Legalise It: Global Gambling Legislation, How and Why It’s Changing

All over the world, more and more countries are looking to legalise gambling. Online, and land-based.

Areas that have in the past been historically resistant to new casinos or legal online gambling in any form are now seeing the economic benefits of legalisation.

When gambling is made legal, there are three key benefits for the local government (among many others):

• More tax income
• Less money spent on policing illegal gambling
• Tourism from places where gambling is illegal

You, the gambler, also benefit when gambling is legal. You get more protection from shady operators, and all the good ones will up their standards even further.

Gambling operators also stand to gain a lot with legalisation. As the stigma of grey-area legality is lifted overnight, new investors, companies and talented people will join the market.

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Where is Legalisation Happening Right Now?

A great case study of the past few years for gambling legislation is the USA.

In 2018, the Supreme Court repealed PASPA – the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992. PASPA basically made gambling on sports completely illegal across the USA, with only 2 exceptions.

For nearly 26 years, only Nevada and New Jersey were allowed to offer sports betting, as well as small-scale licences for on-track betting at horse racing courses in a few other states.

Fast forward to 2022, and over 75% of states now offer some kind of legal sports gambling. From there, it’s not a huge step to legal online casino gaming – and several states have taken that up too.

Three more states (Nebraska, Maryland, and Ohio) are looking to add legal sports betting very soon. Potentially before the end of this year.

It’s not quite the $2 deposit casino you’ll find here online in New Zealand – but it’s a start!

Global Change on the Cards?

Gambling legislation changes are also being debated in other countries around the world. For example, Japan has recently started accepting bids for casinos in Osaka and Tokyo.

In India, too, the fantasy sports betting operator Dream11 is one of the country’s fastest-growing companies.

They are clearly looking to emulate the success of DraftKings in the USA. It started out as a fantasy sports betting site that skirts the law and operates in a grey area.

The company’s success then shows politicians the clear appetite for sports betting and pressures them into legalising it fully. Then, bam – the former grey-area site can step in to offer fully legal sports betting from day 1.

Can Dream11 and others like them successfully replicate this model in India?

They’ve seen some stumbling blocks lately, with challenges in various regions of the country. But if they can push for legalisation, there’s a huge untapped market there!

Who Isn’t?

However, it’s not time for the global gambling sector to start counting cards just yet – in China, for example, the state shows no signs of legalising gambling. And, in fact, they have been cracking down hard on illegal and grey-area gambling activities in places like Macau.

Why are People Changing their Mind Now?

The past half decade, since 2018, has not been the easiest for the global economy.

With billions of people stuck inside for many months in 2020, the global appetite for online gambling was proven.

Since casinos were forced to close, countries with legal online gambling were looked at enviously by those who didn’t.

Some gambling hubs, like Macau and Las Vegas, saw tax revenues drop by 90% or more over 2020.

Other global operators, like the UK’s Bet365 or Israel’s 888 saw bumper revenues in that year.

With global trade down and economic uncertainty all across the world, gambling revenues are looking like a relatively quick and easy way of boosting your tax coffers for many governments.

Hopefully – the global economy will recover, but attitudes to gambling will remain changed!

Check out: How Different are Gambling Regulations in Different US-States