Bolivia – Online Casinos & Gambling Regulations
Bolivia is located in the heart of South America. Like many countries in that region, Bolivia has had something of a tempestuous relationship with gambling. The country’s different governments have often changed regulations for gambling. For select periods of time, gambling in Bolivia has been completely illegal, for other periods, it has been state-regulated, whereas now, the laws are fairly liberal. There are no online gambling laws in place in Bolivia at the moment, as a result, the market there is open for business and there is a range of different casinos and sportsbooks available for locals to choose from.
Find the Best Bolivia Casino Online
There are no local regulations in place in Bolivia, which means that opportunistic websites and unlicensed casinos are going to be available alongside the legitimate ones. Knowing which casinos are safe to use can be a little bit of a challenge but providing you follow certain criteria, you should have no problems finding safe and legitimate casinos that are operating in the area.
- Does the casino have a valid gambling license by a trusted authority?
- Is the casino using a selection of safety features such as end-to-end encryption?
- Does the casino work with trusted software developers?
- What currencies are accepted at the casino? Do they accept cryptocurrencies?
- Can players from Bolivia register at the casino?
- Are players from Bolivia able to take part in bonus offers & promotions?
It can be very difficult to know which online casinos are safe to use, especially if the country has very loose regulations. Thankfully, here at GoodLuckMate, we have done all of the hard work so that you don’t have to. You can check out our list of top casinos and our other online casino reviews to find safe and secure online casinos with a variety of different gaming options.
Gambling Regulation – Bolivian Gaming Control Authority
Gambling in Bolivia is regulated by the Bolivian Gaming Control Authority. This regulatory body was created by the Bolivian government in 2011 to attempt to control the influx of questionable investment in the Bolivian gambling sector.
Gambling laws in the country had been fairly relaxed following a change of legislature in 2001 and as a result, this attracted a lot of foreign investment. This piqued in 2009 when Russia banned casinos and a lot of money from the country was invested into Bolivian casinos.
As a result of this, the newly formed Bolivian Gaming Control Authority changed some of the laws regarding casinos. These were mostly tax-related and these had a huge impact on the gaming landscape there. Many casinos stopped operating due to high tax laws. The new laws have also made it more difficult for new casinos to get a license to open in the country, this had seen many locals turn their attention to online gambling.
The Gaming Control Authority, despite having considerable power, has never imposed any restrictions on online gambling in the country. As a result, there is no license that is required for online casinos. This means that residents in Bolivia tend to turn to international casinos as there are few online casinos based in the country itself. Some of these will have licenses from places like Curacao, which is popular among international casinos, while others may be operating without a license at all.
Localized Online Casinos
With no reputable licensing or operating body in Bolivia controlling online casinos, locals have to turn their attention towards off-shore and international online casinos. Many of these casinos will allow players from Bolivia to claim their welcome bonuses and other promotional offers. The only issue players may encounter is if the site is restricted for them to sign-up for.
Bolivia is a multi-lingual country with Spanish being the most widely spoken language in the country. Of course, Spanish is also one of the most widely spoken languages in the world and many online casinos will cater to this. While it is uncommon that any of the indigenous languages of Bolivia will be spoken at casinos, there should be no issue finding ones who speak Spanish. This doesn’t just include gaming, many operators will have customer support available in Spanish and there will also be some live casino options available as well.
There is a state lottery in the country called the Lotería Nacional de Beneficencia y Salubridad. This is controlled by the state and there are no local online lottery sites available for players to try their luck at.
Gambling with the Boliviano
As with a lot of localized currencies, it can be difficult to find online casinos that will accept the Boliviano. A lot of the international casinos that will operate in Bolivia tend to only offer bigger international currencies like the US dollar or the euro. One popular option for players in Bolivia is to play using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Litecoin. These have become increasingly popular in the gambling world in recent years.
Casinos in Bolivia
Gambling, in general, is fairly popular in Bolivia, though, most players will now play online due to the aforementioned heavy taxation applied to physical Bolivian casinos. This led to many of the major casinos in the country shutting down, and many of them have struggled to obtain a license to open in the country. One type of gambling that has become very popular in the country is bingo. There are a lot of great online bingo options from international casinos, though Bingo Bahati, the country’s most popular bingo operator went out of business in 2011.
Most players in the country will be playing online at international casinos. Some of these will be protected by the likes of the Curacao eGaming license, but there will also be some that won’t be. If players want to find a selection of trusted and high-quality online casinos in Bolivia, then they need to be sure to check out our detailed casino reviews.
Dispute resolution – can I get help from a third party?
A gambling license is intended to protect players, and one of its main functions is to provide a mechanism for resolving disputes when they come up. If you have a dispute with a casino, and the casino is being unreasonable, the gambling authority will help you. For many licenses, this means you can contact the gambling authority to get help processing your withdrawals, claiming money the casino has debited from your account, or resolving other disputes that might arise. The likelihood that the gambling authority will help you in ways that are effective, however, depends on the procedures they have in place for this. This is yet another reason why choosing to play at a casino that has a safe license is important.
Getting help directly from the gambling authority is not always necessary, or even an option. A lot of regulators have now enforced third-party dispute resolution. This means casinos must have an agreement with an arbitrator who will look into disputes on the behalf of players from a particular casino. This ensures your dispute will be reviewed by an objective third party. All trusted online casinos have information about arbitration on their websites if they use this option, or they’ll have the contact information for the gambling authority you should consult. However, you should always try to resolve your issues with the casino first, and a lot of casinos have separate email addresses specifically for handling complaints.
Secure payments – can I trust a casino with my money?
If you’re worried about the security of the transactions you’re making at a casino, you should look for a logo with the acronym PCI DSS. This stands for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, and this is something the payment industry has created. If you see this logo, it means the casino can be trusted for safe money transactions since they follow all of the rules set by the payment industry. Information about this can also be found in an FAQ section on the casino’s website.
Another thing to look out for in terms of payments is where your money is kept while you play. Some gambling authorities, all of the best ones actually, regulate what the casino can do with your money while they are holding it. Your money shouldn’t go into a general bank account held by the casino; it should go into an account that is strictly for holding player funds. This means that as long as you have the money in your player account, it can’t be spent by the casino. Your deposit will be kept separate from the operating funds of the casino until your player account is empty, which will happen if you make a funds withdrawal or if you lose the money while playing.Fair gaming – do the games give me a fair chance to win?
The best known system tool for ensuring that a casino offers fair games is eCogra; however, there are other providers that also offer these kinds of systems. You want to make sure that the casino is using a certified third-party control system to ensure that the games of chance you’re playing are actually based on chance and not on other types of metrics. Rigged games are ones that have been set up to pay out less than they claim to or ones that give some players a greater chance of winning than others.
The eCogra logo can often be found in the footer of the casino’s website, but not all casinos choose to display it. If you can’t see this logo, go to the FAQs and see if you can find information about random number generators. If there are no FAQs on the site, check out their terms and conditions or contact the casino’s support and ask how they ensure their games are safe.
Encrypted website – how is my information kept safe?
An SSL-encrypted website should be mandatory for any casino, and very few casinos operate without this or similar safe encryption features. Always keep in mind that you are giving the casino quite a bit of sensitive information, including your payment details. When you’re uploading and sending documents to verify your identity, you want to make sure that no unauthorized third-party has access to them. Site security, therefore, doesn’t only include the website itself but also what the casino does on the backend. You should always look into a casino’s data security. You’ll normally find information about this in their terms and conditions and their privacy policy. If in doubt, contact their support and ask for more detailed information.
Most trustworthy casinos have information about site security in the website footer, so simply scroll down and look for the logo of a well-known security system.
Gambling license – can I play at a casino from my country?
The gambling license a casino operates under will have a big impact on your security. Not all licenses are equally safe for players for the simple reason that they are issued by different gambling authorities that work in different ways and have different rules. The rules and regulations may be quite similar, but the way they are enforced is a different story entirely. For example, if a casino doesn’t comply with the regulations, some gambling authorities may just issue a fine while others may revoke the casino’s license outright. How often gambling authorities show up for an unscheduled inspection or control will also vary.
The biggest differences between a safe, high quality gambling license and one that isn’t as good will usually show up in the areas of fair gaming, dispute resolution and the rules and systems for identifying and handling problem gamblers (responsible gambling). If your country of residence has its own gambling authority, playing at casinos that are licensed by them will be the safest option for you. Other international licenses that can be trusted are issued by the Malta Gambling Authority and the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority. Curacao eGaming is getting better at protecting players whereas licenses from Panama and Costa Rica, for instance, are considered less safe. The worst option is obviously a casino with no license whatsoever.
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