hi, I'm thinking of starting up a simple gambling site. Like a lottery every few days and maybe a few games. The webspace is hosted in canada/USA butI'm from UK. Are there any laws I must follow? Should I be 18? Is it legal in general? All comments appreciated, Thanks.
First, find out the laws in the UK. Second, find out the laws in Canada and/or the USA (where your server is). No point in putting up a site if the local government will just have it taken away. If your site is an actual place to gamble, it's illegal in the USA.
I would steer clear of anything to do with gambling unless you have big money to spend. Its a bottomless pit and there are a lot of big boys out there who will swamp you. The UK and USA are very strict on what is allowed gambling-wise, very few get through and starting such a venture is not easy.
Ok thanks a lot for your replies. I didn't know they were so strict! Why should they tell you whether you can spend your own money on gambling or not ..
In Washington state, it's a Class C felony to gamble online or have a site that links to online gambling. That's up to 10 years in a federal prison folks.
You CAN spend money on gambling. However, MAKING money on gambling indeed may be a felony. The reason is that you would be competing with the gobermint. Gobermints don't like competition
You can always set up poker information websites and add your affiliate links, I own http://www.pokerdirectory.info and it does nicely for me.
What is funny about any of those laws is that you can spend your money on horses, scatch tickets powerballs, and a few other things that the state can control the taxes on.
As long as you don't live in Washington state. I wonder what other states will pass similar legislation in the upcoming sessions.