Facing the Facts: Internet Gambling

One can do virtually anything on the Internet, from ordering dinner, buying clothes, trading on the stock exchange and checking one's bank balance. If you want fun you can do the crossword, watch a movie, listen to music or gamble online.

The only limit to the Internet is man's imagination. Having found this 'new' freedom it is impossible to take it away. Try and stop online gambling and watch what happens!

Online gambling is a hit
The company com.Score Media Matrix, who monitor unique visits by US Internet users to different categories of websites, show that online gambling visits in July 2008 were up 5 percent over the previous month, placing the category around the halfway mark on a list of 10 top gaining categories.

Their hit-count shows that in June 2008 there were 12 million visits to online gambling sites, up in July 2008 to 12.6 million despite the determined efforts of US enforcement agencies to discourage online gambling.

Double edged sword
The future of online gambling appears to be assured and liable to keep gaining in popularity but the casinos have to play ball and behave themselves. One bad move by an online casino and the entire online gambling community will know about it in seconds.

Online casinos seem to know a great deal about refreshing their sites, introducing new games and making new offers, all in the course of normal business. They probably understand that like every business there will be ups and downs and people along the way trying to derail them.

Legal limbo
The US is witnessing a possible legal (taxed) return to online gambling as federal and state governments examine the potential revenue arising from the taxing of online casinos. Now that online gambling is a fact, it is here to stay. All that can be done is to manage it well.

The other threat that faced the Internet in the past, mobile gambling, seems to have subsided, but that doesn't mean it has gone away. It may just be waiting for new technology to help it off the launch pad.