Gambling and the legality of it is always an issue and different jurisdictions have different laws on gambling. There exist huge differences in law between the European Union (EU) and the United States of America. Since online gambling is relatively new when compared to land-based gambling, the laws in both regions are not as clear as they should be. The EU officials by and large have taken a pro-gambling stand; and any bans are strictly prohibited. They expect complete conformity from every member state across the Union. Online gambling is treated as any other legitimate business. While a majority of member states are pro-gambling; there have been legal diversions in different countries within the Union.

There is a high level of interest for online casinos in countries like Sweden, Norway, Germany, Denmark, France, Ireland and Austria. But there are licenses that need to be obtained, and rules and guidelines to be followed. Let us take the example of Netherlands, where online casinos are completely legal, but according to the Dutch Gaming Act, Dutch nationals can only play at online casinos that are operated by companies holding a Dutch license. In the U.K., gambling is legal and even foreign operators are encouraged to base their activities there. With such an open attitude towards gambling, the activity is perfectly regulated. On the other side of the coin is the U.S., where different states have different laws and in general gambling is considered to illegal. There are more than 2,000 gambling sites from around the world; however, none of the is based in the U.S. Under the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), transferring money to offshore gambling websites or to any payment services used by those websites has been illegal for U.S. financial institutions.

Because of this law, many non-U.S. gambling websites no longer allow U.S. residents to play at their casinos. However, the fact that one of the few industries to boom during the economic downturn is gambling, things are heating up in the U.S. to make online poker as a legal “game of skill.” For the sake of Americans, we can only hope this bill gets passed. Don't be shy to try the free options of playing at online casinos.