that skilled in reading, and wow I am surprised at how his hands can even manage to find those games. Not to mention the youtube videos he is actually finding. Ngl, YT is a bad influence. He often watches streamers that curse out loud, often leading to him actually copying it which is kind of sad.

I won't blame the kid nor the parents tbh, a phone has that kind of option naturally anyway. I just hope YT has some way to actually censor it lmao. I'm still relatively surprised by the age of 5 restriction though. I mean, the age restriction totally loses its purpose with that.

Just curious how is it even possible to gamble at the age of 5? ;D ;D ;D

Unless, it is not the kid that is gambling but someone at a right age that doesn't wanna get tracked down right? Well, the point is, the age restriction system will not really work here unless they implement KYC system with real time verification. Because merely, an ID's could still be used to steal identity to a person if they really want to gamble with a restricted age.

I probably say, there's nothing wrong with gambling, even a kid could play, but make sure he has a supervision with his parents and should know his limitation and responsibility.

In my own personal opinion, it might be wrong for a kid to learn about gambling at the age of 5 because they could inherit it when they grow up  that there allowances at school could only be used in gambling, instead of using it for their food and other important needs. Gambling is always wrong in the eyes of other people because once a person learn how to gamble and became addicted to it they could be aggressive, greedy, cranky, problems in health, severe debt, mood disorder, etc. So if a kid will learn about gambling they will experience this emotional and mental problems while growing up.

I don’t think that makes sense. For a child of 5 years old, playing for money is no different from playing for pieces of paper.
In addition, the amount of pleasure will be the same. What is the point at all for them to play for money at this age - I do not understand, because for them there will be absolutely everything exactly.

There are a ton of way to hide your information from casinos and any gambling place as long as you do not really want to give your information you can always find a way.

Think about it, nowadays you can literally find some other peoples ID on the internet and you can use that, pick one that is quite local and you do not even have to worry about anything else neither because your IP basically will be same with that persons ID as well if it is local enough.

So, if any casino asks you about your KYC they are not doing it to try to be convinced, they don't really care about who you are, they are doing it to make sure that they won't be sued for any wrongdoing you are doing like playing underage, so they will accept any ID and if there is a problem they have a way out with showing your fake ID and tell authorities "he lied to us as well" so they won't really research into it.

The legal age for gambling should be the age when the person becomes adult, as they are more mature and wise enough to take their own decisions. Children don't know what's good or bad for him and gambling can make any person addict very easily whether it's a child or an adult. So according to me the age of 5 is a bit out of ordinary for me but thanks for informing us about this.

It was not surprising to me knowing that there are really age restrictions on playing gambling or entering into casinos that depends on the country where do they belong because just like vices (alcoholic beverages and cigarettes) which must not be sold to minors here in our country, playing gambing do also must have restrictions to avoid minors or kids to play gambling at an early age to avoid the case of getting addicted on playing since young minds are not that tough enough to resist temptations brought by playing such games added the fact that you can win rewards like money on it. But it is really surprising how young the age restriction on Malawi do have. Well, maybe it depends on the beliefs they do have that affects such age restrictions.

Age restrictions on playing gambling do matters on different country depending on culture or tradition or norms they have as well as the government that implements such rules of restrictions. Having age restrictions are not that because it just takes cover young minds not to be involved on playing games like gambling at an early stage to avoid addiction since it involves money.

Have you read the reason why the government allow the children to play gambling?
It is not about the money, mate. The children play gambling for fun only (entertainment purposes). However, we don't know if it is applicable for both online and physical gambling places. I don't see the detail about the regulation above.

I am worried if kids found something that they should not know in their ages because, with the internet, I am sure that they can find anything with ease. My niece knows if his daddy holds his mobile phone, he will ask that phone to watch a video from youtube, if his dad doesn't give the phone, his kid will cry aloud.

If the kids still allow using a mobile phone in their ages without any control from his parents, I am worried that the kid will found the negative like gambling, porn, and else that can influence them to watch, play, or anything else. Yes, the age restriction is a must thing that every parent needs to do.

at some point yeah it is but this is maybe back then because nowadays even younger people knows how to value money and they are not playing for fun but to win.
i knew this because this is what most cases we are handling in my department in Government.and also this is same reason why the government is pushing the age restriction will be lowering as the teenagers now what they are doing and this is illegal .

You are right, the age restriction is must in gambling because teenagers are not gambling for fun, this will definitely lead to losing their interest in studies. Gambling restrictions are always important, now we are seeing every teenager has a phone and has accessibility of gambling websites. So with their age trend, they might lose more money.

I think what Malawi government does is really dangerous.Even if they let children just to play for fun they are stimulating the habit of gambling to be built in the core thinking of these children.When they grow up there is a high risk for them to become addicted to gambling.The minimum age should be 21 as even at 18 no one is really mature enough to think of consequences.

I actually didn't think about it before. Thanks for sharing a different point of view. Also, agreed that KYC implementation make users more 'vulnerable' to data leaks but in general KYC is needed for projects that aim to be legal and fair.

Mobile games are gambling that's unregulated and directed towards children. I would not be surprised at all to see countries to begin to regulate how they operate because their target audience are young kids and use loot box mechanisms on free to play games in order to lure in their buyers. It's predatory but slips under the radar because the mobile gaming industry isn't as big as other industries. There were people that protested loot boxes and microtransactions in triple A title games where grown ass men have the decision purchase microtransactions but don't utter a word about mobile games.

But what keeps a kid from faking his ID making it look like he's old enough? I saw many KYC procedures that asks that a user uploads he's ID front and back side and that's it. What is keeping a kid to "photoshop" his ID to show he was born in 2000. and not in 2010.?

Malawi allows the age of 5 years to gamble? really very sad...
every country has its own rules on gambling, but sometimes there are many that don't make sense. Malawi for example, age 5 is age but there allows age 5 to play casino, of course, this will damage their morale in the future.

I guess not just that kids that will be addicted to mobile games because young people around me seems like to play those games. I saw many of them playing mobile legend, age of empires, or else together in a cafe while I don't know if some of them playing gambling too. Perhaps, those young people cannot use the mobile phone as it's the way and they only use it for playing games. It is good if the country finally makes a regulation on how they operate, and only people who are adult or at least they already 17 years who can play those games. But still, they cannot control someone to visit the other websites like porn, gambling, or something that categories in the underground. It needs control from ourselves to prevent that from our kids.

In cryptocurrency people won't know your age so there is no restriction when it vomes to gambling. In cryptocurrency you have to gamble your coins in able to grow. But then gambling is a win or lose situation. You may gain mote if you gamble more of your coins and gain less if you gamble less of your money. Not everyday is a lucky day gambling depends on your lack. If you gamble more and win then you have got more. But if you lose you will loss less. But of you gamble less and win you can also gain less. Regardless of more or less income bitcoin is very helpful in any ways.

It's not gambling, mobile games that requires money on loot boxes, battle pass or any in-game items are called P2W games or Pay-to-win games. Gambling is just a win or lose situation, if you spent money on those type of games, you will still get enough items that can be used on the game, nothing to lose and there's no huge risk. So mobile games' in-game items aren't similar to the gambling concept, I always pay in-game items to make my account/profile cooler and advance more than free-to-play people. The loot boxes still consist of items that can be used and all of those are being played in the idea of probability.

I am not the expert but KYC people probably can detect a fake photoshopped id from the real scan unless it is done professionally. Would they care enough to go after you? I have doubts.

From my experience, they usually let anyone play on the casino until the players starts winning big and only then, KYC team starts taking its job seriously. Till then, nobody cares.

I think that these issues are related to legal issues of legal capacity. If the state sets the age at which a person becomes fully capable, then there is no need to set some other level for gambling.
Although I know that lootboxes are very controversially evaluated in different countries. In some places they are considered gambling, but not in other countries. And this question is very important for minors.

It's easy to determine a photoshopped id, try to zoom in and check if the pixels are unusual, which means it's being warped or something edited on it. Valid ID always has patterns, some are government logos printed, and watermarks so you can check if it's symmetrical or not. But agree that KYC isn't a biggie unless you've made a scene on a casino house.

As far as I'm concern how about those advanced kids that know the I/O of gambling and the internet even below 18 or the age restriction? I think there might be a rare scenario like that and those companies may never know.

It's good if they do but I think most of these companies only care about the profit they can make from investors and gamblers, they'll only freeze an account if there's suspicious about it. It might be a good idea but that depends on a certain kind of player like high rollers and not but I have doubts this will never be implemented.

do you think a casino will be interested to verify a fake ID by following your way. I am sure they would not untill it has been asked by the authorities. They will allow them to gamble as long as they have an ID.

I'm just saying it's easy to photoshop an ID to make it look like a person it belongs to is an adult. Of course there is a way to check if the ID is altered in any way, but the question is will the casino put an extra effort to check? I guess some "elite" casinos will check thoroughly every ID to keep their name clean. They surely don't want fines for letting under age kids gamble. As for some shady casinos, they will probably check if a person is adult according to the ID that he uploaded. They won't care if it is altered or not.

As for parent taking care of their kids, I'm all for that. But it's a thin line between taking care of what they are doing online and invasion of their privacy.

It would be interesting to find out at what age it is allowed to buy alcohol and sigaretes in Malawi. Probably not st the age of 5.

I think it is good to allow to gamble at the same age wheb you can buy alcohol or sigaretes.
Because gambling without booze is booring ;D Just joking.

At the casinos players are offered often free alcoholic drink. That is why I think gambling should be allowed at the same age buying alcohol is allowed. It would probably look stupid when you are at the casino or other gambling place and waitress must ask your id to check if you are allowed to drink or not.

^ I am amazed by countries that the age restriction is only five. Definitely this country has other rules for this young age for them to be allowed in gambling. Addiction to gambling lies not on the age instead of the individual's perception. Those countries that allow their citizens in gambling at the age of 23 definitely they have lesser restriction or rules. But respecting tradition probably the reason until now that has existed.

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is it real? age of 5? what law can allow kids to gamble after age 5, do they know how to read or write, how to gamble at age 5, it is insane, i cannot believe that this is true, could someone provide a link to this law, in any language, should be sent to Unicef for children abuse

Well my take on this is if you have a decent job, not living with your parents or your parents that not support you in terms of financial then you have the right to spend on whatever you want like gambling even you are 18 years old. I guess we should start limiting the limits like age, gender, etc. since we are modern now, we should think of something new and something relevant. As for investment, I think we should start implementing a slight check on the investor, not just because they have a money to give to you but you want the money to be given hard earned and clean.

I was never in an "offline" casino and I didn't know that some of them offer free alcoholic drinks. But when you think about it, it kind of makes sense - you get drunk and lose all your money. I guess it's better for a casino that a gambler is drunk than sober :)

I wonder what would be a 5 year old kid bet, 3 candies and a lollypop?  :D

You can start gambling when you are ready to realise what and how much you can lose. Some people understand that at the age of 5, someone dont understand that at the age of 55. There should be no age restriction, but person should understand all the consequences.

is it real? age of 5? what law can allow kids to gamble after age 5, do they know how to read or write, how to gamble at age 5, it is insane, i cannot believe that this is true, could someone provide a link to this law, in any language, should be sent to Unicef for children abuse
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For me its sounds interesting as well as strange that 5 years old kid only starts going school in my place then how can a government can allow children of age 5 to gamble when they even cant  count the money. I think gambling should be allow only to adults and those who can understand gambling that's why at my place people of age 18 are allow and able to gamble.

That is only the restriction age and not necessarily mean that when a kid turned at the age of 5 means he will actually go to a gambling house and play by himself. We all know that there is no way that a kid will know what he is doing inside a gambling house and there is no way that he can produce enough money to gamble unless he is with his guardian.

That is the minimum age limit, it does not mean that a 5 year old will go ahead and gamble for candy.

Still I am not sure why did they decide to set the minimum age limit as 5. I mean what was the government thinking when they were deciding the age limit?

yep, that is my point, it is better without any regulation then to have regulation like this one, why did they do it, because they had 3 year old gambling and wanted to forbid that kid from gambling, and then put restriction on age 5, so that kid should wait two years and then gamble, i mean that is really something from the government

Are you really making a statement about this? A 5 year old boy is not suitable for gambling, but is 6 years old suitable? Really?

I think there must be an age restriction and this should not be less than 15. Take a look at the children around you. Evaluate how old (approximate) individuals who can make really healthy decisions. Not every 15-year-old child may be of the same maturity, but we have to find an average age. And this age should not be 5!

It's not about what the kid can bet at his age.

The puzzle is if that's really part of their culture and they are allowing as young as a 5-year-old to gamble. In different countries, we don't know the culture that they have with regards to gambling.

Regardless of the nation's culture, this is so wrong. Nowhere should such young children be allowed access to gambling, imho.

If the age restriction for Malawians is real it means that there is absolutely no restrictions, I still find it unbelievable as of how a country will place age restrictions at such low level, I guess those countries that place their restriction at 21 years old really did well in my opinion

Who said it is about the nation's culture?
Malawi's government didn't make the regulation based on the culture.
As far as I know, the reason is about "children don't know the function/meaning of money".

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Guys, I think we are enough to discuss about this topic. Unfortunately, most replies are only talking about Malawi's gambling regulation. And I saw there were already too many replies almost with the same meaning/point. This will lead more spams, so I decide to LOCK this thread. However, I am so glad to have many responses/replies, thanks guys.  :)