Unlike the
United States, Europe and the
United Kingdom have allowed
their online casinos to
flourish. In October of 2006
the United States passed the
Unlawful Internet Gambling
Enforcement Act. The law did
not outlaw online casinos but
it did make operations
difficult as it became illegal
for banks and credit
institutions to accept
transactions from internet
gambling sites. While the
United States decided to go
with prohibition as an answer
to one of the worlds fastest
growing industries the UK
passed the Gambling Act 2005
and gambling remains
unregulated at the European
Union level and laws are left
to the interpretations of
individual member states.
The UK is the first major
country to legalize and
regulate online casinos and
the process has been overall
successful. In 2005 the
country replaced gambling laws
that had been in place since
1845. Special attention was
given to online casinos, which
have only continued to grow in
popularity since the turn of
the century.
Instead of
outlawing online casinos or
sabotaging the industry, as
the Unlawful Internet Gambling
Enforcement Act did in the
United States, the UK chose
regulation. Regulation was the
best answer to most of their
concerns. Now the government
can put mandatory preventative
measures in place to protect
minors from gambling sites as
well as protect citizens from
unethical companies. Taxation
of the very lucrative internet
gambling business also brings
millions of dollars in to
government coffers each year.
Online casinos are
handled in a very different
way in Europe. Again, online
casinos are not legislated on
a Union level in Europe. The
individual member nations are
allowed to regulate gambling
laws in the way they see fit.
However, there is an open
boarders trade agreement
between the nations. Therefore
nations that have made an
effort to regulate online
casinos, like France and
Germany, are allowed to offer
their services to other
countries in Europe.
There is some resistance to
online casinos in Europe. Some
countries are making an effort
to keep out online casinos
from other countries to kill
any competition threats to
their state run gambling
monopolies. That is against
the treaty of the Union.
Countries are not allowed to
keep competition out in order
to protect monopolies or the
European Commission will
charge them with
protectionism, as they did
with Greece.
Online
casinos are continuing to grow
all over the world. Just
recently South Africa made
room for the flourishing
industry. Some how the United
States has kept the damaging
UIGEA intact. Online casinos
have been seen as a pure
gambling establishment,
meaning that they depend on
gaming activity for revenues;
as opposed to brick and mortar
casinos that have branched out
into entertainment, dining,
and hospitality. Pure gambling
operations have proven
themselves recession proof
during this time of global
economic crisis. Many
countries, including the US,
have sought out new sources of
government revenues.
Regulating and taxing online
casinos may be a great idea.
There may be hope on
the horizon yet for online
casino in the United States.
Senator Barack Obama is
currently in good standing to
succeed George W. Bush as the
next president of the United
States. It is well known that
Obama is a poker player. There
is a good chance that he will
look to the example of the
Europe and the UK and chose
regulation over prohibition.
