Countries that are Legal and Illegal in gambling

[gunhell16]

Countries where gambling is illegal

1. United Arab Emirates
2. Brunei
3. Cambodia
4. Poland
5. North Korea
6. Japan
7. Singapore
8. Cyprus
9. Qatar
10. Lebanon
Reference: https://www.lawyer-monthly.com/2018/02/10-countries-where-gambling-is-completely-illegal/


Countries where online gambling is legal

1. Africa - Eritrea, Nigeria

2. Asia - Azerbaijan, Brunei, Hong Kong, Japan, Yemen
             Kyrgyz, Republic, Laos, Malaysia, Qatar, Singapore,
             Uzbekistan

3. Europe - Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic,
                    Iceland, Luxembourg, Serbia, Slovakia

4. North America - Cayman Islands, Salvador, Mexico

5. South America - Brazil

6. Oceania - American Samoa, Australia, Guam, New Zealand

Countries require a license from the local regulator

1. Africa - Comoros, Gambia, Guinea, Mauritius, Rwanda,
               Seychelles.

2. Asia - Armenia

3. Europe -    Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania,
                    Macedonia, Moldova, Monaco, Norway,
                    Montenegro, Portugal, San Marino, Slovenia,
                    Sweden, Switzerland.

4. North America - Aruba, Belize, Canada, Curacao, Dominica
                           Dominican Republic, Greenland.
Reference: https://slotegrator.pro/analytical_articles/where-online-gambling-is-legal.html

I can only say now that there are still many countries that consider that gambling can help their government through online gambling based on what I have researched on this topic.

But even so, in countries where there are restrictions on gambling, it continues to operate even though the government prohibits it.

[Hispo]

I believe this topic has been discussed before, but I would like to point out one of the cases I find to be more interesting when comes to countries where gambling in banned.

North Korea ideologically is a communist country, but in reality I believe the elites of the party of that country actually engage in vices of the capitalist system they allegedly antagonize so much, gambling is probably included (together with drug abuse).  We have already read or watch videos on the atrocities and horrible punishments that are put onto people there, so It safe to assume the general population cannot gamble.


The pachinko machines from Japan is another example of companies using loopholes to offer "gambling" services to the people, still I have seen a couple of articles of people (I think they were from Japan) who somehow managed to lose all their money gambling.

[bittraffic]

Too many illegal things back in previous decades were legalized at some point. Not in our lifetime, I guess we'll see these countries will do it.
Some countries that are pressured by the lack of funds to run the country eventually legalize gambling to collect tax.

The countries listed above have different reasons for illegalizing gambling. Religion is just one.

[Zlantann]

Too many illegal things back in previous decades were legalized at some point. Not in our lifetime, I guess we'll see these countries will do it.
Some countries that are pressured by the lack of funds to run the country eventually legalize gambling to collect tax.

The countries listed above have different reasons for illegalizing gambling. Religion is just one.

I think in most Islamic countries gambling is likely illegal. This is because they see gambling as haram. The religion believes that gambling increases the desire to acquire wealth which might lead to diverse immoral behavior. It is also believed in Islam that gambling can make one far from his maker. Time for prayer might be used to gamble. But most of these Islamic States allow tourists to engage in gambling when  they visit.

Some other countries have banned or are restricting gambling because of the increase in the rate of gambling addiction among underaged children or teenagers. That's why the governments of some nations are ensuring that gambling activities are restricted to check the rate of gambling addiction.

[Fundamentals Of]

This list should be further qualified. This is not black and white. Legal and illegal means more than just allowed or prohibited. In Japan for example, horse betting is allowed or betting on motor races. So there are exceptions. In Singapore for example, there are big casinos where foreign and local gamblers are allowed to play. The country is actually issuing licenses for gambling operators. So gambling is mainly illegal only to those that don't have the license.

[electronicash]

This list should be further qualified. This is not black and white. Legal and illegal means more than just allowed or prohibited. In Japan for example, horse betting is allowed or betting on motor races. So there are exceptions. In Singapore for example, there are big casinos where foreign and local gamblers are allowed to play. The country is actually issuing licenses for gambling operators. So gambling is mainly illegal only to those that don't have the license.

and people can go to the license casinos. doesn't make sense for the government to ban gambling while they are providing licenses.
probably the reason why China is not listed since they also have casinos in areas still part of China like Hongkong. its just the grey area where the authority partners with casinos or can extort casino businesses.

[Strongkored]

There are countries that have different laws between offline casinos and online casinos and this difference is because with online gambling the government is difficult to trace the activities of its citizens and it is difficult to get taxes.
North Korea banning gambling is a form of authoritarian of its government, I don't think its citizens will care about it because they are already hard enough to make ends meet so gambling is not the thing they would think of doing

[PX-Z]

probably the reason why China is not listed since they also have casinos in areas still part of China like Hongkong. its just the grey area where the authority partners with casinos or can extort casino businesses.

Basically speaking they are different countries, like hongkong and macau as special administrative region of china with different government system and everything than its mainland, where this area casinos and gambling are legal, but technically speaking they are only one country.

While in the mainland china casinos are considered illegal, so china should be included in the list in illegal category.

[Oshosondy]

To talk about countries that gambling is legalized or not would be more than this in the opening post, there should also be countries that partially ban gambling in a way some gambling types are legal while some are banned. There are some countries online gambling could be banned while offline is not banned. There are countries sport betting is not banned but casinos are not accepted. Some countries just ban some types but legalized some.

I still also think that more countries banned gambling, especially those Muslim countries in Asia, but I am not perfectly certain about this.

[piebeyb]

if the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Brunei they are countries that have a lot of Muslim population so in my opinion gambling is illegal because the rules are prohibited from their religion, so it must be respected, sometimes gambling players from there can also play using a VPN or play outside the country it doesn't mean users from illegal countries don't like gambling

Actually there are several Asian Muslim countries that also prohibit gambling as well and consider it illegal like Indonesia

[swogerino]

I guess the Saudi and Emirates are countries which are led by the Sharia law,Islamic law and that does not permit gambling among many other things like alcohol which is unthinkable in our Western developed society.However these are old restrictions,because normally these are only aimed at offline casinos,sure they can also be geared against online ones,but the fact that there are many crypto casinos and quite some of them does not include the word "bet" on their name makes it not easy for the governments to ban them,and there is VPN for countries who are extremely hostile even against online casinos.

Crypto has shown us a great freedom and that is how it should be.

[serjent05]

There are also countries where physical gambling is illegal while online gambling is legal or vice versa.  It would be interesting to know which of the country have a regulation like this and knows what is the reason behind the half-baked ban on gambling in that countries.

It is also interesting to know countries that prohibit crypto gambling and countries that allow it.  Also, if a country allows online gambling, why does some provider block access from these countries?  It would be interesting to know the reason behind this arrangement.

@OP I will thank you in advance if you are kind and eager enough to answer my questions.

if the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Brunei they are countries that have a lot of Muslim population so in my opinion gambling is illegal because the rules are prohibited from their religion, so it must be respected, sometimes gambling players from there can also play using a VPN or play outside the country it doesn't mean users from illegal countries don't like gambling

Actually there are several Asian Muslim countries that also prohibit gambling as well and consider it illegal like Indonesia

Gambling is illegal on Muslim country due to Islamic law.  Take for example in Dubai (UAE) it is stated that:

The UAE regime is relatively straight-forward: subject to the exceptions we set out below, gambling and any gambling-related advertising in any way, shape or form is prohibited.  Our view is that this includes offering online gambling services to UAE residents from offshore.

But even though gambling is illegal in UAE, there are exceptions:

Despite the blanket prohibition on gambling, it is permissible to run competitions (including raffles) in the UAE, subject to prior permission from the relevant regulatory department.

Additionally, the UAE Civil Code permits wagers in specific circumstances – namely in respect of racing, shooting, sports and trials of strength.  A number of requirements must be met: there must be certainty of the prize, certainty of the person who must give the prize, and certainty of the subject matter and scope of the competition.

source: https://www.tamimi.com/law-update-articles/whats-the-bet-that-gambling-is-prohibited-in-the-uae/

With complete permission, racing, shooting sports and trials of strength including raffles can be allowed.  Funny how these kind of wagering stuff is permitted when gambling is illegal.

[Mr.right85]

The pachinko machines from Japan is another example of companies using loopholes to offer "gambling" services to the people, still I have seen a couple of articles of people (I think they were from Japan) who somehow managed to lose all their money gambling.

Lol, this is funny but it explains a lot as to how loopholes and opportunities can be exploited by those who understand business and the risk in opportunities. So long as it is acceptable else where, there are always those that would like to test it or use such services even in a restricted zone and the ability of you to offer such services, on or off records could mint you some real money.

Thank goodness for some on VPN and Crypto casinos and/or sportsbook.  Although, its not usually accepted to operate a gambling site using VPN. Run into trouble of verification or flux of IP address and you would be troubled.

[btc78]

This list should be further qualified. This is not black and white. Legal and illegal means more than just allowed or prohibited. In Japan for example, horse betting is allowed or betting on motor races. So there are exceptions. In Singapore for example, there are big casinos where foreign and local gamblers are allowed to play. The country is actually issuing licenses for gambling operators. So gambling is mainly illegal only to those that don't have the license.

That means clearly that the list wasn't that literally about Banning but exemptions are still there .

Singapore and Japan is just part of the non complete regulatory to tell.
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But OP at least thanks for the list because Maybe before visiting those countries there is a need to check first the gambling laws exist in each listed above.

[Bitinity]

Surprised to see there is no Indonesia in the list of countries where gambling is illegal. Is this even a valid source to read? It is also an old article (4 years old) and maybe there have been many update related to the law in some countries related to gambling. Cant you find the most updated list or a better source to tell us about the main topic in your thread?

[Jating]

I'm not sure if the list is updated, as per the title of the first link, it says 2018.

So yeah, probably there could be some countries not included or missed in the list that has been quoted or something. Nevertheless, there are some countries that are very strict are far as gambling, but who knows, maybe there are some who are trying to circumvent it to VPN, but the risk is there.

At least though for the majority of us whose countries allow gambling, we are somewhat very lucky that we can do play without the risk of being caught.

[Bananington]

People still gamble in those places where gambling is still considered illegal, the access is just kept really secret. What is meant by illegal is that the government do not recognize gamblers, and if you are caught, you can be prosecuted and be jailed for breaking the law. Gambling is illegal in Qatar, It is a question if gambling level will remain low during their hosting of the world cup especially as they will hosting a lot of people from all over the world, and how their government will react to tourist who are caught gambling.

[Beparanf]

It better to use the casino ToS as reference for this subject matter since this list is always updating base on the country law. The source for this list is very outdated and the list of country here is very limited in contrary to the list on the casino ToS. And also I just want to add that country restrictions per casino varies depends on the license provider. Some license provider can operate on certain country while the other isn't.

This topic is already been discussed many times but this will be good if you can provide an updated list regularly and sort country based on the egaming license provider coverage.

[MAAManda]

Don't know what the OP's intention was with this topic, but whatever the purpose, he shouldn't include data from articles published about 4 years ago. In addition, from the data displayed by the OP, there is a flaw where in the "Countries where gambling is illegal" section, the OP includes countries such as Brunei and Singapore, meanwhile in the "Countries where online gambling is legal" section, we also find the names of those 2 countries.

Personally, as a person who lives in Indonesia, I consider that Brunei as an Islamic country prohibits gambling activities there, in addition to Malaysia, they also prohibit gambling activities, but they made a special relocation for gamblers, namely in the Genting Land area.

[carlfebz2]

Surprised to see there is no Indonesia in the list of countries where gambling is illegal. Is this even a valid source to read? It is also an old article (4 years old) and maybe there have been many update related to the law in some countries related to gambling. Cant you find the most updated list or a better source to tell us about the main topic in your thread?

Not all source links could really be that precise nor that updated which it isnt surprising that there would be lacking of those who are on the list but at least it did really give out some idea on which countries had

banned or allowed gambling even though it might not be that precise.In overall, there would really be countries which would really be that open or neutral or definitely be that prohibited due to some factors,

neither it would really be depending on religion aspect or totally that government decisions towards gambling which they dont really like for its citizens on being engage on it.
We know that there are some parts of the world that do really run off gambling as their major source of revenue or tax.