Gambling laws in Europe are pretty easy to understand – most stuff (casino, betting, online gambling, lotto, you name it) is legal everywhere in the EU. And why shouldn’t it – gambling gives the government some very easy money, it keeps the casinos’ pockets full and provides cheap entertainment and a chance to make it big to the masses. Asia, on the other hand… Well, it’s complicated. Some regions, like Macau, are casino havens for high rollers from around the world, while in others gambling in any form is severely punished. We’ve spoken before about how Japan’s tight anti-casino rules require gamblers to get creative when playing Pachinko machines, so we’re not going to be talking about that again. What I’d like to do is examine the gambling laws country by country and see where you can gamble and where you can’t.
Now, I have to give credit where credit is due – the folks at Every Matrix have an absolutely fantastic article on the subject, which is more than enough to answer any and all of your questions. I highly recommend that you give it a read, but the problem with it is that it’s also rather long, and maybe you need some quick answers, which is understandable. As mentioned, Macau is definitely THE place to go when gambling in Asia – as a matter of fact, even though gambling is legal in China, many Chinese people still go to Macau to gamble. It’s the Vegas of Asia! The Philippines is a similarly mature market, both online and offline. When it comes to online gambling in particular, the Philippines is kind of like the UK of Asia (to continue with the analogies), in that online casinos need to be certified by the government and/or independent companies to make sure that they’re safe.
One thing I’ve noticed is that you can play online blackjack for real money from everywhere, even from countries where gambling is otherwise banned. Of course, there’s always exceptions to the rule, such as Singapore, Vietnam and others, which block foreign gambling sites and have made it illegal to access them through other means (like VPNs and proxies), but for the most part, if you can successfully register in a foreign casino, then you can keep playing on it. Just be very wary of the Terms of Service, which may explicitly ban foreign players from registering. This is the worst possible scenario because then your winnings won’t be legal and you’ll be at a loss no matter how much you win, so watch out for that!
Overall, I recommend that you check out the Every Matrix article that I linked earlier because it does really give a whole lot more information on the subject than I ever could, including mentions of specific laws that are in play in each country, but overall, I believe that this is the gist of it. Gambling in Asia is complicated, with no two countries sharing the same laws, so if you’re planning on visiting an Asian country I’d recommend that you familiarize with it and its laws specifically beforehand.
