Online Gambling Laws and Rules
By John Waltzer
Just because a casino site is online, it does not mean that it is a free for all! Online casinos are not required any more permissiveness legally than land casinos are yet somehow this is the public impression. In fact, if anything online casinos are regulated more stringently than land casinos simply because it is so easy for them to lose their ISP, payment processing systems, advertising and other essential elements of their operation if they receive even just a few customer complaints.
If you are a customer, you should keep in mind that the following rules and laws of gambling must be abided by or you don’t get to play.
Gambling Rules and Laws
Gambling under age in an online casino is just as illegal online as off. You must be of legal age in your jurisdiction in order to gamble online. This refers to where you live, not where the casino is located. You cannot open an account, fund a bankroll or play at an online casino if you are under 18 years of age.
Bank Account Must in Gamble Online
Secondly, you must have a bank account or credit card before you can gamble online. All casinos require that you create an account and make an initial deposit using a third party system that verifies your bank account or credit card before you can play. If you send a check to a casino as the initial deposit to fund your gambling bankroll then you also have to wait for the check to clear. No casino can legally accept Pay pal, as a payment system so there is no email-to-email payment either. The theory is also that if you are too broke to have a bank account or credit card, you are probably not in any kind of financial shape to gamble in the first place.
Gambling Online
Thirdly, you need to own a computer in order to gamble at most reputable online casinos. This is because on many sites you are not allowed to play until you download the software first. Gambling online is very difficult to do by hopping from computer to computer.
Read the Terms and Conditions First
Fourthly, you are required to read the terms and conditions of the casino’s site before you can open an account. Many sites simply won’t let you register until you have clicked a button that says you have read the terms of agreement. There are many little hitches to playing hidden in those long boring legal documents. Still you should read them because there may be certain conditions that may actually make your winnings online void. There are rules also associated with how and when you can withdraw your winnings. The sites that are the cruelest make many restrictions about when you can withdraw. For instance, you could win $30,000 and still only be able to withdraw $200 a day from the account. This is why it is such a good idea to carefully review the terms and conditions agreements of any online casino site before you begin to play!