When it comes to online sportsbooks, you really have to know where you’re at. By this, I mean that not all sportsbooks accept bettors from all countries. While there are a large number of countries whose residents should check, just to be sure, the biggest divide happens to be between the United States and the rest of the world.

The problem is twofold:

1. the United States has a Federal law regarding international payment methods (contrary to popular opinion, the UIGEA does not make online gambling illegal, not for sportsbooks, not for online slots, not for anything that you can play at an online casino USA)
2. the individual states often have widely different laws — if they have laws at all. Sometimes the closest thing that they have to work with is a decades-old legislation regarding interstate telephone betting (undoubtedly a burning issue, right up there with those pesky kids in hot rods listening to the Big Bopper).

So just take a quick look at the rules on the website, which should clearly show the restricted countries in each online gambling website review. Easy!

Well…not always. There are so many countries, and keeping current on each one’s legal status would require a full-time employee who is well-versed in the legal language and traditions of each country — not really economically feasible, even if it’s possible. Instead, most online gambling sites will make it short and sweet, saying something like “Internet gambling may be illegal in the jurisdiction in which you are located”. That makes it your responsibility to know for sure, one way or the other.

But don’t let this scare you off! All of the information that you need to know will take you just a minute or so to find out, and the reward is that you’ll never have to worry about it again…until the law changes again, of course…