What are the age rules for gambling?

Before discussing age rules for gambling, it helps to define what is meant by gambling. A basic working definition for gambling is that it has to contain three elements: some kind of consideration or cost, such as money, that must offered in order to play; an element of chance, and some kind of prize. When it come to online games, there are situations that don't fit this definition, situations that fit this situation that don't involve money, and situations that fit all three criteria and that have money involved. Whether age limits would apply would depend on the situation.

Online casino games that don't involve gambling
By this definition, playing a casino-related card game like poker would not be considered gambling if there were no prize and no consideration that has to be offered in order to play, so simply visiting a site and playing roulette, poker, slot machines, or any other online would not be considered gambling.

If the web site does not require any kind of registration, than anyone of any age can visit the site. In the US, if registration is required, but no money or other financial information is required, there may be some age-based requirement. For example, in the US, the federal Child Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) requires parental consent for the online collection of information about users under 13. In spite of this requirement, the typical web site has no way to verify the age of a user, so anyone of any age can use a free web site the requires registration.

Online sites that involve gambling but don't charge for the service
There are many 'play for free sites' that allow users to have a simulated gambling experience by the use of free credits or points that a user must spend in order to participate in these simulated casino experiences. In the US, a site like this could have players of any age. As is the case with any web site in the US, if the site allows users under the age of 13 to register, they must comply with COPPA.

Online sites that involve gambling and charge for the serviceIn this situation, the effective minimum age is usually 18. For sites like this, a player must have a credit card, debit, card, PayPal account, or some other kind of online payment system. While it is possible for someone under the age of 18 to have a credit card, debit, card, or PayPal account, the typical child doesn't have those financial options available.

Depending on the country where the web site is located, they may have a minimum age that is typically the same as the voting age in that country. In most cases, that would be 18.

Offline gambling
In the US, the typical minimum age for state sponsored gambling is 18. If the gambling involves going into a casino, the minimum age is typically 21, which is the minimum drinking age across the country. Outside the US, rules vary, with live casinos basically having a minimum age equal to the drinking age in that country.

Below is a list of minimum ages for live casino gambling in various countries.

Aruba: No one under 18 years old is allowed in casinos.

The Bahamas: Players must be at least 18.

Belgium: Casinos are technically "private clubs," limited to "members" at least 21 years old.

Bulgaria: Open to anyone over 18 years old.

Canada: Varies by province, but typically 18 or 19 years old.

Denmark: Casino guests must be at least 18 years old.

Finland: 18 years old.

France: 18 years old.

Germany: State governments set their own age limits, with minimum from 21 to 18 years old.

Great Britain: Casinos are technically membership clubs and no one under 18 may join.

Greece: Individuals must be at least 23 years old to enter a casino.

Australia: Varies by region with 18 years old being typical for any type gaming and betting, except in sweepstakes type games where the minimum age may be as low as 16.

New Zealand: No one under 20 years old may enter the gaming area of a casino.

Portugal: Casinos are open to foreigner over 18 years old, but Portuguese nationals are barred unless they are over 21 and in some casinos over 25.

Spain: 18 years old.

United States: Varies by state and type of game, with 21 being the minimum age to enter a casino and from 18 to 21 for other kinds of games. A few states, Utah, Tennessee, and Hawaii, do not allow commercial gambling.

Can the IRS tax my gambling winnings? - Yes they can!

If you are a US citizen or subject to US taxes, then any money that you make is taxable, including gambling winnings. Surprised? You shouldn't be. The IRS doesn't care where or how you make your money. If you make it, they will want their cut.

Realistically, if you only made a few dollars, no one would care. If you made a few thousand dollars, they will definitely start to care, especially if they find out that you didn't mention it in your tax returns. If you get issued an IRS Form W-2G from a casino or other gambling establishment, that means that they also told the IRS about it, so you have no escape from the tax man in that case.

Even if you don't get a Form W-2G, you should play by the rules. To make things easy, the IRS offers seven pieces of advice to help you out:

1. All gambling winnings are fully taxable (no matter where you earned it from).
   
   
2. Gambling income includes, but is not limited to, winnings from lotteries, raffles, horse races, poker tournaments and casinos. It includes cash winnings and also the fair market value of prizes such as cars and trips.
   
   
3. A payer is required to issue you a Form W-2G if you receive certain gambling winnings or if you have any gambling winnings subject to federal income tax withholding.
   
   
4. Even if you don't get a W-2G, all gambling winnings must be reported as taxable income. Therefore, you may be required to pay an estimated tax on the gambling winnings. For more information on paying estimated taxes, refer to IRS Publication 505, Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax.
   
   
5. You must report your gambling winnings on Form 1040, line 21.
   
   
6. If you itemize your deductions on Form 1040, you can deduct gambling losses you had during the year, but only up to the amount of your winnings.
   
   
7. Keep track of your winnings and losses. To deduct your losses, you have to be able to document it with things like receipts, tickets, statements or other records that show the amount of both your winnings and losses.

For more information, refer to IRS Publications 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income, and Publication 529, Miscellaneous Deductions.

Keep in mind that even if you are not a US citizen and you have never had to pay taxes in the past, you may be subject to US taxes if your winnings occur in the US. If this is your situation, you should consult with a tax professional.

Are you a problem gambler?

Gambling represents different things to different people. For most it is entertainment, a break from routine. For others, it is a way to make money, though most of the money is made by the casinos and the bookmakers rather than the players.

No matter why someone gambles, it isn't a problem unless gambling leads to significant negative consequences to the gambler and the people in the gambler's life. Those negative consequences usually involve personal finances, personal relationships, and the interruption of the gambler's normal life.

While there is no easy test to tell if you are a problem gambler, if you answer 'yes' to most of the following questions, you probably have a serious gambling problem:

• Do you keep gambling after you lose more than your limit for that day or that game?
  
  
• Do you gamble to win back your losses?
  
  
• Have you ever had to borrow money, take a cash advance on your credit card, pawn some of your personal property, or take out a payday loan to continue gamble?
  
  
• Have you ever lied about your gambling to your friends, family, or coworkers?
  
  
• Did you ever skip work or some other personal or professional obligation to go out and gamble?
  
  
• Have you lost any sleep over your gambling?
  
  
• Do you feel like going out to gamble after something either very good or very bad happens in your life?
  
  
• Do you feel awful about yourself after you gamble?
  
  
• Are you afraid that your reputation would suffer if the people in your life knew just how much you gambled?
  
  
• Have you considered doing something drastic like bankruptcy, suicide, or abandoning your family to escape your gambling related problems?
  
  
• Do you binge gamble for hours or days at a time?
  
  
• Do you go overboard with other vices while gambling?
  
  
• Do you have gambling companions who you would never consider introducing to your non-gambling friends, family, or coworkers.
  
  
• Have you ever lied, cheated, or broken the law to have an opportunity to gamble?
  
  
• Has gambling gotten in the way of your relationships or interrupted your regular routines?
  
  
• Have you done anything shameful or illegal in order to get money to gamble?

If you have answered 'yes' one or two of these questions, and if it only happened on one or two occasions, you have a problem that you can probably control. If you answered 'yes' to at least half of these questions, or worse, you can think of a bunch more questions to ask based on your own experiences, then you need help in a big way.

What should you do if you have a problem?
The answer is simple. Like the case with many other kinds of addictive and abusive behaviors and lifestyles, the first step is to admit you have a problem, and the second is to ask for help. Because gambling problems may also be connected with money problems and relationship problems, you'll probably have to deal with several problems at once.

If you have the strength to make a personal commitment to face your problems and deal with it, then you will have what it takes to deal with all of the problems that are revolving around your gambling issues. If you don't know where to find treatment options, start with Google, your spiritual adviser, or your local branch of Gamblers Anonymous.

Two kinds of gambling games - those based on luck and those based on skill

Whether you gamble or play casino games online or offline, you are playing one of two types of games: those that involve luck and those that involve skill. If you are playing a game based on luck, the specific outcome of each game can't be predicted in advance, and the most important choices you have is to whether to play or not play the game. In a game of luck, you make your decisions ahead of time and you can't change them once the game starts. Your outcome will depend on what betting strategy you take and whether that strategy results in a win or loss for you.

On the other hand, games that involve skill involve playing against one or more other players (human or non-human), and you are able to make one or more choices while the game is in progress. If you can understand this basic difference, and figure out whether you are playing one type of game or another, you can figure out what kind of decisions you make when you play the game.

Games of Skill
Typically the outcome of the game can be described, but not predicted with certainty, using mathematics. For example, if you flip a coin ten times, on average you would have five heads and five tails. However, your result can be anywhere between zero heads and ten heads. Probability can predict your chances of getting a particular combination of heads and tails, but it is impossible to predict your actual outcome until you actually flip the coin ten times.

Another thing to remember about games of luck is that the game has no memory, and previous outcomes don't affect future outcomes. For example, when you roll a pair of dice, only one combination of the 36 possible combination will give you a two (snake eyes). The chance of you rolling a second snake eyes on the next throw is still one in 36, and if you rolled two in a row, the chance you would get snake eyes again is still one in 36.

The best way to get an advantage in a game of luck is to understand the rules of the game and a little bit of the math behind the game. Your strategy in such a game is based completely on what you know about the game itself, and not on the other players. Games of luck you may see in a casino or online include things like roulette, craps, baccarat, lotteries, and slot machines.

A previous article used an example of a simple dice game to illustrate the math behind a game, and also gave you a way to demonstrate well that mathematics could also model the results of the game.

Games of Skill
In a casino or online, games of skill involve a combination of both luck and decision making. The luck part is most important at the beginning of the game, for example, what cards are dealt to a poker player. Once the game is under way, each player has to make one or more decisions, and the player who makes the best decision in each situation has a better chance to win a particular game and a better chance to have more wins than losses after playing many games.

Making the best decision each time doesn't guarantee a win. The randomness of the game can still bite you. You have to make a decision based on the information you have, and you can only make guesses about the things you don't know. For example, if you are playing blackjack, and you want one more card, with practice you can estimate how likely it is that you can get a certain card, but you can't be sure until you get the card.

Your decisions may also be affected by other players. If you are sitting around a table playing poker, it may be obvious by a person's betting behavior or physical behavior that you are dealing with someone who is either a very good player or a very bad one.

A different kind of skill game is one where the outcome is determined by factors that have nothing to do with either luck and the behavior or skill of individual players. Sports betting is one example where the probability of an outcome is determined by the game players and the the agency that handles the bets and the payoffs. The probability is determined in large part by the amount of betting for one outcome or another. The skills for a successful player include understanding or at least making educated guesses about the players or the teams involved in the sport, the mathematics of betting, and the behavior of other players.

Why is it important to know if a game is all luck or at least partly skill?
If you understand what kind of a gambler you are or want to be, you will likely enjoy either skill based or luck based games more. By knowing what you want to do, you are more likely to take the time to work on those things that will make you a better player.

How to understand the emotions behind probability

When you gamble in real life or online, winning and losing can be an emotional experience, even though the mathematics behind most games doesn't have any emotions or memory, it just is. You have a 50% chance of getting heads when you flip a coin. It doesn't matter if you had ten tails in a row before then, the probability is still 50%.

When you gamble, you don't stop being human. In your mind, you know its all about the numbers, but you still can't keep your heart from beating fast if there is money on the line. Some people can handle the emotions and still make good decisions, and some people can't. Finding out how you respond emotionally to gambling can be real expensive if there is a lot of money on the line. The smart way to go is to find out ahead of time. That way, if you find out that you can't take the pressure, you can make a smart choice and not gamble for money.

A simple dice game can help you understand how you react
Todd Curtis, a well known aviation safety analyst and risk assessment specialist, created a game called Are You Better Than Average? that very easily demonstrates both the logic and the emotion behind many gambling situations. The game was simple enough for six-year-olds to pick up in five minutes, and subtle enough to entertain NASA engineers. Armed with only a pair of dice and a piece of paper, you too learn something about your gambling emotions.

History of the Game
Once upon a time, there was a procrastinating dad who promised to make up a game for the math class during Parents Night at his kid's school. The night before, dad thought "What can I come up with really, really quickly?" Spying a pair of dice, he thought for a bit and came up with a way to quickly demonstrate some of the basics of probability. The game does this in a fun way that both kids and adults can enjoy. The children of Lake Woebegone, who are all above average, inspired the game's title.

Purpose of the Game
To demonstrate three basic principles of applied mathematics: averages, probability, and modeling.

Materials: One pair of dice, throwing tray or other flat surface, score sheet (optional)

About Dice: A single die has six sides numbered one through six. With a pair of dice, there are thirty-six possible combinations. Twelve combinations result in either a double or in two numbers that add up to seven, therefore there is a 12 in 36 chance, or one in three probability of rolling a double or a seven.

The Model
On average, it takes three tries to get either a seven or a double,
therefore if one gets a seven or a double on the first or the second throw, one is better than average. It can be shown that the probability of getting a double or seven on the first throw is 1/3 (about 33.3%), the probability of getting it on the second throw is (2/3)x(1/3)= 2/9 (about 22.2%), and the probability of getting it after two throws is 1-(1/3)-(2/9)= 4/9 (about 44.4%).

This model can be demonstrated by playing the game 99 times - there should be about 33 who get a double or a seven on the first try, 22 on the second try, and 44 who do not do so after the first two tries. One can keep track of the results by using a three-column score sheet of the results (first throw, second throw, more than two throws).

Playing the Game

• Have someone throw a pair of dice into the throwing tray.



• If the person gets a double or a seven on the first throw, add an "X" in the "Wins on First Roll" table of the score sheet and go to the next player. If the person does not get a double or a seven, throw again.



• If the person gets a double or a seven on the second throw, add an "X" in the "Wins on Second Roll" table of the score sheet. If the person does not get a double or a seven, add an "X" to the "Loses on Second Roll" table. In either case, move to the next player.



• After 99 players (a person can play more than once), count up the number in each column and see how close it comes to the prediction of the model.



• Remember to keep the atmosphere light and playful!

Download the instructions and a score sheet.

How and when to use an online alias

When you go online, one of the most important things that you should protect is your privacy. When it comes to online gambling, you may only be checking out the free to play sites, and would prefer that they don't know too much about you. One way to do that is to have an online alias that doesn't give that service any idea who you are.

Should You Use an Online Alias?
If you are legally obligated to provide true information about yourself, it would be wrong and possibly a crime to provide something other than true information. Some obvious examples are online bank accounts, travel reservation sites, and any online communications involving business negotiations. For just about any other online activity, if the service provider has no need to know your true identity, then do not provide it.

If the answer to the next two questions is “no,” feel free to use an online alias:

1. Are you legally required to provide information about yourself?
   
   
2. Would anyone suffer any kind of loss if you did not provide true personal information?

What Should Be in an Online Alias?
An online alias should consist of the kind of personal information that providers of online services typically ask of new users. You should come up with a full and fake online identity profile ahead of time, including a name, birth date, address, profession, and gender.

What should be real about your online alias
The only thing that shouldn't be fake is your email address, since a working address is essential if you want to use most online services. For this, get a free web-based address from a service like Gmail, and use this email address whenever you use your fake online identity.

How much of your profile should you use?
If you register with an online service using your online alias, put the minimum amount of information possible, leaving as many spaces blank as the service will allow. The most common identifying information that will be requested will be your email address, with your zip code being the next most likely. However, be prepared to give much more. Below is a sample online alias, based on an example alias from chapter 4 of the book Parenting and the Internet:

Name: A single letter or a string of random letters
Address: 123 Main Street
City: Beverly Hills
State: CA (California)
Zip code: 90210
Telephone: 310-555-1234
Date of birth: January 1, 1911
Income: Pick something in the low range

The zip code was picked because of the popular television show that has a zip code in its title, Beverly Hills 90210. Even if you are like me and have never seen the show, you have probably heard of it many times, so remembering the zip code part should be very easy for you.

The birth year was also strategic. I use a year that is 99 years in the past (subtract one from the current year) because the only time I had a birth year rejected was when I used one more than 100 years old.

How real is this example profile?
The example alias given above was not created out of thin air, but rather from my own experience. In all the times I have used some or all of this alias to register for various free online services, it was rejected only one time. The automated registration process of one online service recognized the street as not being one from Beverly Hills and was not satisfied until I provided an actual Beverly Hills street name.

How to gamble online while at work

If you enjoy online gambling, whether you are playing for fun or playing for money, you have to be very careful about doing it while at work. The typical workplace allows employees to use company resources like computers and email accounts for personal reasons, and may even tolerate the occasional visit to an entertainment site on company time. However, most companies would consider visits to gambling sites to be an inappropriate use of company resources, and doing so may get you in trouble, or even fired.

Know the organization's rules for using the Web
Every organization that provides Internet access to workers should have some kind of policy that covers how that resource can be used. Ideally, that organization's Web use policy is written down and everyone in the organization is made aware of the policy. IF it is, find it, read it, and get familiar with it. If there is no explicit policy, then review policies concerning the use of the organization's resources and use your judgment as to what is proper conduct.

Things to avoid online at work
In Speedbrake Publishing's list of 10 online activities that you should not do at work, three of them are very relevant when it comes to online gambling:

• Visiting Web sites containing inappropriate material: In the US, the kinds of web sites most often considered to be inappropriate would include those containing nudity or sexually oriented material. Others include sites that promote or depict discrimination, violence, or illegal activities. Depending on the laws in your state, some aspects of online gambling may be considered illegal. Rather than take a chance, the smart move would be to avoid these sites while using your company's equipment.
  
  
• Using your company provided resources to send or receive email associated with inappropriate activities: Every organization has different policies, but most have limits on personal use of the organization's email system. Sending email to confirm a dentist appointment would likely be allowed, but things like sending messages to your online gambling friends, even using your own web based email account like Gmail, is likely not allowed. You should review your organization's acceptable use policy for further details.
  
  
• Engaging in online activity that, if released to the public, may hurt the public's perception of the organization: In the US, companies have the right to track or record all of your online activities, even personal ones, if you use company provided resources. If you are in any doubt about if what you are doing online would hurt your company's image, ask yourself whether what you are doing on the company's computer would embarrass the company if the details were published in the New York Times, Fox News, or the Huffington Post. If the answer is yes, then don't do it.

Steps to take to gamble online at work
When you are gambling online at work, to do so successfully you have to do three things: avoid using any company resource, only do it when you are at lunch or an authorized break, and don't publicize what you are doing.

Company resources include email accounts, Internet access through company owned computer systems, or even a company sponsored wireless access hot spot. For the last resource, it doesn't matter if you are using your own computer, if you are using the company's signal, it can still track or record everything that you do online.

During lunch or during an authorized break, you are on your own, and free to take care of all kinds of personal business, including going online, without asking management's permission. Be sure to use your own hardware to access the web, and to use an Internet connection completely separate from anything run by your company. If you have a netbook or some other device that can use a wi-fi hotspot, head on over during lunch. If your job is near a public library or coffee shop, chances are you can go there to get online for free.

Loose lips sink careers
What you do while on the clock is the company's business. What you do online while off the clock is nobody's business but your own. If you have taken reasonable steps to enjoy your online gambling independent of your company's Internet resources, and you are doing it in your free time, talking about it at work can only hurt you.

Imagine that you walked away with a big jackpot at lunch and you come back to work very happy about your good fortune, and you can't help but tell your coworker or even worse your boss. Do you think that person will be happy for you or be jealous about the fact that you suddenly have a lot more money? Rather than worry about how a boss or coworker may use news about your gambling habit against you, make the smart choice and keep your habits to yourself. This also goes for any social networking that you do online. Don't talk about it on your Facebook page, or send out tweets about how you much you made during your lunch break.