How Old Do You Have to Be to Bet on Sports? Exploring Legal Age Limits Worldwide

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The legal gambling age is 18 in the vast majority of nations worldwide.
• Some nations imposed varied age restrictions based on the type of wager, such as the specific sports, you want to make.
• Discussing the age limit for gambling, virtually every nation in the globe is stringent to keep children out of this activity.

No nation is universal when it comes to setting age restrictions on gambling. However, there are some patterns and common conclusions that were transferred to the legislation. Let’s find out how the proper gambling age, including sports betting, is estimated around the globe.

In the UK, for example, the minimum age to wager on horse racing, football, casino games, and the majority of other gambling activities, such as the lottery, was raised from 16 to 18 in 2021. At the same time, the legal gambling age in most US states is 21.

In certain nations, it isn’t even constant; Canada is one example, where it’s 18 in some provinces and territories but 19 in others. Given that many worldwide age limits are chosen at random, it might be difficult to comprehend why a nation chooses a particular age.

Here, we’ll examine several significant instances from throughout the globe and discuss the implications.

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Importance of Gambling Age

In this post, we could talk about the ethics of legal sports gambling—and gambling in general—ages, but the truth is that’s a complicated topic. Rather, we’ll examine the more literal aspects of why it’s important. That means you can be stunned or even surprised to be informed you’re not old enough to wager somewhere if you don’t know what the legal gambling age is in that country.

For instance, foreigners frequently travel to Las Vegas in the United States and try to get on the casino floor when they are 19 or 20 years old. The legal age of gambling is strictly enforced in America, and casinos are aware that allowing minors to bet there could result in steep penalties or possibly the loss of their operating license.

For this reason, everyone in Las Vegas, including elderly retirees, is asked to provide identification. Although it may sound strange, casinos must protect themselves, and since visitors go from all over the world to wager in the most well-known gambling city in the world, security personnel can’t rely solely on those visitors being aware that they aren’t of legal age to enjoy “Sin City’s” attractions.

Naturally, the opposite is also true. It’s helpful to know that you can come from New Zealand and enter a casino or bookmaker in London to sit down for a spin of the roulette wheel, a game of blackjack, or composing a sports betting slip – it’s completely legal for you to do so because the legal gambling age in NZ is 20. When visiting a foreign country, it’s always helpful to stay within the law.

Typical Gambling Age, Sports Betting or Else

The legal gambling age is 18 in the vast majority of nations worldwide. Most nations have decided that 18 is a suitable age for people to wager, from Greenland to overseas territories in Antarctica. The one hard-to-answer question is why exactly 18 was selected as the legal gambling age in most jurisdictions.

According to one stream of thinking, people are regarded as adults in the majority of countries when they turn 18. There are grounds for disagreement, considering that Charles Algernon Parsons created what would eventually become the automobile at the age of 15 and Alexander the Great subdued Maedi to find Alexandropolis at the age of 16. Nevertheless, most people agree that 18 is the age of adulthood.

With a hazy grasp of the benefits of knowing the gambling age and how 18 has been established as the legal betting age in the majority of nations, let’s examine some concrete instances of the largest world nations.

United States of America

Because of the United States federal system of government, each state has the authority to choose the legal age for a variety of activities, including gambling. Nevada, the state where Las Vegas is located, is one of the many states in the United States that have chosen to establish a minimum legal age of 21.

However, several of these states have exceptions to the restrictions. For instance, in states like Illinois, Arkansas, Kansas, Maine, New York, and Pennsylvania, it’s legal for anybody over the age of 18 to purchase a lottery ticket or wager on a horse race. In contrast, the legal gambling age for all sorts of gambling activities in Iowa, Idaho, Minnesota, and Wyoming is 18 years old.

The existence of Native American reserves in America has caused considerable confusion when it comes to gambling legislation. Native Americans have the authority to establish their own regulations in certain places, and they frequently permit gambling on their land starting at the age of 18. However, in Michigan, playing poker in a designated poker room requires you to be at least 32 years old.

United Kingdom

It’s safe to argue that the UK has a complex gambling policy. For instance, you’re permitted to visit a bingo club but not to play bingo if you’re younger than 18.

If you get a job, and you’re under the age of 16, you’re permitted to work in bingo clubs, but you aren’t allowed to operate, maintain, or clean bingo equipment or provide anyone with the supplies needed to play bingo.

Similar to this, until 2021, those 16 and older could purchase tickets for the National Lottery and other lotteries, play football pools, and purchase and play scratch cards, but they weren’t allowed to wager on a football game, horse race, or other event within a bookmaker until they were 18.

It’s illegal for anyone over 16 but under 18 to engage in gambling activities other than those mentioned.

China

The majority of traditional forms of gambling are strictly prohibited in China.

State-sponsored lotteries, which are open to all people over 21, are the only exception to this rule. Because underground betting is illegal, there’s no set legal age for participants, which makes it widespread throughout most of China.

The fact that certain parts of China, like the special administrative regions of Macau and Hong Kong, have been granted distinct administrative authority makes the country a little more complicated to think about. One of the world’s most profitable casino cities, Macau’s history of legalizing gambling dates back to the middle of the 19th century. Out there, 21 is the minimum age to gamble.

India

Although it’s legal to gamble in India, it should be highlighted that different states have distinct laws governing particular kinds of gaming amusement. The circumstances in India and the US are comparable in this regard.
Goa was the first state in India to have legalized gambling. After that, the industry spread across the nation, while some areas, like Assam and Orissa, for instance, still forbade gambling altogether.

Only two Indian states—Nagaland and Sikkim—consider online gaming sites to be lawful. However, using offshore gambling websites isn’t illegal for Indian citizens.

The age at which players are permitted to play is a matter that requires careful consideration. In India, 21 is the typical minimum age. On the other hand, those who are at least 18 years old are permitted to play on online platforms.

Russia

Since 2009, Russia has enacted laws that forbid Internet gambling sites and require all land-based gaming facilities to be located inside four permitted zones. The Russian government is particularly serious about ensuring that the laws are followed, and it mandates that ISPs ban any gambling businesses that utilize the Internet or mobile devices for communication.

In the four zones where land-based gambling is permitted (“Altai Palace Hotel” in Manzherok, “Casino Sobranie” in Kulikovo, “Casino Sochi” in Krasnaya Polyana, and “Casino and Hotel Shambala” and “Tigre de Cristal Hotel & Resort” in Artyom), the minimum age to access the games or to operate in a casino is 18 years.

Nations with Complicated Situations

The legal gambling age in the majority of nations worldwide is 18, as this article has stated. Here, we’ll look specifically at those nations where there are varied age restrictions based on the type of wager, such as the specific sports, you want to make.

Cuba, the British Virgin Islands, Sudan, and Mauritania are just a few of the nations where gambling is completely prohibited. Meanwhile, the legal gambling age in Malawi is five years old! This age is set this low since younger children “don’t understand the meaning of money”. You must have been surprised by this, just like we were. We think that such little children are permitted to go inside and play, even though it isn’t stated (or we couldn’t find it), only with an adult’s assistance. Superstition is the foundation of the other theory. A lot of gamblers have superstitious beliefs, and some of them think that the youngest person is lucky. Therefore, they take infants to casinos in Malawi to press the spin button on a slot machine or for other like purposes. The limitation was put in place to prevent them from bringing children younger than five.

The Federated States of Micronesia is comparable to the United States in that each state has the authority to determine its own legal gambling age. It’s completely prohibited in Chuuk and Yap.

The oldest age limit for gambling, as far as we managed to find, is 25 and is set in three countries: Georgia (only for locals), Portugal (only for locals and only in certain casinos), and Uganda.

The following are nations when it’s most complicated:

Nations Where 18 Isn’t Minimum Age

The countries on the list below don’t have a gambling minimum age of 18. The nations where gambling is prohibited also found themselves here.

This implies that either there’s no gambling in a country or the legal gambling age in that country is 18 if a nation isn’t on this list or the previous list of countries with complicated age requirements.

• Belgium – 21
• Greece – 21
• Jersey – 21
• Afghanistan – illegal
• Armenia – 21
• Bahrain – illegal
• Brunei Darussalam – illegal
• Mainland China – illegal
• India – 21
• Indonesia – illegal
• Japan – 20
• Lebanon – 21
• Macau – 21
• Malaysia – 21
• Maldives – illegal
• Pakistan – illegal
• Qatar – illegal
• Saudi Arabia – illegal
• Singapore – 21
• South Korea – 19
• Syria – illegal
• Taiwan – 21
• Thailand – illegal
• Vietnam – 21
• Egypt – 21
• Eritrea – illegal
• Ethiopia – illegal
• Libya – illegal
• Malawi – 5
• Mauritania – illegal
• Namibia – 21
• Nigeria – 20
• Somalia – illegal
• Sudan – illegal
• Bahamas – 21
• British Virgin Islands – illegal
• Cuba – illegal
• Saint Kitts and Nevis – 21
• United Arab Emirates – 21
• Uganda – 25

Of course, if you intend to go someplace you’ve not been to beforehand, and you’re interested in gambling while you’re there, then it’s truly worthwhile researching the local rules.

There have been cases in the past where individuals have been charged with gambling when they weren’t permitted to do so in a jurisdiction other than the one they belong to.

Which Age Is Best for Gambling and Why They Are Set?

The gambling sector is very diverse and encompasses a variety of games, but one of its unique features is that all of these games are linked to earning money through chance, which has an impact on the psychological well-being of those who play them. For this reason, laws are in place in every country to make sure that any business established in this sector treats its clients responsibly and strictly adheres to all regulations created by governments around the world.

However, the sphere of obligation doesn’t extend just to proprietors of gaming firms. The laws and regulations pertaining to gambling must also be followed by the players themselves. Therefore, discussing the age limit for gambling, virtually every nation in the globe is stringent to keep children out of this activity. If, however, persons under the age restriction are fraudulently able to use the services of gaming businesses, they should be informed that if accurate information is exposed, they may forfeit the money used for gambling and winnings, as well as be subject to some type of penalty.

To summarize this article, let’s attempt to ascertain the reason for the set age at which people can be admitted to gambling. Of course, the primary requirement is that those who haven’t attained the age of majority shouldn’t be able to participate in games of chance. However, we’d like to add one more crucial point: we think that each person who has attained legal adulthood and is accountable for their actions should determine for themselves whether or not they are prepared to engage in this kind of entertainment responsibly.

Legally limiting gaming among minors has shown encouraging results in a number of studies, since it may lower the number of gambling-related harms and incidents among young people. But simply designating an activity as age-restricted couldn’t stop young people from gambling; in fact, in some cases, it might make gambling more alluring. Forbidden fruit is always the sweetest, right? Therefore, in addition to age limitations, advertising, and warning labels should be reviewed.

Also, the fact that imposing an age restriction on gambling regulates doing business by gambling platforms and operators, putting them under a legal framework, stimulates some of them to find loopholes in the legislation and circumvent age restrictions, even though it will have huge consequences on them in terms of paying hefty penalties and even getting shut down. However, some of those think of profit first.

You should thoroughly research the gambling establishments in your jurisdiction if you do choose to become a patron and spend your time enjoying and praying for luck. When discussing land-on businesses, everything is typically pretty straightforward and understandable, and you can always contact live support for assistance immediately to resolve any contentious issues. Here, we’d advise being especially mindful of the following factors when it comes to online gambling:

• Online casinos need to have a license. Typically, the license information is located at the bottom of the website’s main page.
• Information regarding players’ legal age should be prominently displayed and easily available on gambling platforms.
• Each new user must provide an identity document at the time of registration, proving their age and identity, in order to pass stringent verification.

We also advise you to look for a self-exclusion feature in the online casino, which means that the players can prevent themselves from going to the gambling establishment or registering online, as in the case of the best offshore bookmakers. To do this, users open a special section where they can select the time frame for which they won’t be able to access the gambling.

We hope you found this post helpful. We hope that everyone has a positive gambling experience and plays responsibly!