Online Sports Betting and International Relations

Sports gambling represents a universal past time in countries around the world, and the advent of online gambling has raised major issues of national sovereignty in the regulation of legal sports betting. Recent disputes between countries like the United States (US-Gambling) and Portugal (Liga Portuguesa) and online gambling operators in offshore jurisdictions have demonstrated the need for international legal agreements on these issues. An existing international betting system for horse races around the world offers one potential model as countries begin to consider a new legal regime for international online gambling.