United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has long been a place where online gambling has had a home. In fact, some of the most well-established casino operators in the world - even some that were land-based - have set up shop for the benefit of customers from the UK. That doesn't necessarily mean they are all regulated BY the United Kingdom, however.

Casinos in United Kingdom

Regulation for casinos who serve UK customers has been set up within the UK itself, with the initiation of the Gambling Act that created the UK Gambling Commission, and also in territories like Alderney and the Isle of Man that maintain status as a financial zone. Many of the world's finest online casino operations, in fact, are licensed by agencies in these jurisdictions. Some of the operators who have land-based organizations have supplemented that very strongly with their online product. These companies include William Hill, Ladbrokes, Stan James, 888, Bet365 and others.

Not only are casinos very prominent among the UK crowd, but you'll also find some of the best and biggest sportsbooks and poker rooms in the online world there, backed by some of the most experienced people imaginable.

Some of these gaming companies are traded on public exchanges. What that means for players who are not in the United Kingdom is that they are likely to face certain restrictions that are imposed by the companies themselves, because they have a responsibility to both governments and the stockholders. For example, if you are in the United States you will likely not be able to play at one of the UK casinos, and will be told as much when you get there.

Citizens of the UK have a lot of great choices, and one of the good things about the way gaming exists in the country is that you could literally go into one of the "street" shops of some of these major companies and put money into your online account with them. Everything is out in the open, and some of the big "players" even get involved in sponsoring prominent sports teams and sporting events. For example, it would not be unusual at all for somebody like Ladbrokes or William Hill to get behind a horse race, dart tournament or snooker tournament. Some of them have even undertaken to carry coverage of the events right there on the website, as a way of drawing people in. This has the effect of building up a lot of brand credibility, which breeds confidence in the consumer.