Gambling has been practiced on every continent for many thousands of years. Some places, such as Macau, Las Vegas, and Atlantic City, are synonymous with gambling thanks to their extravagant, sprawling casino resorts that generate huge amounts of revenue every year. We’ll look at a few countries in this article and discuss their approach to gambling.
Canada
Generally speaking, Canada’s approach to gambling is quite liberal. The country’s laws have looked favourably upon gambling and haven’t attempted to restrict it too much. Many play casino in Canada, spending real money at casino sites, playing games and placing wagers on sporting events. Lots of people also visit land-based casinos and betting shops to get their gambling fix.
However, Canada’s approach to gambling hasn’t always been the same. It wasn’t until 1969 that the country properly legalized gambling. Since then, its attitude towards gambling has gradually become more and more accepting. When it comes to online gambling, the laws can be a bit more complicated. Throughout all of Canada, accessing sites based in other countries is permissible, and there won’t be any legal repercussions for doing so.
USA
Over in the States, gambling culture is quite similar in some ways but has been different in others. Each state gets to set its own gambling laws, similar to how each Canadian province and territory determines its own laws on gambling. There’s been a lot of variation in the legality of gambling. In Nevada, for example, it’s long been legal, with Las Vegas able to thrive as an international casino destination because of the state’s relaxed approach. Other states have been more restrictive.
These days, there’s still a lot of variation but many states have started legalizing different aspects of gambling. In recent years, for example, online casino games have become legal in quite a few states; online sports betting has also been made legal in many places.
Gambling is generally treated quite well throughout the US and has long had a thriving culture, despite there being restrictions on it. With a growing number of states passing laws to legalize different forms of gambling, it looks like the US’s relationship with gambling is going to grow and become even stronger in the near future.
Australia
Australia has a reputation for being a rather laidback country with a carefree, uncomplicated approach to life; it’s safe to say that the country’s attitude towards gambling is very laidback indeed. If there’s one thing Aussies are known for, it’s their love of gambling. Aussies have long enjoyed playing casino games, taking part in lotteries, and placing bets on sporting events. Over the last two decades, online gambling has taken off in the country and become exceedingly popular. The laws have always been fairly liberal.
It’s partly due to the country’s relaxed laws that it’s regarded as the gambling capital of the world. Even though it’s home to around 1/315 of the world’s population, it has around 20% of the world’s slot machines, or pokies as they’re known there. Also, around 72% of Australian adults have gambled in the previous 12 months, while 38% spend real money gambling each week.
Gambling is an important part of Australian culture because it’s so widespread and the laws have always been in favour of it. However, this has led to many Aussies becoming addicted and developing problems. In fact, people in Australia are said to have the biggest per-capita losses from gambling in the world.
China
China is one country where the attitudes to gambling are different. The country generally considers gambling to be illegal, whether it’s done in real life or online. An exception to this rule is state-run lotteries, which are legal and popular throughout the country. China is home to over a billion people, many of whom want to be able to gamble legally. This is the reason places like Macau and Hong Kong (these are special administrative regions where gambling is legal) have thrived.
Macau is actually the world’s leading gambling destination in terms of revenue, overtaking Las Vegas back in 2007. Most of the people who come here are from mainland China. They don’t have access to legal casinos and betting shops, so they visit Macau and take advantage of the place’s liberal gambling laws. There’s clearly a significant amount of demand for legal gambling services in mainland China, though because of the restrictive laws, gambling doesn’t have much of a role to play in the country’s culture.
