Online Casinos Directory

If the US is to implement a new gambling law then its legislators have to be ready to come down on illegal operations. It is no secret that most anti-gambling activists believe that the legalization of gambling would inevitably bring in more instances of crime, corruption and addiction, along with money laundering, theft and overall a rise in criminal activity. They may have a point, but no one can say for sure what is going to happen. One thing that legislators are aware of though is the push for legalization. They are warning that without the proper regulation though, there could be more problems to deal with. Already countries around the world have had to create special task forces to monitor casino gambling activities alone—they are funded by the states involved and put a specific list of policing agents on finding and eliminating illegal activities regarding gambling. Criminals know how lucrative gambling is—and always has been throughout the years. They know how to bring in illegal games. For example, recently in Denton, Texas an illegal slots ring was broken up. The owner was running the “slot parlor” out of a side room off of his garage. Patrons reported the illegal activity anonymously and police moved in to break it up, but not before realizing that hundreds of people had been duped. The owner set up the machines to never pay out. That is the main problem with unregulated and illegal locations—there is no way of protecting the gambling public that participates and supports them.

In the future expect more legislators to continue dialogues on how to form task forces that are going to monitor, uncover and disband illegal activities regarding illegal gambling. Now that it is a hot topic in the market, you can expect that more and more gamblers are going to be coming together to be taken advantage of. They think they are getting a deal, but don’t realize that these are unregulated and the owners of these illegal casinos can do whatever they want with the games to dupe players out of hundreds of dollars over time.

It was hoped that online would get more attention than it has in past months. That may sound odd because gambling has been a hot topic for a lot of companies and in the market, but it isn’t as hot a topic where it counts: legislators. It is true that Representative Barney Frank has been petitioning hard for changes in the gambling market. His main focus is the UIGEA, or Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. It was a law that should have banned gambling but in the end, all it did was push US gamers to fuel their money out of the country by using offshore gambling companies. In the end it didn’t stop gamblers from wagering in the US, as it was intended to do. For this reason now Frank is taking the reins at changing the laws. He wants to write legislation to amend the UIGEA and offer online gambling to US residents. He wants that money to be kept within the country also.

There is a problem though. The issue of changing the UIGEA and legalizing online gambling has been on the floor for two years now, yet no tangible changes have been made. No strides in the market have happened. The government is no closer to legalization or regulation than it was two years ago. This is proving to be an issue for gaming activists who want the issue to be brought up for debate. They want to see millions of dollars in the US and give the country a chance to generate its own huge revenues. Frank seems to be the only one though who is pushing the issue, and he can’t push it alone. If the issue isn’t addressed soon, experts are saying it won’t be. Or at least it won’t be for another two years when new legislators take their posts. The delay is costing the US billions of dollars though and it is putting the American gaming public in jeopardy. They are playing at non-US websites without the protections the government could potentially give them. Only time will tell where the issues goes in the future, but most likely Frank will continue to push and so will voters.

Germany is the next country that seemingly may be ready for online gambling. Recently the country held an organized meeting on the issue. Delegates from various groups and organizations came together to discuss the issue internet gambling in the country. There were eighty members present and they represented lottery officials, media, education, advertising, sports leagues, politicians and casino gaming company representatives. The purpose of the talks were to bring about a new State Treaty that likely will be the framework for online gambling. This was the biggest push for gambling to enter the country and could easily change the climate in the country for the issue. So far Germany had many restrictions on online gambling and was committed to maintaining them for the future. One of the proposed solutions to the issue was to repeal the current ban on online gambling. Whether that will be targeted first though has yet to be seen. It is possible that the government will continue to operate with its current ban. Germany is not like the US in gambling numbers. Though there are huge dollars at stake, the overal income from internet gambling has been on a serious decline for a while now. Whether or not that is permanent or a temporary situation in response to the recession, no one can predict just yet.

Though gaming could be denied, it still is one of those things that is heavy on the minds of legislators in Germany. They don’t want it in the market now, but that doesn’t mean if the numbers go up they won’t change their minds and want to take advantage of the growing tax revenue dollars. The estimates are that if the market turns around, Germany can expect Euro 7.8 billion through online poker gaming alone. That number has yet to be reached due to a declining economy, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t ever come to be with the growing interest in gamblign online that people worldwide are showing. Only time will tell what Germany will do in the future with the question of internet gambling. It would have to be heavily regulated, but it could still help to turn the economy around quicker.

Just like the rest of the world Canada is weighing out its gambling options. The country is hoping to legalize and regulate gambling successfully but it already is having problems. Studies are showing that a record number of residents are moving forward with gambling. The market is growing exponentially and that means that it needs to be ready for the huge surge in customers. Over the past few months the recession has made it difficult for gamers. A lack of discretionary funds has made gambling a low priority on the list of activities. People had to cut back on spending, vacations, luxuries and of course gambling. It made things difficult for operators and many had to tap into their cash reserves to survive. Canada is the same—operators have been struggling and now legislators are pushing for rewriting of codes.

One of the main problems is that the current rules being followed are not sufficient to protect players, according to lawmakers. They believe that an immediate rewording of laws needs to happen before more people are hurt financially and emotionally. In question are the “self-exclusion laws.” In these laws, casinos are to maintain a list of gamblers who believe that they either have addictions or could have addictions. Their names are then checked on a list and they aren’t allowed entry to the casino. This opting out of casino gambling is a good move—if it worked. Unfortunately throughout the past it has failed. More than a few players who were on the self-exclusion list were allowed entry to casinos in the various provinces of the area. They played games and one even won. Gaming critics say that casino operators will maintain the self-exclusion list, but few are eager to follow it. It is a great way for a casino to continue taking a player’s money and then have an immediate out if he or she wins. They can fall back on the law that says they should not have been at a casino table to begin with and therefore are not eligible for the win. Of course they would be informed of this after spending hundreds, maybe thousands, at the casino’s various games. It’s a win-win situation for gambling operators to be lax in enforcing the self-exclusion rules at the door. Once rules are made safe for gambling addicts, then online casinos will be the next target.

Part two coming next.

Since the recession states throughout the US have been scrambling to shore up their gambling laws and regulations. Texas is in the midst of the same changes most of the country is. A new report done on the state is showing that about 75% of residents are in favor of legalizing and regulating gambling. That’s a huge victory for legislators who have been pining for the change. There has always been a 50-50 divide over the issue. On one hand you have legislators and residents who believe that gambling will do nothing more than bring crime, corruption, money laundering and more traffic congestion. They believe that the necessary laws and regulations are not in place to handle a full-out move to total legalization of gaming. On the other hand you have legislators who believe that the money afforded by legalizing and regulating gambling is a huge incentive to make the changes in laws. They believe that with the proper regulation, legalizing gambling should not be a problem. They are pushing hard for those changes and revamping of the regulations.

Texas, just like other states, is still debating the changes out. The legislators are hoping to walk the fine line between accepting gambling as a legal activity, while still protecting all parties involved. The Rasmussen Survey done on residents of the state showing that three-fourths of the communities are in favor of gambling prove that possibly the communities are ready for the change. Most people surveyed stated that their reason for supporting the changes is the creation of jobs for local communities and the amount of potential revenue via tourism it would bring in. Since the recession, it has been hard on families who want to get by financially. Many are still out of work and seeing the creation of gambling locations is a positive move that would help hundreds, even thousands, of workers who are unemployed to find manageable and reachable employment. Only time will tell where Texas will go with this new information stating that people want the change, but most likely it will prove a positive change for all parties involved.

The expansion of online gambling is opening the door for many additional concerns in the market. A lot of critics of legalizing gambling believe that it will open the door for crime, corruption and addiction. Though studies have been done and there is no conclusive evidence yet to support the claim, there are still more instances of illegal activities regarding gambling cropping up in the US. For example, recently Murray, Utah was the location of a crackdown on illegal gambling operations. In the end five people were arrested for illegal activities at the Fortune Cyber café. Each person had a record and was charged with felony counts of money laundering.

Anyone who has watched the developments in gambling throughout the world also knows about the issues in Poland. Poland was rocked recently by a slew of politicians who were taking under-the-table money for gambling-related activities. The whole scandal was deemed “Blackjack-gate” by locals. It was a highly embarrassing time for the Prime Minister and recently the country decided to leave gambling to land-based casinos only. Off-cite casinos and gambling activities are now considered illegal and many have been closed down.

These are just two instances of recent media frenzies surrounding gambling in the world. The interesting thing is that gambling still isn’t legalized and laws regarding it are not yet completely formulated. If this is how the pastime is shaping up already, many critics are worried about what will happen once it is formally adopted into law. Maybe critics of legalizing gambling have a point—it could potentially open the door for a slew of other problems that countries are not yet ready to handle. One analyst stated that the best thing countries can do is prepare for problems. He believes that countries that are writing gambling rules should start factoring in funds for wider addiction services and stronger police task forces. Each one will be in place to handle problems that occur regarding gambling and its legalization. Without being prepared, societies are going to have more problems once gambling reaches their economies. Sure, there are millions of dollars at stake, but if most of the money needs to be used for keeping things in order, is it really an advantage?