WAAG: Israel: Overview
The Israeli online casino gambling industry does not exist right now because of
very strict and strong laws in the small country that ban the internet gambling
companies from operating and also bans all of the credit card companies and
banks from processing the transactions. The Israeli internet gambling market has
stagnated since 2005 when the Attorney General ruled that all of the internet
gambling activities must cease and all of the online casinos had to leave the
market or face harsh penalties. The Attorney General included all forms of
internet gambling and this meant that internet backgammon, poker, betting, and
all forms of chance gambling were excluded from the Israeli market. The only
carve-out that is in place is the Israeli Commission for Sports Gambling and
Israel Lottery.
These two gambling industries are still allowed to operate fully in the Israeli
market and offer up lottery and sports betting services. The mandates from the
Attorney General were really primarily aimed at forcing the online casinos out
of the market and to keep Israelis from gambling through the internet at any
company that wasn’t one of the two excluded from the ban. At this point online
backgammon is still legal in the market and there are a number of internet
casino sites that operate out of Israel but not for Israelis.
In August and September 2009 the Israeli officials raided a company that offered
online casino games to patrons outside of the country and officials claim that
the company was in breach of Israeli gambling laws. The case is still in the
process of unfolding and the resolution will provide other businesses with
important legal precedence to know just precisely if their offshore internet
gambling companies are legal for operating out of Israel.
Legal Gambling
Arrests |