According to the Associated Press – Harold Lovell – Finance Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, has said that they are going to pursue their long-standing dispute over online gambling with the USA. This small Island State with a population of less than 90 000, has unsuccessfully pursued this dispute since UIGEA was enacted in late 2006.

They have accused their giant northern neighbour of "hobbling its fragile economy" when they banned US punters from taking online bets and wagers with online operators. There were a great many online gambling websites which licensed their offshore operations in the Island State. Antigua says they are looking for a fair settlement according to a World Trade Organisation ruling which told them they have a valid claim.

Negotiations came to a standstill when the USA simply ignored to acknowledge their claim. The WTO dispute mechanism was then used to attempt to get the issue back onto the bargaining table. The Island State – like many other countries world-wide – are in a delicate fiscal position and feel that the matter "pushed their backs up against a wall".

At the next WTO meeting on the 17th December, this matter will be brought up on behalf of Antigua Barbuda. All things considered $176 Million is not a great deal of money, but the USA is also in a pretty cash-strapped state. At one time Antigua even requested that the WTO impose $3 billion in sanctions on the USA to force them to comply with the ruling granting them compensation. The WTO only enforced sanctions of $21 million per year.

These retaliatory sanctions against have come to be known as the David vs. Goliath trade battle. But being a small country they say it is not their intention to have a fight. However, they do believe they have the rights to protect their sovereignty as well as rely on the might of the WTO to back up their claim.

This ex-British colony once housed a thriving online casino industry, where numerous licensees employed around 3000 people and generated an income of approximately $1 billion.

Lovell says they are determined to pursue punitive action and insist that having failed through all other avenues, sanctions are the only recourse they have left. Barring a last minute settlement being made, the intention is to announce which industries will be targeted for sanction action. The US Tread Representative office has not responded as yet.

The USA is now also considering making online gambling legal, but it is taking years for the Federal Government to come to any decision. In the meantime individual states have taken the legal situation into their own hands and the State of Nevada was the first to make intrastate online gambling legal. It is believed that other states will follow suit, but what is really needed is Federal regulation and legislation.

At this juncture it is interesting to note that approximately half of the gamblers in the world are based in the USA.

We have been reading in the news that the large online gambling concerns, which offer offshore services to UK residents, may be in for beneficial tax-cut to lure these industry players back into the country. While we think this is a very fine idea, whether it ever comes to fruition or not, still remains to be seen.

Recently there have been massive protests against the fact that industry giants such as Amazon, Google and Starbucks have been involved in corporation tax avoidance. Apparently the government has also been aware of this and has failed to crack down on defaulters. In the meantime, an across the board tax of 15% applies to all gambling concerns, and this has seen an exodus of big brand names such as Ladbrokes, William Hill and other interactive divisions of brands, taking to the hills to license their products offshore.

While this has provided big business for Gibraltar, Isle of Man, Alderney, Malta and other independent members of the ex-British Empire. It does not do a lot for Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise coffers. Not when we bear in mind that the majority of the customers who follow these big name brands are actually situated in the UK.

Luring interactive gambling industry giants, and even the smaller concerns, does not only mean licensing fees will be filling up UK tax coffers. The industry is a mostly high-tech concern, and therefore highly paid people are employed in jobs, office space is required for hardware, software designers, financial, administrative, and all kinds of other highly paid people, and all of these people pay tax. An active industry also stimulates the economy too.

As an example perhaps we should look at Tombola Bingo. This is one of the very few interactive online bingo concerns that keepsoffices in the UK. Although they too are licensed in Gibraltar, they have offices based, and employ people in the Sutherland area. Despite the strict tax regime, which is even tougher for the bingo business in Britain, this business has continued to grow, and has on more than one occasion actually doubled in size.

With attractive tax cuts scheduled – which seems to be what Chancellor George Brown is planning, Britain’s biggest gambling companies could move back to the land of their birth. Despite the fact that this is a highly controversial move, if we think about it in pure numbers terms. It is far more economically beneficial to have twenty online gambling companies paying licensing fees, salaries, overheads etc, as well as 5% or 10% tax. Than it is to have NO online gambling companies paying any of the above expenses we listed.

Bearing in mind that there are hundreds – if not thousands – of online gambling concerns offering services to the residents of the UK; the more attractive the government makes it for them, the better it is for everyone in the long term.

According to The Mail on Sunday – "the Treasury is considering slashing the gambling levy by a third to recoup some of the £2.1 billion in revenues that has been lost over the last seven years."

The independent online gambling testing and compliance organisation eCOGRA, which is already performing technical standards reviews for operators licenced by the Danish Gambling Authority, has been further empowered by the Authority as an ‘Approved Enterprise’.

eCOGRA is the first company to be so appointed by the Danish Gambling Authority.

The role of an Approved Enterprise in the Danish market is to complete a report as required by the Danish Gambling Authority in respect of Danish licence holders within 14 months of the commencement of licensed online gambling operations.

Such a report includes an extensive review of license holders’ operational activities, embracing financial and statistical data to ensure that the licensee has provided gambling services in accordance with Danish gambling legislation.

eCOGRA chief executive Andrew Beveridge said this week that in order to be appointed as an Approved Enterprise, eCOGRA was required to demonstrate to the Danish Gambling Authority that its employees possess the appropriate skills, qualifications and experience for the role.

"The majority of eCOGRA’s employees are professionally qualified auditors with Big 4 audit firm backgrounds, and are highly experienced in auditing and reviewing financial information and remote gambling operator systems; we were therefore confident that we would meet the high standards of the Danish regulator," Beveridge said.

"eCOGRA now has ten years of diverse compliance, testing and consulting experience in the industry, during which its staff has successfully performed over 500 online gambling compliance reviews in the areas of player protection and responsible operator behaviour, in most cases for large and well-established internet gambling operator and software supplier companies."

"I therefore believe that we are well suited to perform the role of an Approved Enterprise in the growing Danish market."

"This appointment is extremely important to us, as our clients require us to provide them the full suite of services required by the various licensing jurisdictions, including the review of technical and information security requirements, and legal and financial compliance."

Over the past few years, socializing online has become very important to millions (if not billions) of people. Both Facebook and Twitter have seen to these, with a few more social media also trying their luck. But apart from an inherent need to share online, these users have also become increasingly mobile in their tastes. Certainly technology such as the smartphone, has made this more possible, and just as much fun. Now with online gambling becoming so popular, the need to share while we have a little flutter on a casino game, has also boomed.

Human beings are social animals by their very nature. We love communicating with one-another – Tweeting about the book we are reading, sharing with Facebook friends whatever is on the menu for dinner. It seems odd that online gambling and social media have become bedfellows, but they have.

Online bingo has always been known for the fact that the socialising is fun. But not only that, like-minded people play together, made friends, stay in touch and play a soft gambling game. Today this gaming and social activity has extended to many other gambling games, so, people now play games and chat simultaneously to other lovers of these games. The fact is that doing this by mobile media has become absolutely normal, and right now a social, mobile gambling boom is being seen!

Of course the reason why this form of socializing and wagering at the same time has become so popular, is because it is just so easy to do, and people love being winners. It is unlike that growth in this marketplace will stop anytime soon. More and more people are getting smartphone savvy, and realising that a lot more than making a telephone call can be done with these phones. It has even been predicted that smartphone sales will way outstrip that of desk-tops and lap-tops very soon.

Zynga is an example of a mobile an online games developer which has had huge success together with Facebook as its platform, but they are also seriously getting involved with developing mobile gambling games. In fact many once-social games only companies are talking about monetizing their games.

Once Zynga Poker was the benchmark for just about every social gaming company based on its Facebook success, and it will be fascinating to see what the future holds for the company. They have a massive reach in the social gaming marketplace, and they also employ some exceptionally experience developers who know that that marketplace wants from a social gaming perspective.

While Zynga appears to have reached critical mass in recent times, and is not performing very well financially, by monetizing their gaming offering, this might turn things around. Certainly if they succeed, again they will be the benchmark for other players who are interested in getting into the mobile/social gambling game. Experts are saying that the Facebook game bubble has burst, so, we wait with baited breath to see what becomes popular next.

One thing we can be certain of is that whatever it is, it will be mobile.

Predictions regarding the popularity and expected growth of mobile gambling have been pretty spot-on. Even though this boom got started a little later than predicted, this was only because the ideas and innovation were ready before the technology was. Now ideas and innovation are totally tying in with technology, and as once was expected this is going to be the next big internet gambling wave of growth. Websites offering mobile gaming options are already showing proof of this, with leaps in profit margins in some instances of 300% and more.

The big prediction is that the mobile gambling channel with be a $100 Billion Market by the year 2017. Why should we believe any different when the evidence is all there. Every time we turn on the television there is an advert for gambling online, and now for the mobile version of these games too. Not only that, we see it spread across gigantic billboards, see it in newspapers (if we read these), and also in magazines. Mobile gambling is here, and it appears it is here to stay.

It really is of no surprise that this business is predicted to top $100 billion within the short space of just five years. But what is kit exactly that makes this form of gambling so appealing to so many people? Basically any savvy casino should offer the capability of mobile real money gambling to their customers – why? Because virtually everyone, throughout all income groups, social sectors, and demographic has access to a mobile phone!

Even granny and grandpa are on mobile today. We all take our mobiles wherever we go, and check them all the time. We take them to the bathroom, to work, to restaurants, into meetings, check them in bed, and the big thing is that we don’t just use them to check up on granny and grandpa, we use them to entertain us.

It has been speculated that nearly half of the mobile phone users for example in the UK – make use of a smartphone. The people who own them might not be that smart, but the phones definitely are. They can be used to connect to the internet, access Facebook, Google stuff, and people, are getting smarter, they are using their mobile devices to connect to the internet more regularly. This function was available, but ignored just a few years ago.

The big appeal for mobile gambling or any kind of gambling at all, is that people can win prizes. Imagine getting involved in a game or two when on the commute home from work, and winning a prize? Well, people are doing it all of the time! Who doesn’t like winning prizes – especially if it is money? And who hates having nothing to do on the commute from work home?
Yes, today you don’t have to get home, get dressed and then commute again to the bright lights of the casino. Mobile gambling has done this for us, it is safe, easy, convenient and a rewarding way for many to end their day with a little light entertainment.