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Topic: Gambling with BTC in countries where BTC isn't defined as money - Legality? (Read 1704 times)

legendary
Activity: 1288
Merit: 1043
:^)
Whether bitcoin is considered as money or as a commodity doesn't matter. Look what is happening right now with gambling websites and USA residents.

Gambling is a very risky topic to begin with. Doesn't matter what happens with bitcoin in a legal aspect.

in the USA, bitcoin gambling is a gray area; PD has cut off USA players to cover themselves in the case bitcoin gambling, specifically, becomes illegal in the US. many casinos still do allow betters from the states to play though.
legendary
Activity: 3808
Merit: 1723
Up to 300% + 200 FS deposit bonuses
Whether bitcoin is considered as money or as a commodity doesn't matter. Look what is happening right now with gambling websites and USA residents.

Gambling is a very risky topic to begin with. Doesn't matter what happens with bitcoin in a legal aspect.
newbie
Activity: 28
Merit: 0
America is not allowed to online gamble. Does that include Central & South America?
On Cloudbet's website they said their casinos are in South America and in South East asia, so I am guessing that it is allowed there.
I doubt they are in either countries they listed  Tongue

It's not quite that simple - as far as I'm aware, the laws in the US don't relate to gambling specifically, they relate to transferring money for the purposes of gambling (although they're loosening these laws with respect to online gambling within your own state, which is why we've recently seen a number of states allowing it and awarding licenses to Pokerstars etc.). As long as bitcoin is not classed as a currency, then it's not black and white as to whether gambling with bitcoin is legal or illegal. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if some agency there decides to it is illegal in which case the high-profile sites like Cloudbet, Primedice, Nitrogen, etc. would likely be the ones in the firing line (assuming the government has a way to get to them).
full member
Activity: 196
Merit: 100
America is not allowed to online gamble. Does that include Central & South America?
On Cloudbet's website they said their casinos are in South America and in South East asia, so I am guessing that it is allowed there.
I doubt they are in either countries they listed  Tongue
newbie
Activity: 28
Merit: 0
The reality is that unless a government has specifically said that it's illegal (as I believe the UK have now), then the legality will only be known for sure once a) someone is prosecuted and convicted, and b) those people who are convicted exhaust all possible means of appealing their conviction. The question is, do you want to risk being the first to go through that ordeal if governments/prosecutors do decide it's illegal under existing laws, and that they're going to come after gamblers (rather than only going after the gambling sites).

As far as Seals With Clubs, wasn't the main guy operating out of Las Vegas? That seems like the worst possible place to be doing something like that and drawing attention to himself - he seems a bit like the Mark Cuban of bitcoin gambling. I'm not surprised he was run out of town...
legendary
Activity: 2296
Merit: 1031
My personal opinion is that any law against liberty is a crime against humanity.  It's odd that there are so many states that can get away with having laws against gambling especially when it is not hurting anyone.  Make aggressive crimes  illegal but something like gambling should 'almost' never be illegal. 
legendary
Activity: 1120
Merit: 1000
So far no statement about the legal status of people using BTC for gamble. I think it is a big grey area, so far, but no risk if BTC is not illegal where you are.

If you don't want to hear "it is not legal", just dont ask the authorities and be happy with your gambling
full member
Activity: 140
Merit: 100
Get Free Mobile Data http://get.kickbit.com/1/oexq
If you live in a country that is against BTC gambling, you could just use a vpn or tor or something. I live in the US and so far it seems that the government only seems to persecute owners of the gambling sites.
legendary
Activity: 1274
Merit: 1000
when we using btc in countries where btc was not yet defined as money legally, we have to bear all risks by ourselves because all transaction with btc have not yet have the legal authorities' guarantees from the goverment.. of course for gambling too..
and even in countries where btc was a legally currency, their goverment have not definitely give a legality for gambling..
legendary
Activity: 3808
Merit: 1723
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It probably isn't banned right now in most parts of the world because Bitcoin is pretty new. BUt eventually if it keeps gaining popularity then it probably will get banned everywhere.
legendary
Activity: 2604
Merit: 1036
Bitcoin gambling is not prosecuted right now so you won't have any problems playing anywhere. A lot of americans are betting online with bitcoins and no one cares.
The issue isn't about that no one cares, its about that its still not allowed(even if noone cares), and if they start caring then you can be in a trouble.
Yes, there are a lot of American users but I feel that the gambling websites should at least blacklist the American IPs(it will at least keep the sites safe and more trustable ) however people who gamble wont stop gambling this way.

If you live in a country where unlicensed gambling sites are prohibited you would know that the country ISP's automatically block the websites in question. If they pass a bill to render bitcoin sites unlicensed these will get blocked too. Till then enjoy. Everything else is just chit-chat.
But don't you think that as a responsible website the site needs to blacklist the users who are gambling from a country where gambling is illegal?
Luckybit does it, everyone should follow them.

Well most UNLICENSED gambling sites here are banned but I can open Luckybit just fine and click on the 'Agree' button just fine and proceed to gamble some coins right away. There is a misunderstanding between licensed and unlicensed online gambling. Because guess what bitcoins don't need a license. For now Cool
legendary
Activity: 2562
Merit: 1414
Bitcoin gambling is not prosecuted right now so you won't have any problems playing anywhere. A lot of americans are betting online with bitcoins and no one cares.
The issue isn't about that no one cares, its about that its still not allowed(even if noone cares), and if they start caring then you can be in a trouble.
Yes, there are a lot of American users but I feel that the gambling websites should at least blacklist the American IPs(it will at least keep the sites safe and more trustable ) however people who gamble wont stop gambling this way.

If you live in a country where unlicensed gambling sites are prohibited you would know that the country ISP's automatically block the websites in question. If they pass a bill to render bitcoin sites unlicensed these will get blocked too. Till then enjoy. Everything else is just chit-chat.
But don't you think that as a responsible website the site needs to blacklist the users who are gambling from a country where gambling is illegal?
Luckybit does it, everyone should follow them.


Some website does indeed banned the IP from specific country, i.e Satoshibet, if you are a resident of US, you cant play in there, as for luckyb.it, It does not really a matter if they did bann specific IP from a country because player can play the game without opening the sites

Still the main point is that it is easy to bypass all of this IP issue, so I dont think this will be a problem if you are playing it safely by connecting with a VPN
sr. member
Activity: 280
Merit: 250
Bitcoin gambling is not prosecuted right now so you won't have any problems playing anywhere. A lot of americans are betting online with bitcoins and no one cares.
The issue isn't about that no one cares, its about that its still not allowed(even if noone cares), and if they start caring then you can be in a trouble.
Yes, there are a lot of American users but I feel that the gambling websites should at least blacklist the American IPs(it will at least keep the sites safe and more trustable ) however people who gamble wont stop gambling this way.

If you live in a country where unlicensed gambling sites are prohibited you would know that the country ISP's automatically block the websites in question. If they pass a bill to render bitcoin sites unlicensed these will get blocked too. Till then enjoy. Everything else is just chit-chat.
But don't you think that as a responsible website the site needs to blacklist the users who are gambling from a country where gambling is illegal?
Luckybit does it, everyone should follow them.
legendary
Activity: 2604
Merit: 1036
Bitcoin gambling is not prosecuted right now so you won't have any problems playing anywhere. A lot of americans are betting online with bitcoins and no one cares.
The issue isn't about that no one cares, its about that its still not allowed(even if noone cares), and if they start caring then you can be in a trouble.
Yes, there are a lot of American users but I feel that the gambling websites should at least blacklist the American IPs(it will at least keep the sites safe and more trustable ) however people who gamble wont stop gambling this way.

If you live in a country where unlicensed gambling sites are prohibited you would know that the country ISP's automatically block the websites in question. If they pass a bill to render bitcoin sites unlicensed these will get blocked too. Till then enjoy. Everything else is just chit-chat.
hero member
Activity: 602
Merit: 500
well, my country also not using bitcoin as currency and its commodity too

but as we know that bitcoin decentralized and we can do anything but the risk is on ourselves..
sr. member
Activity: 280
Merit: 250
Bitcoin gambling is not prosecuted right now so you won't have any problems playing anywhere. A lot of americans are betting online with bitcoins and no one cares.
The issue isn't about that no one cares, its about that its still not allowed(even if noone cares), and if they start caring then you can be in a trouble.
Yes, there are a lot of American users but I feel that the gambling websites should at least blacklist the American IPs(it will at least keep the sites safe and more trustable ) however people who gamble wont stop gambling this way.
hero member
Activity: 812
Merit: 1000
I don't think any player would face any legal issues playing at any BTC casino on-line, the simple reason for that is, it's mostly anonymous. There's no KYC requirement to play at any Bitcoin Gambling sites. One would only need to hide his IP if he wants to be too cautious.

And if you're playing from a country where Bitcoin is still in a grey area and it's not considered money than it would be considered as playing online games with play money with no value and therefore it can't be called illegal.
hero member
Activity: 574
Merit: 500
Bitcoin casinos can almost never be banned by countries. Since there are too many gambling sites accepting bitcoin ,its hard for governments to have knowledge of each, and since bitcoin is a grey area in many countries, its only considered as play money.

Some countries can definitely enforce a ban by the keyword method, instead of manually blocking all sites. Specially ISP's in the US could possibly bet the famous gambling sites of bitcoin.

The government here is regulating the online fiat sportsbooks and one can't gamble on them if they don't have a license but this doesn't pertain to bitcoin. You don't need to change any IP address or use a VPN service. Your access is filtered automatically through your ISP.

I would recommend changing your IP, as they might be monitoring your activity, and its best to avoid any trouble, if your country is not gambling friendly.
sr. member
Activity: 462
Merit: 250
Bitcoin casinos can almost never be banned by countries. Since there are too many gambling sites accepting bitcoin ,its hard for governments to have knowledge of each, and since bitcoin is a grey area in many countries, its only considered as play money.
legendary
Activity: 2604
Merit: 1036
The government here is regulating the online fiat sportsbooks and one can't gamble on them if they don't have a license but this doesn't pertain to bitcoin. You don't need to change any IP address or use a VPN service. Your access is filtered automatically through your ISP.
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