Europe and Online Gambling
If you read this, then you’re probably a European interested in online casino, right? Well, in that case, you’re probably well aware of the gambling laws and regulations in your country. Otherwise how could you possibly engage in your favorite hobby? Still, there’s a whole lot of countries in the EU, and each one has different gambling laws, rules and regulations. Even if you know the rules of your own country, you might be interested to learn what the law is in other countries. I know I sure was, which is why I decided to compile this list and take a brief look at the gambling laws in other European countries.
France
France is, unfortunately, one of the more conservative countries when it comes to online gambling. It was completely illegal in the country until 2010, which seems like ages when you consider that online gambling has been around more or less since the Internet. Pressured by the EU in 2009, France eventually agreed to legalize three forms of online gambling – sports betting, horse racing betting and poker. Bookmakers and poker sites are required to receive a license from ARJEL if they want to operate legally, but these licenses are only valid for the 3 forms of gambling I mentioned earlier – casino games are still illegal.
Germany
Germany has a huge love-hate relationship with online gambling (which makes sense, because, well, Germany has a love-hate relationship with a whole lot of things). In 2008, a legislation was introduced which banned online gambling in all of its form except for those specifically offered by the government… which, as you can imagine, led to a monopoly. And monopoly is a big no-no when it comes to business, so the law was eventually changed in 2012, allowing private companies to provide some gambling services. By 2013, a newly elected government completely scrapped the law, which means that online gambling should normalize and become very similar to how it is in the UK or Italy by 2018.
Italy
Italy is, by far, one of the most liberal country in Europe when it comes to online gambling, which was legal as early as 2006, though only for sports betting. Other forms of gambling became legal in 2011 (more specifically, poker and casino games). In other words, as long as you obtain a license from the government you can create whatever gambling site you want!
Spain
As of 2012, Spain has also become relatively liberal with allowing all kinds of gambling sites to operate within its borders. Sure, it’s a bit stingy with its licenses, which has caused the number of online casinos to decrease compared to, say, the UK, but other than that anyone who has a license is allowed to operate, no questions asked. Sadly, the citizens of Spain aren’t allowed to play in any casinos that aren’t local, but luckily most big casinos have Spanish branches.
UK
UK is in the same boat as Italy and Spain – as long as you’re licensed by the Gambling Commission, you’re good to go! The UK is kind of unique in that it takes independent verification and certification very seriously, with each big online casino being verified by one or more independent organizations in order to ensure that all games are fair and give the advertised payouts.
