and The Business Marches On

As we prepare for the holidays, light up our Christmas trees and plow the snow from the driveway; a week or two before we receive the special double issue magazines with the end of year summaries, it is also time to take a look at online casinos, and evaluate what came of them and where they are heading to. Considering the considerable changes taking place across the industry for over a year, continuing as time passes, it is hard to point a finger at the processes and summarize the state of the industry. Here's our best shot.

From a technological aspect, the industry has seen great advancements. Not only do sites work faster, the download process practically instantaneous and the games ever better and richer in graphics, gambling has begun its move to wireless and handheld machines. Gambling is already available on mobile platforms and with wider bandwidths this will likely become more prevalent in the next year.

A summary of the year, as this is what we are trying start off with this article, will not be complete without covering the legal aspects of gambling. The ban in the United States has scared the industry at first, and since then motivated vast changes in the industry. The most recent of them is the decision of a land based casino company in the US to launch an online product in the UK, and the criticism it raised on behalf of European providers who feel this is an intrusion onto their turf.

Mergers, partnerships and relocations across the world have also followed the legal developments. So far they have been more business oriented, trying to adapt to the end of year reality. But with the turn of the page and the new year, these changes might bring us stronger, more experienced and wiser sites, games and service. We are even ready to put our money on this happening come 2007.