Title: Cross-border enforcement of gambling contracts: a comparative study

Authors: Zheng Sophia Tang

Addresses: Associate Professor in Business Law, School of Law, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

Abstract: Transnational gambling activities face the conflict of different substantive laws and regulations in different countries and generate conflict of laws questions about the enforcement of gambling contracts. This article conducts a comparative study of the enforcement of foreign gambling contracts in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Canada, France, Singapore, and some states of the USA. It concludes that the current practice in most countries will not use fundamental public policy to refuse the enforcement of gambling contracts, which are legal and enforceable at the place where the contracts are performed, regardless of their domestic law. Refusing the enforcement of all gambling debts incurred abroad incur more difficulties and social problems, which are demonstrated by the current situation between Mainland China and Macau. The specific characteristics of gambling industry determine that this issue is best left for each domestic court to decide by using its own discretion.

Keywords: conflict of laws; cross-border contracts; foreign gambling contracts; gaming industry; transnational gambling; China; Hong Kong; Canada; France; Singapore; USA; United States; Macau; public policy; gambling debts; domestic courts.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPL.2014.059072

International Journal of Private Law, 2014 Vol.7 No.1, pp.1 - 19

Published online: 13 Sep 2014 *

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