Gambling Regulation: How It Works and How We Track It

This hub explains how gambling regulation generally works, how KiraBet checks legal information before publishing it, and which jurisdictions we currently cover. It is a starting point, not legal advice.

The main regulatory models

Licensing regimes

Many countries allow gambling only through licensed operators. In Great Britain, online gambling companies must be licensed by the Gambling Commission to provide gambling to British consumers, and the Commission's public register shows what each licensee may offer¹.

Licences come with conditions. British rules, for example, require online sites to offer tools for limiting time and money spent, and to make terms and account history available¹. Other regulators, such as the Malta Gaming Authority, publish searchable licensee registers too².

Prohibition

Some countries prohibit gambling or are moving to. In the Maldives, the government submitted a bill in December 2025 to make gambling and operating a gambling establishment criminal offences³. The Maldivian Constitution makes Islam one of the bases of all laws⁴.

Blocking websites and payments

Blocking is an enforcement tool that can support either model. Australia's communications regulator, ACMA, can ask internet service providers to block access to illegal online gambling websites under the Telecommunications Act 1997⁵. In the Maldives, the Communications Authority began blocking betting sites on police orders in July 2024⁶.

Payments can be targeted too. Bank of Maldives restricted the use of its cards on gambling websites in 2020⁷.

Grey and black markets

A black market operator has no licence anywhere relevant to its customers. A grey market operator may hold a licence in one country while serving people in another where it has no authorisation. Either way, the customer's own country offers no oversight.

Regulators warn about the effects. In January 2025 Great Britain's Gambling Commission said games from licensed suppliers were reaching unlicensed websites through resellers, exposing consumers to fraud, data privacy issues and unfair practices⁸. The World Health Organization notes that online access allows gambling almost anywhere, even where it is prohibited⁹.

Who commits the offence

Laws differ on who is liable. Some focus on the business that provides gambling; others also penalise the person who gambles. The Maldivian bill, as reported, covers both: gambling itself and operating a gambling establishment, including online platforms¹⁰.

How we track and verify legal information

Legal information goes out of date quickly and is often summarised badly online. These are the rules we follow.

• Primary sources first. Legislatures, presidential or government offices, attorneys general and regulators. In the Maldives that means the People's Majlis¹¹, the President's Office¹² and the Attorney General's MVLAW database¹³.
• Dated reporting from established outlets. Where official documents are not published in English, we rely on named news organisations and record the date of each report.
• No affiliate sources for legal claims. Pages that promote gambling sites often publish unsourced legal summaries. We do not cite them for the law.
• If we cannot verify it, we leave it out. Open questions are flagged as open, not filled with assumptions.
• Visible dates. Each page shows when it was last updated and fact-checked, and every claim links to its source.

Our editorial policy and how we review pages explain these standards in full.

Current jurisdiction coverage

The Maldives section also covers the wider online gambling picture and support for gambling harm. We will add jurisdictions only when they can be sourced to the same standard.