Gambling Is an Age-Limited Activity, but the Limit Isn’t the Same In All Parts of the World

Gambling is a pastime that has been widespread since ancient times but it is also an activity that is strongly regulated by law. In this article, we will explore the age limit for gambling around the world. In most countries, gambling is an age-restricted activity associated with adulthood. It is believed that when teenagers enter adulthood, they can make decisions and take responsibility for their finances.

Wagering is often divided into various categories, such as sports betting and casino gambling, while online casino gambling has become increasingly popular in recent years, bringing with it different ways of depositing and withdrawing funds to wager with them. For instance, e-wallets (PayPal, Skrill, MuchBetter…) are very popular, thus, online casinos are rated, among other criteria, in regard to how many of these payment methods they allow. So, e.g. there is a list of the Top MuchBetter casinos at TopCasinoExpert.com, etc.

There are often different age limits for different categories of gambling. A simple example of different age restrictions in different categories of gambling is New Zealand, where players can bet on horse races from the age of 18, play in casinos from the age of 20, while there is no age limit for playing the national lottery.

What’s the Age Limit For Gambling Worldwide?

In this article, we will take you through the continents and stress some of the oddities that vary from country to country and their cultures and traditions. We will start with Europe, where across the continent, with many different cultures, there is a similarity in the legally regulated age for gambling.

For most European nations, you must be, at least, 18 to bet legally but there are a few exceptions. In Denmark, playing in land-based casinos or online casinos requires you to be 18 years old but there is no age limit for sports betting. On the other hand, in Estonia, you need to be 21 years old to gamble in a casino, while for all other forms of gambling your age has to be 16. Interestingly, online gambling is allowed for teenagers. If we look at Portugal, we will realize that it has quite complex gambling laws. In this country, the age of gambling in a casino can be 25 years old, but it can also be 18 years old. Here, it is left to the casino owners to determine the age limit themselves. There are even some casinos that allow tourists to gamble at 18, and limit the local population to 25 years of age and older.

The Age Limit For Gambling Varies From Country to Country

Across the eastern hemisphere, on the Asian continent, there are quite a few countries that have banned gambling of any kind, making betting on a game or event legal. Some of the countries that have, however, vetoed betting are Pakistan, Syria, Qatar, and Indonesia, so if you want to have a vacation and fun gambling at the same time there, you should know this. The rest of the Asian countries, which means most of them, follow the same pattern as Europe, allowing gambling for those aged 18 and over, while a few others limit it to the age of 21.

Let’s look at the age limit for gambling in North and South America. Most countries in this part of the world have regulated the legal age for gambling between the ages of 18 and 21. Here, the age for gambling varies from country to country but it always goes between the mentioned range.

As for Africa, many countries continue to ban gambling, such as Ethiopia, Libya, or Sudan. As much of Africa is on a low scale in economic and development terms and many countries do not have regulations even on the technological side of online gambling.

And, at the end of the article, we will look at how things stand in Oceania. The collection of nations that make up Oceania has mostly similar gambling laws, with most countries having a statutory age of 18 and up. We mentioned earlier New Zealand, where the age for gambling in a casino is 20 years.

As you may have concluded, there are a few countries that do not actually have restrictions on gambling for various cultural or developmental reasons, but also a few countries where gambling is banned. However, most countries tend to allow the age allowed for gambling to be 18 years or older.