Legal Casinos

What makes an online casino legal?

Does a casino require a license from a particular jurisdiction or some other legal document from the country where the player is located?

The problem with the term legal when it comes to casinos is the many countries that have different laws and regions or states within the different countries that offer even more diverse laws.

You can even find places in the world where it’s 100% straightforward and legal to gamble online and just a few miles away it’s clearly illegal.

Even worse, you can find millions of players who live where the laws are at best confusing, and at worst nonexistent.

Most online players depend on the availability of a safe online casino that accepts their bets and the ability to make deposits and withdraws in order to determine some sort of legality when it comes to gambling online.

Most Legal Casinos in 2015

RankCasinoNew Player BonusRead ReviewVisit Casino
1 Fly Casino110% up to R1,500Read ReviewPlay Now!
2 Omni Casino100% up to R1,400Read ReviewPlay Now!
3 Springbok Casino100% up to R1,500Read ReviewPlay Now!
4 Yebo CasinoUp to R12,000Read ReviewPlay Now!

Where Do You Live?

The first question about gambling online legally is where do you live? Some jurisdictions have specific laws that say you can gamble online and other have specific laws that state you can’t gamble online.

Unless you can find specific laws for or against online casino play the next section can help you.

If you live where it’s specifically legal to play just find a licensed casino and start playing.

If you live where specific laws make playing online illegal you have a few choices.

The first thing you need to do is find the specific laws and read them yourself. Don’t take the media’s word for it. I’ve seen the media state gambling was illegal where I know it wasn’t. I know because I read the specific laws and it’s obvious the media didn’t.

Another option is playing anyway. Even if you live in a place where online gambling is illegal the odds are that you can find an online casino who’ll take your bets. While I can’t condone illegal gambling I know players who gamble in these areas.

Of course the extreme option is you could move, but most players find a cheaper and easier option.

What about Gray Areas?

Most people live in an area where the laws are not specific or hard to understand.

If you live in one of these areas here are a few tips to help you determine whether you should play online or not.

You need to realize I’m not a lawyer and don’t offer legal advice. You’re responsible to check out all of your local and national laws and make your own decisions.

  1. Do you know anyone else who plays without any problems?
  2. Do you know of anyone where you live who has been arrested or charged with a crime for playing online casino games?
  3. Are there easy ways to make deposits into online casinos where you live?
  4. Is there a safe and easy way to get money back out of an online casino?
  5. Can you find an established and safe online casino that accepts your wagers?

Your answers to these questions can go a long way toward letting you know how safe it is to play online. None of them specifically speak to the legality of playing online, but they do point to the possibility of you getting into legal trouble.

Realize that there’s a difference between not getting into legal trouble and something being legal. But most casino players don’t make a distinction between the two. As long as they can play without having legal problems they either assume it’s legal or don’t care.

If you know other players who play online and can’t find evidence of other players facing legal issues for playing the odds are it’s either legal or the government isn’t willing to prosecute the crimes.

If a safe and established online casino is willing to take your bets and offers safe deposit and withdrawal methods you can feel relatively safe playing. This still doesn’t mean it’s legal to play, but it should be safe.

A Tale of Caution

I know this site is dedicated to the South Africa market, but you may be able to learn about some things that happened to the online casino market in the United States.

At one time US players could use Neteller to easily transfer money into and out of online casinos and gambling accounts. Hundreds of online casinos served the market and it didn’t seem like the government was going to do anything about it.

Then all of a sudden the government started cracking down on the online gambling industry.

Hundreds of casinos left the market and Neteller was forced to stop taking money from US residents.

Players who had money in Neteller eventually received it, but it took many months for most of it to be released.

I don’t know of any players who faced criminal charges and you can find online casinos that take wagers for US citizens today, but the market has changed. You can still make deposits and withdrawals, but it’s clearly illegal to play online in a few parts of the United States. Many players in these areas still play without problems, but that doesn’t mean it’ll always be problem free.

The reason I went over all of this is because I know South African players have casinos that offer safe online play, deposits and withdrawals in Rand, and the legal climate seems safe to play.

I know all of this because of the reviews completed for this site. But remember that things can change.

The best thing you can do is only play with real money amounts that you can afford to play with. While this is always good advice when it comes to gambling, I know people who had a great deal of money tied up in Neteller for months. If they’d needed that money to pay bills they’d have been in trouble.

I don’t have any problem recommending the casinos listed on this web site for South African players because I only deal with safe online casinos. But I also want the best for the people reading this information so only deposit what you can afford to do without.

Conclusion

The legal landscape for online gambling is in constant flux. Laws and rules change every day and you need to be aware of the laws in hundreds of jurisdictions to try to stay on top of the legal issues.

Follow the advice listed on this page to find out as much as you can about the laws where you live and make the best decision for your situation. As long as you don’t gamble with more money than you can afford to lose the odds are you‘ll have a safe experience.