What Are We Talking About, Really?

The legal battles taking place in the United States over the fate of the gambling ban are all over the news. At the same time, legal processes are taking place at the WTO and elsewhere around the world. Also in the news are developments from the leading online gambling market of the day, the United Kingdom, where a new system is in place, which regulates the market and even allows for advertisements on television in which people can be seen gambling.

While these measures are being implemented and contested, be they advancing or limiting the business, there are enormous sums of cash on the table. Why is the Las Vegas industry fighting to protect its monopoly on gambling in the US? Why are the British interested in being the first to offer their land to become a major European hub for gambling? Why do small nations such as Antigua and Barbuda battling giant windmills in hope of keeping its local casino headquarters in the game?

Just as Douglas Adams, in his classic Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, said 42 is the answer to the question What is the meaning of life, the answer in this case is 144. In billions. Of dollars.

One hundred and forty four billion dollars. That is the estimated value of the global Internet gambling industry, according to global business and market analyst company PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

This explains a few things. At least we believe it does. For Antigua, whose GDP is around 6 or 7 billion dollars, a 3 billion dollar business located on its small island in the Caribbean is considerable; certainly not dispensable.

The same goes for England, who might capitalize on a multi billion euro industry and become its leader or main benefactor.

With every coin we drop in a slot machine at an online casino, we fuel not only our own, private entertainment. It goes beyond the progressive jackpot, too. It reaches the ultimate high levels of the expanding and all-encompassing global economy. And from there, it reaches the high offices where decisions are made. On their table are enormous sums. Billions of dollars.