Gambling Age

Gambling age, formally known as legal gambling age, is the age you have to have reached to be allowed to gamble in a certain country, state or territory. The legal gambling age is set by the legislators, but it is usually permissible for each individual casino to set a higher - never lower - gambling age for their particular casino if they so please. A casino operating in an area where the legal gambling age is 18 years can thus elect not to allow any player under the age of 20, while lowering the limit to 17 years would be illegal.

When looking for information about the legal age to gamble it is important to remember that you need not only check the national and local rules but also the rules for the particular type of gambling your are interested in, as different types of gambling often have different legal ages. It is for instance far from uncommon for U.S. states to have different legal ages for Lotteries, Parimutuel Betting (sports betting), Casinos & Slot Machines, Charity Bingo and Pull-tabs. To make things even more confusing there are often different gambling ages in Indian casinos than in the rest of the U.S. state as well as different rules for casino cruises and casino ships. It can in other words be a bit tricky to find out the exact rules. Luckily, this is chiefly a problem concerning those who want to open a gambling establishment. If you simply want to gamble, just call or e-mail the casino or other gambling operator ahead of time to find out how high the gambling age limit is. Most online casinos use a 18 or 21 year age limit.

In the United States, the gambling age for sports betting is usually between 18 and 21 years in most states but there are also quite a few states that do not have a legal age for this type of gambling. The situation is similar for lotteries but there are a lot less states that do not have a legal limit and a 18 year age limit is dominating across the nation even if some states require you to be 21.

Casinos and slot machines are more complicated and more diverse even if 18-21 years still is the dominating age limit among states that allow this type of gambling. There can often can be several age limits to consider within the same state when it comes to casino and slot machines.

Bingo has one of the most diverse set of rules when it comes to gambling age. 18-21 years is still dominating but there are quite a few states that allow bingo play regardless of age. There are also quite a few states that have a 16 year old limit and others still that do not allow it at all.

The situation for gambling age limits is similar in neighboring Canada, with national and local rules for different types of gambling. The legal age is however usually between 18-21 in Canada as well.

In Europe the legal gambling age varies as well, but is most commonly set to 18 years regardless of what type of gambling we are referring to. There are however plenty of exceptions from this. The situation is similar in Asia with the legal gambling age varying from country to country. The gambling age in many casinos in Macau is as an example 18 years.

The legal gambling age in Australia is 18, and that age limit is also used in most, but not all, of New Zeeland. To find out more about the legal gambling age in different parts of the worlds, visit our page regarding the region you are interested in. For information on gambling age limits in nordic countries we recommend

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