Players and Governments Share the Winnings

The online gambling industry has seen tremendous development over the years, since its early days in the 90s. Once a small industry, it quickly became a multi-billion dollar industry. From a small selection of gaming sites, players are able to choose from thousands - literally thousands - of sites. The industry has grown to encompass the entire globe, speaking languages as foreign from English as China is far from London.

The current stage of the industry is defined by regulatory efforts, a large-scale reshuffling of the sites and the rules that govern them. In the US, the policy was a ban of all financial activity involving gambling, de facto closing off the sites from American users. In the UK, an opposite course was taken, where the government has taken on regulating the industry, including bringing it closer to the mainstream, as in the advertisements allowed to air on television (effective today, September 1).

Other modus operandi is the one pursued by the Swedish government, namely a state-owned online casino. Svenska Spel, operated by the government, is expecting a 40% increase in the amount of money bet over its Internet sites in the year 2007.

Along with a 30% increase by the state's poker site, it will make for a record turnover for Swedish gambling companies, needless to say, with a sum greater than the 5 billion dollars reported in 2004.

Other countries plan to follow in the Nordic footsteps. Holland Casinos will open up no less than 14 online casino and poker sites, after signing a deal with Cryptologic earlier this year. Opening date will be during the month of September.

When the Swedes opened their sites in late 2005 and then added a poker site in March 2006, it was viewed by the world of gambling as a test-case with potential that far exceeds the Scandinavian country limits. Indeed, it seems like not only a successful way to keep gaming within legal and responsible limits, but also to generate tremendous profit.