Europe Dominates Online Gambling Media Man Australia

Europe Dominates Online Gambling, Explains Economist
(Credit: CAP)

Leading business magazine profiles Europe’s dominant online gambling sector

July 16, 2009 (CAP Newswire) -- Underlining the continued dominance of European companies in the online gambling sector, leading world business magazine The Economist has published a story explaining why, although it has come up short in other Internet business venues, the European Union’s online gambling industry is dominating the world market.

In an article called “Stacking the Deck,” the magazine emphasizes why London-based Betfair is “the eBay of sports betting” and why the vast majority of popular iGaming destinations are run by European companies.

It's not just because Europe is such a large market, with about 40 percent of the world's gamblers. It's also due to other factors, such as United State's legal issues surrounding the industry because of 2006's disastrous UIGEA laws. But even above and beyond this, EU companies have demonstrated a remarkable ability to key into players’ preferences.

“America ought to be the natural home of this burgeoning field,” the article explains. “But it has arrested industry entrepreneurs and ordered banks to halt payments to online-gambling firms.”

That isn’t completely different than the EU’s situation, though. Only 13 of the 27 EU member nations technically approve of online gambling, and seven have attempted to outlaw it altogether. “Dutch banks face prosecution if they transfer money to online-gambling firms abroad, and Germany, Italy and Spain are trying to get internet service-providers to block access to gambling websites.”

The article goes on to explore the motivations behind the widespread movement in so many nations to outlaw gambling: Is it a moral concern, as the politicians claim? Or is it simply a monetary goal?

Click here to read the original story at The Economist’s website.

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