Why Offshore Casinos Must Navigate Legal Compliance

May 12, 2008 Sports

Apple, Meta and Google, three of the world’s biggest companies, are currently in court appealing a 2022 decision that could change the entire internet economy. Last year, a judge ruled that the companies were liable for processing payments and collecting commissions from online casino game apps.

By hosting casino gambling apps on their app stores and taking these commissions, the judge argued, the companies acted as ‘bookies’. But the three are in court fighting back against this ruling and arguing that it could set a dangerous precedent.

This whole saga began after several class action lawsuits were launched against the companies, claiming that they were profiting from gambling. These lawsuits notably came from users who lived in states with strict gambling laws. While U.S. District Judge Edward Davila ruled that the companies were not liable for giving customers access to the apps and giving developers metadata, they were on the hook for taking commissions.

Lawyers for the companies have argued, however, that this ruling could mean that other companies would be responsible for all purchases made through apps listed on their marketplaces. Managing this to avoid further liability would mean that Apple, for example, would need to monitor every purchase made on every app it hosts all over the world.

This case is indicative of the challenges that both regulators and publishers are facing. On one hand, publishers cannot be expected to monitor every single transaction that takes place on an app it publishes. It would not only be cumbersome to make sure that every transaction is completely in line with regulations but would also bring up more conflict regarding user privacy and data management. It would even likely open them up to more lawsuits in the future.

On the other hand, having absolutely no oversight means that publishers could inadvertently facilitate and even profit from transactions that take place over unethical or even predatory apps. But the publishers largely make money from commissions and need them to stay afloat and continue providing services to customers. At this point, both the app publishers and regulators are between a rock and a hard place. Regardless of what the outcome of this appeal is, it is clear that it will shape the future of the digital economy.

It also mirrors the challenges that offshore casino apps themselves face as they often operate outside of the jurisdictions in which their customers reside. In fact, one of the biggest drivers of demand for offshore casinos is the fact that gambling regulations are so strenuous in certain parts of the world. If physical casinos are banned in your city, for example, you might opt to use an offshore one.

Just like Google and Meta, they have the challenge of making sure that the transactions they facilitate and take a commission from are legal and fully compliant. For example, how do you make sure your casino is not inadvertently facilitating money laundering or mishandling customer data? A look at a list of casinos available offshore in basketballinsiders.com will show that many already have measures in place, but this possible shift in regulations means that more must be done.

While these are no walk in the park, offshore casinos can take steps to protect themselves from any legal blowback. One of the first is to make sure that they are duly registered in the offshore destination they operate in. They also need to make sure that they are up-to-date and compliant with every regulation, whether that is anti-money laundering or privacy. This is especially important as even a single breach of regulation could be costly. There have been cases of casinos and betting sites being fined millions of dollars for violations.

For now, most offshore casinos have clear guidelines on how to operate, but this could very well change. If the legal precedent set by the 2022 ruling is upheld, it could mean that offshore companies might be liable for the activities that take place on their platforms even by users who live in other countries.

It will be a while before we know whether this will happen and what the ripple effect will be, but casinos can only hope for a positive outcome.

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Why Offshore Casinos Must Navigate Legal Compliance

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