Online gambling and money transaction: A question of legality in the context of Bangladesh

Online gambling has become a major crux spanning from metro areas to distant rural areas, with multiple syndicates comprised of local and foreign individuals leeching off crores of taka from the country. If any person or entity engaged in the business of accepting, placing, receiving, or otherwise knowingly transmitting a bet or wager by any means which involves the use, at least in part of the internet, and would include online businesses offering sports betting, online poker, or other games of chance then it will be considered as "Online Gambling". It`s unimaginable to understand how gambling steadily poisoning society. In a single second, gambling may distinguish between several hundred thousand wins and losses. However, the rules of online gambling laws vary from country to country, and they are not always clear. This is undoubtedly the case in Bangladesh, where there has never been a law that covers only "online gambling".

Bangladesh, the world's third most populous Islam-majority country, prohibits gambling except for horse racing. However, it is not unusual for people to bet on sports such as cricket, carrom, kabaddi, and others. Whereas the Bangladesh Gambling Act has undergone some amendments over the decades. In Bangladesh, all online gambling businesses are still illegal.

According to the Constitution of Bangladesh, Article 18(2) clearly stipulates that to prevent all sorts of gambling state will adopt the effective measure. As far as we are aware, fundamental principles of state policy are not judicially enforceable. Therefore, this clause directs the State's legislative initiatives and discourages gambling on the land. The Public Gambling Act of 1867, is the primary law that governs gambling in Bangladesh. The legislation dated back to the British regime, which is the primary reason for the lax penalty for gambling. And during that period, it was quite unimaginable to add any provision regarding online gambling.

There are also some scattered provisions in Bangladeshi laws where gambling is mentioned such as section 294A of The Penal Code, 1860 and section 92 of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (Amendment) Ordinance, 1976.  Both of these provisions are not for online gambling. So, we have established that online gambling may or may not be unlawful under Bangladeshi law, which won't assist many people who are hoping for a solid answer.

As of now, there is no local mobile/online-based casino established in Bangladesh.  But gamblers from Bangladesh can still access mobile casino games provided by foreign websites. The most popular mobile casino games for Bangladeshi gamblers are mobile slots, mobile poker, mobile roulette, and mobile blackjack.

To participate in real cash gambling, Bangladeshi gamers have to fund their accounts with real money. For the record, it could include fiat cash as well as cryptocurrency. The most widely used money in Bangladesh is fiat currency. The official money, various Southeast Asian currencies, and even worldwide currencies are also available to gamblers. Making payments is an issue for many online gamblers in Bangladesh, as it is not always allowed to deposit using a debit/credit card. Nevertheless, there is a simple solution: utilize an e-wallet. "Neteller and Skrill" are extremely popular solutions that function as a middleman between debit/credit cards and gambling websites. Even one of the online betting sites "1xbet" promotes its site by advertising on Television during a cricket match between Bangladesh and West Indies last year.  One may possibly believe that depositing with Bitcoin is a fantastic idea; nevertheless, keep in mind that Bitcoin is banned in Bangladesh. In addition, all other cryptocurrencies are banned in the country. On July 21, 2021, Bangladesh Bank stated one more time that it does not permit the ownership or trade of any type of virtual coin or cryptocurrency in Bangladesh. The central bank's statement came after uncertainty built following a letter it issued to the police's criminal investigation department claiming that trading of cryptocurrencies cannot be considered apparently as a crime although virtual coins are illegal under the laws of the country. In a public notice, Bangladesh Bank also stated that transactions using any virtual currency are prohibited according to the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act of 1947, the Money Laundering Prevention Act of 2012, and the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009.

As new channels of online gambling have emerged in recent years, laws should be updated and adequately applied to ensure that the constitutional duty to prevent gambling is upheld. Given the pros and cons of gambling, it is clear that it has some visible and far-reaching consequences on the country's morality, economics, society, politics, law, and order; the state should implement comprehensive systems to tackle strictly online gambling-related issues.  It is recommended that as gambling has certain negative impacts and existing laws are outdated, new laws should be enacted to repeal existing provisions of laws.

The writer is a student of law, University of Asia Pacific