The Evolution of Online Betting Legislation Worldwide

Since you are reading this, we will assume that you fancy yourself a sports bettor or are considering getting into this pastime, which should number over 182 million participants in the next five years, responsible for a projected market volume of $65 billion by 2029. While sports have always been a passion for many, it is only recently that wagering on these activities has become a sought-after form of entertainment virtually everywhere. We can credit the Internet for that and regions looking to rake in tax revenues by allowing gambling hobbies to their residents.

The history of betting on athletic competition dates back millennia ago, as there are records that people have bet on the earliest Olympic Games, chariot races, and gladiator battles, all occurring in the BC era. In the thirteen century, in Europe, anti-gambling stances began to rise, with European monarchs issuing decrees against this entertainment form. As Christianity took hold of much of the Old Continent, many countries passed laws against betting practices as time passed. For example, the Betting Act of 1853 in the UK banned wagering on horse races, which got copied across the continent. In the mid-20th century, the United Kingdom started to change its stance on this hobby, as it allowed betting shops in the 1960s.

In the mid-1990s, Antigua and Barbuda gave birth to the online gambling sector. In the first few years of its existence, operators primarily functioned from similarly small nations, such as the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Alderney, Curacao, and the Native Canadian territory of Kahnawake. Most of the earliest betting platforms got hosted on servers in these regions, and these sites accepted gamblers from all corners. Their regulators were, and still are very lax, allowing pretty liberating environments for operators to function in. Post-2000, developed countries started to create their licensing bodies, and these took the regulation of this business arena more seriously.

The Rise of Online Sports Wagering in Europe

From what we know of European online gambling, Finland was the first adopter of Internet gaming and betting fun in this part of the world, doing so in 1996, two years after Antigua and Barbuda passed the Free Trade and Processing Act that allowed companies to run gambling operations from the borders of this island nation. Sweden did the same in 1997 through Svenska Spel, its state-owned entity, and Austria followed suit by entering this arena in 2000 by amending its Federal Gambling Act to include online gambling.

Most believe that the United Kingdom began allowing gaming and betting over the Internet in 2005 due to the Gambling Act that Tony Blair’s government pushed into power. This law only set the foundation for the country’s gambling sphere as we know it today. Nonetheless, the Betting and Gaming Duties Act of 2001, initially established a licensing system for gambling operators to function online in the UK.

Germany legalized online gambling (betting included) in July 2021 through its Interstate Treaty on Gambling, bringing wagering fun to citizens of sixteen German states. Yet, the Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein permitted this going back to 2002. Malta has been a sphere player since 2004, and Spain joined the party in 2006, expanding its sector in 2011. Italy also liberated its gambling market in 2006 through a set of amendments that included possibilities for online gaming operators to offer legal services. France did this in 2010.

Portugal and Ireland chose to lift the veil on online sports betting in 2015, and the Netherlands did this in 2019, but that became a reality in Holland for residents in 2021.

Most East European countries introduced online gambling regulations in the mid-2010s, and in many, government-run companies have a monopoly on this pastime.

The Development of the North American Market

We have talked ad nauseam about how, in the US, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 implements a federal ban on sports betting everywhere in the United States, except in Nevada, where online gambling is illegal to protect the state’s land-based casino industry. It was in 2018 that the US Supreme Court struck down PASPA and allowed states to pass laws as they see fit that regulate betting on sports. Delaware accepted the first sports wager outside of Nevada, but New Jersey was the first to allow remote wagering. Today, at the time of writing, thirty-eight US states permit betting on athletic competitions, and more are expected to pass laws that allow this activity.

In August 2021, Canada’s sports betting law came into effect. It is curious to note that Mexico was a trailblazer regarding this sector in North America, as its Federal Gaming and Raffles Law of 2007 included Internet sports wagering.

Internet Sports Wagering’s Growth in Asia

Since Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam are the dominant religions in Asia, and most of these frown upon gambling entertainment, many territories want nothing to do with any type of gambling. In India, Sikkim is the only state offering licensed betting online, something it has permitted since 2008. Hong Kong and Macau have taken a stance they would not forbid this pastime in the early 2000s, the same period when South Korea (through Sports Toto) and the Philippines did the same. The latter has maybe the most recognizable body in the Asian gambling landscape – PAGCOR, founded in 1977.  

Singapore entered this pack in 2016. That occurred thanks to its Remote Gambling Act of 2014, which only lets state-owned operators function in this domain. Japan is a unique country, as it only allows betting on specific sports, known as public ones, there including primarily racing ones.

The Expansion of Online Betting in Africa

South Africa is the king of casino gambling on the planet’s second-largest continent, as it has its most impressive land-based gaming venues and the least restrictive take on games of chance and sports wagering. It passed its National Gambling Act in 2004, which gave the base framework for its online betting realm.

A vast majority of African countries have a lack of Internet regulation pertaining to remote sports betting. Some of it more developed nations in this regard are Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, and Tanzania, all of which passed laws concerning betting on sports over the World Wide Web in the early to mid-2010s.

South America’s Fledging Web Wagering Domain

Columbia legalized this activity in 2001, and it has one of the most developed markets in this industry in South America, trailing only behind Argentina and Brazil, which began permitting this practice in 2019 and 2018, respectively. Argentina began regulating this practice in Bueno Aires in 2019, and all its territories now allow it. However, despite passing laws in 2018, in Brazil, the land-based and online spheres did not get up and running until late 2023. Uruguay was ahead of these two regions, as it began allowing sports wagering over the Internet in 2017. Other countries in South America have a more restrictive stance on this entertainment form, often based on older regulations that forbid gambling in general..

Australia & New Zealand

We end with the exotic regions of Australia and New Zealand. In the former territory, the Interactive Gambling Act of 2001 allows online sports wagering, and in Australia, each state has its licensing requirements and regulations. The latter – New Zealand, allowed sports betting activities via its Gambling Act of 2003 to be offered only by TAB New Zealand, established under the Racing Act of 2003, operating a racing and sports betting monopoly in the Land of the Long White Cloud and Middle Earth.

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