The online presence in China is growing at fast rate. In 2009 it was estimated that 420 million people in China are now online and that the online gambling industry is worth $3.8 billion. However, new laws are being introduced into China to further restrict what content people can view. From August 1, 2010 laws have gone in place to crackdown and restrict people from 'unwholesome content and internet addiction'. The law is aimed at online games, which target youngsters, and states they should be free from content that cause behavior that violates social mores.
Meanwhile, in the US online gambling has been illegal since 2006. This has resulted in a large number of gambling sites basing themselves overseas and the most popular social games like poker on Facebook can only be played with fake money or points. How has this affected the local US economy? Enough that this situation could soon change dramatically. The House Financial Services Committee is now re-thinking about regulating and legalizing many forms of online gambling.
Passing this law will allow the many popular social games that currently rely on advertising to open the door to real cash betting. You could be betting on the outcome of just about any event and with many playing social games on a daily basis and viewing it all as just fun, the potential for a new wave of online gambling addicts is a distinct possibility.
Across Europe, economically stressed governments looking for ways to reduce huge budget deficits are embracing online gambling, a source of revenue they once viewed with skepticism. As public coffers dwindle, more and more governments are looking to regulate and legitimize online gambling as a way to cash in and collect taxes. France and Denmark have already jumped on the bandwagon, with Greece to follow very shortly. Others considering liberalization include Switzerland, Spain and Germany. Europe has grown into the biggest online gambling market in the world, accounting for an estimated $12.5 billion of the industry's $29.3 billion total revenue this year, according to consulting firm H2 Gambling Capital.
Keen to get in on some of the action Housing and Social Development Minister, Rich Coleman from British Columbia, Canada believes it is better to offer people in his province legal regulated alternatives. Currently people are betting $100 million a year on illegal sites. He maintains that the new revenue could go into health care and higher education. However, there are already 31,000 people with severe gambling problems according to the B.C. medical association. Would opening the gates make the problem worse and how much of the new revenue would go into helping gambling addicts?
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