do bitcoin gambling sites need gambling licenses?

[coinpr0n]

I'm pretty sure it's a hard thing to run a online casino from within the US if that's what you're asking. Most gambling sites that I know operate from outside. It was also pretty dubious to use these sites from within the US but that situation may have changed recently, I don't know.

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[Nick Markus]

I'm pretty sure it's a hard thing to run a online casino from within the US if that's what you're asking. Most gambling sites that I know operate from outside. It was also pretty dubious to use these sites from within the US but that situation may have changed recently, I don't know.

There are legal restrictions for gambling in the USA, so there is no other way than having your sites out of the country.

[pitham1]

I'm pretty sure it's a hard thing to run a online casino from within the US if that's what you're asking. Most gambling sites that I know operate from outside. It was also pretty dubious to use these sites from within the US but that situation may have changed recently, I don't know.

Forget running online casinos from the US, even allowing US customers to access your offshore casino can be problematic.
Satoshidice and Luckybit block IP addresses from the US from gambling on their sites.
https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-gambling-site-satoshibet-turns-back-united-states-market/

[Nick Markus]

I'm pretty sure it's a hard thing to run a online casino from within the US if that's what you're asking. Most gambling sites that I know operate from outside. It was also pretty dubious to use these sites from within the US but that situation may have changed recently, I don't know.

Forget running online casinos from the US, even allowing US customers to access your offshore casino can be problematic.
Satoshidice and Luckybit block IP addresses from the US from gambling on their sites.
https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-gambling-site-satoshibet-turns-back-united-states-market/

Block them, wow. That means that the restrictions are harsh.

[michietn94]

It depend on policy on every country. I live on Indonesia and if I want to make the gambling site, I able to do it since now law against it and no one ban it

I'm pretty sure it's a hard thing to run a online casino from within the US if that's what you're asking. Most gambling sites that I know operate from outside. It was also pretty dubious to use these sites from within the US but that situation may have changed recently, I don't know.

Forget running online casinos from the US, even allowing US customers to access your offshore casino can be problematic.
Satoshidice and Luckybit block IP addresses from the US from gambling on their sites.
https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-gambling-site-satoshibet-turns-back-united-states-market/

It seems US kindda restrict more any type of gambling site. Just like Singapore block PD...

[Lorenzo]

It's probably a grey area in many places, but it will depend on the country you're in and the ones they're hosted in. I think (though not 100%) PD recently blocked access from one country due to laws and dooglus had to close up shop for a similar reason.

Wasn't it the other way round? I thought Singapore banned PD rather than PD banning Singapore.

As far as "provably fair" most of the "dice" gambling sites do have a way for you to verify after the fact that there's no way the house could have unfairly influenced the results. Most licensed and regulated online casinos don't give you that option, and no brick-and-mortar casino gives you that option although they typically do have government gaming officials come in and audit their random number generators from time to time.

Seems like a step backwards then.

I am sure some of them do have a license. Recently, satoshibet shutdown to US customers, because of the laws .So legal aspects do affect them as well.
In the future, the laws might apply for these casinos . Currently, most of them run without licenses.

Forget running online casinos from the US, even allowing US customers to access your offshore casino can be problematic.
Satoshidice and Luckybit block IP addresses from the US from gambling on their sites.
https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-gambling-site-satoshibet-turns-back-united-states-market/

If transactions on SatoshiDice are done directly on the blockchain then how do they block players from the US?

EDIT: Nevermind, I see they offer an off-chain version of their game as well.

I think that there is no need for license with bit coins. 

Actually there is. The way they operate right now is that an anonymous person operates the casinos, and in some of the investment sites they are in possession of over a million dollars. If they were licensed, they would be responsible if they run away with the funds. Would atleast be much better than having an anonymous person being in possession.

Is that the only benefit of having a license? That it insures that the owner is not anonymous and thus can be held accountable if they decide to run off with the funds?

Also, anonymity and trustworthiness aren't mutually exclusive. Stunna and dooglus are anonymous but are considered to be highly trustworthy. Most people would rather trust them with their coins than some non-anonymous people like Karpeles or the Moolah CEO. If people don't like the idea of gambling sites having anonymous owners then they will take their coins elsewhere. If enough people agree with this viewpoint, then their owners will either go out of business or be forced to reveal their identities.

If it's a problem then it's pretty much a self-correcting one.

[Nick Markus]

The words trustworthy and honest are somehow unusual for the gambling business. You must rely on luck and the owner's good heart to get your funds in most cases. 

[sdmathis]

I'm pretty sure it's a hard thing to run a online casino from within the US if that's what you're asking. Most gambling sites that I know operate from outside. It was also pretty dubious to use these sites from within the US but that situation may have changed recently, I don't know.

Forget running online casinos from the US, even allowing US customers to access your offshore casino can be problematic.
Satoshidice and Luckybit block IP addresses from the US from gambling on their sites.
https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-gambling-site-satoshibet-turns-back-united-states-market/

There seems to be a common misperception that US users of online gambling and poker sites are breaking the law. This is usually not the case. Except for in a few states, it's perfectly for us residents to use these and other gambling sites.

[josephliton]

am new to forum, I currently use mainstream sites like betfair but as looking to gamble my bitcoins but wondered if dice sites etc need a licensee, and should I steer clear of ones that don't?

There are no specific laws relating to gambling with bitcoin. As such we assume that gambling with bitcoins falls in the same legal category as gambling with government currency. If online gambling with your local currency is legal where you are then online gambling with bitcoins is also legal where you are. If online gambling is illegal where you are gambling with bitcoins has the benefit of being anonymous. The laws and legal systems exist to serve the state and no one else, there is no moral obligation to comply and I recommend you mostly ignore them as they are a hindrance.

[goosoodude]

Why is a casino's license significant to you when you want to gamble with bitcoin? I don't think that bitcoin casinos take steps towards being licensed. Provably fair gambling is the way to go. As of the legality, in most regions and countries it isn't illegal to gamble with bitcoin because of the lack of laws about it. Until this changes, we're probably not going to see many bitcoin casinos being blocked.

[manselr]

Why is a casino's license significant to you when you want to gamble with bitcoin? I don't think that bitcoin casinos take steps towards being licensed. Provably fair gambling is the way to go. As of the legality, in most regions and countries it isn't illegal to gamble with bitcoin because of the lack of laws about it. Until this changes, we're probably not going to see many bitcoin casinos being blocked.

Ideally to have a successful casino you want to have implemented fiat deposits, because most of the money is still in fiat form today, but that's when fincen nightmare and all the regulations begin.
If you have an exclusive Bitcoin + alts casino, with no possible interaction with any fiat, then I don't think they can do nothing about it, specially if you host it in "grey area island" type of place.

[vennali]

Why is a casino's license significant to you when you want to gamble with bitcoin? I don't think that bitcoin casinos take steps towards being licensed. Provably fair gambling is the way to go. As of the legality, in most regions and countries it isn't illegal to gamble with bitcoin because of the lack of laws about it. Until this changes, we're probably not going to see many bitcoin casinos being blocked.

Without becoming licensed most of the casinos have started facing problems as their hosting companies blacklist them due to requests of those countries . So bitcoin or not, without being licensed bitcoin sites could face big challenges.

[goosoodude]

Why is a casino's license significant to you when you want to gamble with bitcoin? I don't think that bitcoin casinos take steps towards being licensed. Provably fair gambling is the way to go. As of the legality, in most regions and countries it isn't illegal to gamble with bitcoin because of the lack of laws about it. Until this changes, we're probably not going to see many bitcoin casinos being blocked.

Ideally to have a successful casino you want to have implemented fiat deposits, because most of the money is still in fiat form today, but that's when fincen nightmare and all the regulations begin.
If you have an exclusive Bitcoin + alts casino, with no possible interaction with any fiat, then I don't think they can do nothing about it, specially if you host it in "grey area island" type of place.

Imo, that's kind of the reasong many casinos pick to be bitcoin only. Avoidance of bureaucracy and limitations set by law. It'll probably take some time until there are significant regulations on bitcoin gambling.

[Amph]

Why is a casino's license significant to you when you want to gamble with bitcoin? I don't think that bitcoin casinos take steps towards being licensed. Provably fair gambling is the way to go. As of the legality, in most regions and countries it isn't illegal to gamble with bitcoin because of the lack of laws about it. Until this changes, we're probably not going to see many bitcoin casinos being blocked.

Without becoming licensed most of the casinos have started facing problems as their hosting companies blacklist them due to requests of those countries . So bitcoin or not, without being licensed bitcoin sites could face big challenges.

this is true only in the usa, the bitlicence, isn't covering everything in the world, in other country you may build what you want with bitcoin, and no one will say anything, especially in russia...did you wonder why every ponzi and HYPS come from there? and why now RUSSIA has started to regulate bitcoin instead of banning it

[sandy47bt]

Bitcoin casino don't need any licenses
In fact, i don't trust any casino which has license especially if the casino have to pay fees. They would cheating their users, so they can pay the fees.

[vennali]

Why is a casino's license significant to you when you want to gamble with bitcoin? I don't think that bitcoin casinos take steps towards being licensed. Provably fair gambling is the way to go. As of the legality, in most regions and countries it isn't illegal to gamble with bitcoin because of the lack of laws about it. Until this changes, we're probably not going to see many bitcoin casinos being blocked.

Without becoming licensed most of the casinos have started facing problems as their hosting companies blacklist them due to requests of those countries . So bitcoin or not, without being licensed bitcoin sites could face big challenges.

this is true only in the usa, the bitlicence, isn't covering everything in the world, in other countri you may build what you want with bitcoin, and no one will say anything, especially in russia...did you wonder why every ponzi and HYPS come from there? and why now RUSIa has started to regulate bitcoin instead of banning it

It also includes UK . One of the casino provider made a post saying so. UK is pretty strict on enforcing the gambling laws as well. You can build what you want with bitcoin in any part of the world , but the countries can very well block you from hosting in the normal .com . I suppose thats why sites like Silkroad existed on onion links , including the reason that they wanted to hide their server IP.

[erpbridge]

Just read an article on Coindesk http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-poker-operator-nevada-court-gaming-charge/  . Just proves how important it becomes for these gaming companies to comply with legal regulations. In the future gambling sites related with bitcoin might face trouble if they don't get licensed.

[mcplums]

betfair and others I use don't take bitcoin yet, but are licensed so do use them, but have bitcoins and wanted a similar site game wise that will be easy for me to use, but was worried how to tell if provably fair and regulated

If you are looking for a Betfair alternative using bitcoins, you might definitely try www.betbtc.co

We are probably the most promissing dedicated Bitcoin Sports Betting Exchange around, we cover almost all features offered by betfair, we are working to have more features and also licence as well.

Check our official btctalk topic or go directly to our website.

Buddy, you seem like you are in a position to answer OPs question- what have you done re. getting licences? I am from the UK and notice that I can't visit, but using my USA VPN I can access. This implies you have successfully got a gambling licence for the US?

Do you only allow access from countries where you have obtained a gambling license?

[vennali]

This implies you have successfully got a gambling licence for the US?

Do you only allow access from countries where you have obtained a gambling license?

US government doesn't have any strict policy against bitcoin gambling businesses unlike UK where it has become strict recently. I doubt any of the bitcoin gambling sites have or could afford purchasing licenses in multiple countries

[eternalgloom]

The Spanish treasury just issued a ruling that bitcoin based gambling sites need to obtain licences, saying:

"Ultimately, the bitcoin is a convertible virtual currency that can be exchanged between users and, likewise, be converted into dollars, euros, or other currencies both real and virtual. In consideration of the previously explained, the activity of betting with bitcoins is considered to be included within the definition of bets, it is therefore mandatory to obtain the general betting license and the corresponding singular license."

If the Spanish government now treats bitcoin as an electronic payment system within the context of gambling, it probably won't be long until other countries release similar statements.

http://www.coindesk.com/spain-cracks-bitcoin-gambling-loopholes/

That's quite interesting, do you have any information about other countries?

I'd assume that most would likely follow this ruling.