Europe Embracing Online Gambling to Fill Empty Coffers
Written by Renee K | Thursday, July 29th, 2010
According to an article that appeared in the New York Times yesterday, European governments are turning to the legalization of online gambling in droves in a bid to fill empty coffers. The article states that while the United States essentially opposes online gambling due to concerns of addiction and underage gambling, opposition in Europe comes from those who fear that legalized operators will undermine state sponsored lottery and gambling groups.
“As public finances worsen, governments are trying to bring this once-shadowy business into the mainstream of Europe’s digital economy, where it can be regulated and taxed,” writes the article’s author, Eric Pfanner.
The article quotes a consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, David Trunkfield who says about Europe’s move towards online gambling: “What’s happened is a realization that you can’t un-invent the internet. People are gaming online. You either try to regulate and tax it, or people are going to go to the offshore operators, where you don’t get’s any revenue.”
According to Pfanner, Europe has grown into the biggest online gambling market in the world and accounts for $12.5 billion of the $29.3 billion in revenue generated by the industry this year. He draws attention to the growing online gambling world in comparison to the general decline of the land gambling industry across Europe.
“The growth online contrasts with the state of the old-fashioned casino business in many European countries,” he writes. “In France, for instance, land-based casinos have suffered double-digit revenue declines in recent years. In Britain, plans for a giant, Las Vegas-style casino in Manchester were scrapped two years ago, and even the country’s ubiquitous betting shops have started to suffer.”
The article examines a number of European countries such as France and Italy and highlights the obstacles facing gambling operators in these markets.
It ends with a quote by Tim Philips, director of European public affairs at Betfair who says: “The gambling business is one of Europe’s real success stories online. This is a business in which Europe leads the world.”
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· Written by Renee K · Filed Under Poker News · Comments Off
