Online bingo has become incredibly popular in the past few years due in large to the attractiveness of the game and ease and availability it garners from being available online. The three biggest markets for online bingo consumption are the US, Japan and the UK in respective order. Out of these, only the UK is online bingo strictly legal. It’s legal in most, but not all states in the US, and then in Japan online bingo is not legal at all.
The UK
Bingo was first legalized in Britain back in the 60’s through the Gaming Act of 1968. This meant that when online bingo hit the market its growth was unencumbered by legal restrictions until The UK Gambling act of 2005 was passed. While these laws didn’t outlaw the game, the restricted the ways in which gaming could be advertised killing much of the diversity that the market had grownup organically. Mainly, the act restricted sites that could advertise bingo to those that were hosted domestically (or through a couple choice countries), basically cutting out foreign bingo sites of the super competitive UK market. Equally, the act regulated when and where ads for bingo could be displayed.
The US
The legal status (in terms of federal law) was established by the US Court of Appeals in 2002. While the court placed state bounded restrictions on sports betting, games of chance (of which bingo is considered part) were not similarly subject to these restrictions. The Safe Port Act of 2006 however, outlawed banks from performing financial transactions with online bingo sites. Though individuals are allowed to bet on these sites, money transfer has to take place though third part vendors. Also, banks were given the authority to terminate accounts that were suspected of transacting with online gaming sites.
The Internet Gambling and Enforcement Act of 2007 allowed for federally licenced online games of skill (of which bingo is considered to be a part) as an amendment to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act of 2006. However, legal status is ultimately conferred by states—of which only 11, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, New jersey, Oregon, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Washington and surprisingly Nevada consider online bingo to be illegal.
