Online gambling

Gambling of any form that takes place through the internet is referred to as "online gambling" or "Internet gambling." This includes simulated casino games, online poker, and online wagering on sporting events. The ticketing system for the Liechtenstein International Lottery in October 1994 was the first instance of an online gaming establishment to become accessible to the general public. According to a number of different estimations, the total value of the market now is somewhere around $40 billion USD annually.

The practise of gambling online is prohibited or heavily regulated in many countries. On the other hand, it is permitted in a number of the states and provinces in the United States and Canada, as well as the majority of the countries that make up the European Union and a few of the countries in the Caribbean.

If an online gambling service provider want to offer its services to inhabitants of a legal market or advertise to those people, they are obliged by law in many of these markets to hold some sort of a gambling licence. Take, for instance, the Gambling Commission of the United Kingdom or the Gaming Control Board of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States.

Numerous internet casinos and gambling enterprises throughout the globe have chosen to set up shop in tax havens that are geographically close to their most important markets. In Asia, the Special Administrative Region of Macau was for a long time regarded a tax haven and is renowned as a base for gaming businesses in the region. On the other hand, Macau was taken off the EU's list of countries considered to be tax havens in 2018.