Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Costa Rica, a small Spanish speaking country in Central America, is an extremely popular jurisdiction for companies to run their online gambling sites from. This is because the licensing procedures in Costa Rica work somewhat differently than in other places. Since the country has no laws that deal specifically with internet gambling, any company that is incorporated under Costa Rican law can offer online gambling, without having to obtain a separate license or permit. The government has strict laws regarding land-based gambling, but they have ruled that when it comes to online gambling, the actual wager is placed where the player is sitting, not where the website is hosted. Because of this, the only requirement that gambling companies in Costa Rica must follow is to turn away all players who try to access their sites from within Costa Rica – this would be a violation of local land-based gambling laws.
While this is great for internet gambling companies, it is not so great for players. Without a specific government entity in Costa Rica to oversee online gambling operations, there is absolutely no player protection. Also, there are no rules, tests, or technical regulation to restrict how online gambling sites can operate, so online gambling companies licensed out of Costa Rica are entirely self-regulated. In the end, while there are several hundred online gambling sites licensed in Costa Rica, players should be aware of the potential difficulties they may face if they encounter problems with such sites.
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