Gambling, as anything else in life, has a host of rules and regulations. This is to protect not only the player, but also to protect the casino or online casino from lawsuits against them. Casinos are companies that need to comply with a number of laws, no matter where they are in the world.
It is for this reason that there are online gambling rules. Not all of these rules are made to be broken; some of these rules have stiff penalties should anyone – player or casino – be in contravention of them.
One such rule is that any player be at least 18 years old to play. This is still the lower limit for age-based rules; some states or countries have online gambling rules that insist players be 21 years of age before they may gamble. There aren’t, for example, any countries or states that allow 16-year-olds to gamble online, except to play the lottery.
One reason for this may be because 18 (or 21) is frequently the age of consent in a particular country or state. What this means is that this age allows the bearer to enter into contracts with third parties. They can do so without the need to inform their parents or legal guardian of their intentions. The reason for this reasoning is that 18 or 21 is an age when others can expect an individual to have enough maturity to conduct themselves in the world, whether this world be real, virtual or online.
There are a host of other online gambling rules that may or may not apply to any specific player. These rules may also evolve over time, as governments make decisions on how to administer online casinos more effectively. This may or may not become something that occurs with more regularity in the next couple of years.
The other online gambling rules do their bit to protect consumers against a variety of things, most notably the following: addiction, fraud, money-laundering and fixed games. This is why it is important to only play at online casinos that have the stamp of approval from licensing authorities.
Author bio:
Volcanic Gold wrote this article about how online gambling rules protect both the casino and the players.