The Legal Landscape of Online Gambling: An Analysis of Cyber Law and Its Regulatory Challenges

Abstract

Online gambling has experienced rapid growth due to the various and constant advancements in technology and has managed to capture global reach across the Internet. This paper aims to focus on the significant legal and regulatory challenges as well as the ethical and social concerns that online gambling has managed to give rise to, particularly with respect to cyber law. The laws regulating online gambling have been subject to continuous upgradations leading to a battle between the role of the State and the law. In addition to the above, online gambling carries along with it, its own share of threats and vulnerabilities which mandate the importance of encryption and other security measures to protect such threats and cybersecurity breaches. This paper highlights the legal responsibilities of online gambling operators in user data protection. A developing activity such as online gambling must of course be regulated in order to prevent the misuse of platforms providing access to the same. The role of
regulatory authorities and the compliances that operators are required to adhere to are also discussed in this paper. As far as cyber law is concerned, the application, challenges and the intersection of cyber law and consumer protection is also a significant consideration that sections of this paper touch upon. The online gambling platforms too have certain intellectual property issues that must be dealt with. Online gambling is not restricted to one jurisdiction and has presence across borders due to which the
jurisdiction of any disputes arising out of this must be understood. Furthermore, although there may exist a basic idea of law in relation to online gambling, its effective enforcement is necessary. Therefore, this paper aims to shed light on these issues and provide a comprehensive idea of the legality surrounding online gambling, both at present and in the near future.