Online Casino Industry Checks, Rises

Published November 5, 2006 by OCR Editor

Representatives of 33 countries participated in the first international online casino summit last week. The conference was held at the famous Ascot race-course, and was hosted by the United Kingdom.

The event was planned months in advance, as part of the British effort led by its Culture Secretary Ms. Tessa Jowell. The goal was to achieve international understanding and a framework regarding all online gambling activities, in order to keep the industry clean and safe, protecting it from criminal elements and protecting gamblers from fraudulent sites.

As part of the preparations ahead of the summit, the British government carried out a review of the industry. The facts that come out of the research are fascinating, and telling about the state of the industry. Currently, the sites number 2,300. Antigua is the home of most online gambling companies. It alone hosts over 500 of them, with Costa Rica coming in second place with about 474 sites. As for Britain, it leads Europe in its gambling activities. The English count to 1.1 million of the continent's 3.3 million gamblers.

With an average of about $1,900 waged annually by gamblers, the industry in Europe amounts to over $6.5 billion. Checking the industry has shown a rise in gambling volume. The number of gamblers has doubled over the past five years. With reviews and summits of this sort, an organized and regulated industry can only rise even more.