| Global Online Gambling’s Varying Legality |
| Thursday, 19 March 2009 01:33 |
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Online gambling has seen its fortunes grow steadily over the last decade since it first exploded onto the gambling scene. When the big software developers first released their online casino software, many websites were hastily crafted to take advantage of the new technology and online casino operator business began to mushroom all over the world. As fast as online gambling was growing in popularity amongst the millions of people who enjoy gambling, it was also attracting an ever larger and more vocal body of opposition, especially in the US. This culminated in anti-online gambling laws being brought in by the Bush Administration in 2006. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was rolled out over the next two years and caused plenty of controversy and arguing between pro and anti-gambling groups.We’ll take a look at how online gambling has affected the industry in the US as well as how it has fared in other regions across the globe, such as Europe, Australia and Canada. In the US, online gambling’s fire has been raging for well over a year now as the legislation to outlaw certain forms of online gambling have begun to bite. But as some states have tried to enforce the laws with almost overzealous intensity, others have sat back and watched quietly from the wings to see how thing pan out. This has resulted in so much confusion that it is difficult to even know exactly what is legal and what is not, as some states allow online poker but not online casinos, whereas other states allow online sports betting and not online poker. Still others seem to turn a blind eye to all forms of online gambling while still others are trying to close the door on all forms of Internet gambling. To such an extent is the uncertainty created by the UIGEA that the State of Kentucky even attempted to seize domains of online casinos that weren’t even based in the United States! Not surprisingly, that ill fated attempt failed. Such actions have caused some big names in the industry to withdraw their online casinos from US players. Most notably of these are casinos that fall under the PlayTech umbrella. Credit card companies in the US have now altered their transaction codes which deny online transactions attempted by US players with online gambling websites. With the election of a new President in Barack Obama, a new administration is looking to overturn the fateful legislation created in 2006 and more sensible regulation rather than outlawing seems to be the way forward, although there are still no guarantees. In Europe, the laws enabling free trade movement between EU member states have allowed a more relaxed approach to online gambling. To this effect, the European Court of Justice ruled that the legality surrounding online gambling should be left up to the governments of the individual nations to decide. Most have opted to allow online gambling by regulating the industry and issuing licenses to businesses and taking taxation from the profits. With an industry that generates billions of euros every year, this is a substantial tax windfall for those countries that have taken this route. In Australia, the IGA (Interactive Gambling Act) was passed by the government in 2001 which outlawed all forms of online gambling. The legislation was an attempt to combat the huge compulsive gambling problem that seemed to be affecting a higher percentage of its citizens than any other country in the world. More recently, in 2008 the BetFair betting exchange, based in Tasmania won a high court judgement which allowed it to take online bets from residents in Western Australia. Unitab, a Queensland based tote operation currently provide online racing and sports betting services to Queensland, Northern Territories and South Australia. In Canada, online gambling is legal across the whole country and its citizens are free to indulge their preferences for all types of gambling via the Internet. For this reason, several prominent online casino operators are based in Canada. It is also where one of the foremost of the industry’s regulatory bodies, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission which licenses many prominent online casinos is based. In other areas of the world, Internet gambling is having less of an impact. As the industry continues to expand, more counties are either embracing it as a way of boosting their own economies, or opposing it on grounds of moral or religious beliefs. One of the next areas expected to provide an avenue for expansion is the continent of Asia, where some countries have already accepted many Western cultural differences and would not be averse to embracing the industry. |