The laws regarding online betting vary with the country. Online gambling companies are not allowed to operate in the US. Three US states, namely Nevada, Louisiana, and California have explicitly written laws against online gambling. It is not uncommon for employees of online betting companies from other countries to run foul of the law when they travel to the US. The UK, on the other hand, has made a move toward allowing gambling to grow in a regulated environment. Gambling companies can now legally operate from within the UK. This step is regarded by many as one in the right direction, which allows the population to harness the power of the Internet for pleasure and profit.



For long have supporters of the online gaming industry rued the discriminatory laws stacked against online betting and a completely different set of laws for offline betting. Industry watchers feel that it is only a matter of time before the law in America takes a similar position as that of the UK and allows online bets to be accepted in the country. Till now, it has been places like Gibraltar and Antigua that have allowed online betting to operate from their shores and they have reaped benefits. These countries have had a head start in the management and regulation of online betting companies. Antigua places a lot of emphasis on thorough background checks before issuing licenses, not only that even if a licensed betting company issues sublicenses, it can only do so after a background check by the FBI and the Interpol. For all the assurances of an online betting site, players have little concrete guarantee that the game is being run honestly. To address player concerns, some countries have also set up an anti-fraud cell that looks into cases of duping by online betting sites. Since, state and federal laws in many countries are in a state of flux regarding online gaming, it is crucial that the efforts of countries like Antigua and Grenada be duplicated for winning customer confidence.

When talking of online betting laws, it is important to realize that you need to consider not just the laws of the country from which the website operates but also the country where the hosting servers reside and the laws of the countries from which the website gets traffic; in short we are talking about online betting laws from around the world. At present most nations do not have a clearly-defined law structure for online gambling; the UK for example, allows online betting companies to operate but taxes them heavily while the bettors are not taxed for the amount they wager. This bias is causing many well-known online gambling companies to set up operations in other parts of the world, which is a direct loss in revenue for the UK government. In fact, the lure of profits from online gaming is so strong that governments in countries such as Finland and the Principality of Liechtenstein have their own betting sites.