Side by Side: Who Lets You Bet on Your Phone?

Every government agrees that gambling is a vice. They disagree about who should run it.

Brazil

A law signed on 30 December 2023 licensed fixed-odds betting. The market opened on 1 January 2025, each operator paying R$30 million for a five-year licence and a 12 percent tax on what it kept. The industry took in R$62.5 billion last year. The ban that followed, signed on 25 September, lapses after 120 days unless Congress approves it. Licensed, taxed and switched off inside two years, with an expiry date on the switch.

United States

Online sports betting is legal in 31 states and the District of Columbia. Online casinos are legal in seven. Fifty laboratories of democracy; seven of them have a roulette wheel.

Canada

Betting on a single game became legal nationwide in August 2021. Ontario opened a regulated online market in April 2022, and in July this year its players wagered a record C$9.88 billion.

United Kingdom

Legal, licensed and taxed with growing enthusiasm. The duty on online casinos rose from 21 to 40 percent in April. A 25 percent tax on online bets arrives in April 2027. In Britain the Treasury is the house.

India

The Online Gaming Act of 2025 banned real-money games outright. Running one can bring three years in jail and a fine of up to Rs 1 crore. More than 1,500 sites and apps were blocked between 2022 and 2025.

Pakistan

All gambling is illegal, under laws from 1867 and 1977. Typical fines are 1,000 rupees. The statute predates the telephone; the fine appears to as well.

China

Only the state lotteries. A crackdown in 2020 made 11,500 arrests and uncovered US$32.3 billion in bets.

Japan

Only the state may take a bet: on horses, boats, bicycles and motorbikes, plus the lottery. Police estimate that Japanese gamblers nonetheless place about ¥1.24 trillion a year at offshore online casinos.

South Korea

Only the state’s Sports Toto, sold online through its own site. Citizens who report an illegal betting site receive 15,000 won each time one is blocked.

Australia

Online sports betting is licensed, but betting during a match online is not. Online casinos have been banned since 2001; by May 2024 the regulator had blocked 975 illegal sites.

Verdict

Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul let only the state hold the dice. London, Toronto and thirty-one American states license the dice and tax them. New Delhi and Islamabad confiscate them. Brasília tried all three in under two years. The house always wins. The only question is which ministry it reports to.