Online Gambling News

The online gambling industry is still moving in the right direction, and this direction is up. In other words the industry is still generating a great deal of turnover, as well as showing positive growth. It is considered to be a mainstream industry, and has become vital to the financial welfare of quite a few small, as well as politically independent nations that are close to the UK.

These are the offshore sites where servers for online gambling sites are licensed and kept, which has had the knock on effect of investments in infrastructures which maintain sizeable internet operations. These are regulating and licensing jurisdictions which have opened their doors to the industry in return for lower taxes. The result of this is that most online operations – even the big guys like William Hill, have taken these ops out of the UK and re-located them to places such as Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Malts, Alderney, and more recently Jersey in the Channel Islands.

Small, politically independent states such as these have come to depend to a great extent on the taxes the industry generates, as well as the employment, and growth opportunities it creates. While the online gambling industry does have its ups and downs, it also has an astonishing ability to roll with the punches. Many of the well-established online gambling concerns have had to reinvent themselves. And have done so in their efforts to survive, but what about British land Bingo, it seems to be taking a turn for the worse?!

There have been some serious changed in the gambling industry when it comes down to British tax law. And the one industry that appears to be worst affected is that of bingo. New taxes have been imposed on certain activities run by these business, which sees a recent hike to 20% on slot games in bingo halls. This poses a serious threat to the industry as a whole, but is an even bigger problem for smaller concerns.

Things started to go pear-shaped for this industry around 2005, and since then 150 of these clubs have closed down.

There is a real concern that this game may go completely extinct, which is rather sad rally considering it has become a big part of British culture. We have the Chancellor of the Exchequer to thank for the demise of this Great British game, as things stand now George Osborne could be the one to go down in history for killing the game. Bingo employs 13 000 people, but this also seems to mean nothing to him.

It is no secret that the European Union finds the online gambling industry to be problematic . But the problems actually don’t lie with the industry, it is in the way EU countries just do their own thing with regards to trading regulations. The EU is committed to a policy of free trade within the Union, but there are all kinds of issues that come into play, so individual countries tend to make their own laws regarding the industry.

One of the chief concerns of many EU partner countries is the problem of match fixing. So, they attempt to put an end to corruption in sports by stopping activities such as online sports betting, and it is this that affects industry players. While the European Union themselves battle with the case of creating a unified, or rather, common, platform for operators in the Internet gambling biz.
The real problem seems to be that the gambling sector is vulnerable, so protection, as well as stamping out corruption is the EU’s main points of focus.

There has also been a great deal of deliberation surrounding inconsistencies in the rules that apply to online gambling ops within EU member nations. We have seen evidence of this in Belgium, Germany, France, and other member states. These states seem determined not to come to the party in terms of this industry.

Their actions have been seen in the light of a monopolistic approach, and this

goes against the basic mandate of the European Union – that fairness and free e-commerce is an integral part of the structure.

The European Commission has requested industry input, and responded with an action plan, however, this has made very little difference to the way in which certain countries respond. Despite the fact that Michel Barnier – the EC Commissioner for internal trade has called for member states to fulfil their obligations, they simply go their own way.

Apparently there are five areas in which increased cooperation is required, but Mr. Barnier has also mentioned that the EC is “not proposing EU-wide legislation on online gaming”. However, they are still proposing that a common protection principle be adhered to, as well as requesting that all member states follow an across-the-board set of actions.

It is obvious that both the EU and member states have concerns such as underage gambling, cheating in sports, and money laundering, but these issues should not be used as an excuse for monopolistic gambling practices to take place. Age verification technology and other tools to protect the vulnerable have become highly sophisticated – operators in regulated jurisdictions are visibly making use of these. However the new EC action plan wants advertisers to be more responsible too.

Today it is virtually impossible to switch on the television, or flip through a UK newspaper without seeing an ad for an online bingo site. These websites have become the trendiest places to play if you fancy good night in. A great deal of advertising money is spent on making sure that all the best sites are visible to the public. But who is playing this game, and why has it become so popular?

A typical sort of night in for a typical sort of online bingo player, might see someone playing every night or at least regularly for two or three hours; sometimes more, sometimes less. Most people who play at these websites, don’t do it for the prizes, they play for the "social" aspect of chatting with friends, and making new online buddies. Some spend more than they win, but others win really good prizes, when they do win, generally we hear them say that they never expected to win.

The amount of new online bingo sites coming on to the World-wide web has also increased exponentially, and there is always supply where there is demand. Just a few short years ago, back in 2004, there were less than twenty such sites for the UK-facing audience. Today it is believed there are approximately 350 such websites.

Operators and owners of bingo websites range from Capital Venture partners, through newspapers such as The Sun, and live bingo club operators. Two of the biggest names in British Bingo are also found online. These are Gala and Mecca Bingo.

Originally this game was synonymous with smoky rooms, crowded tables and the camaraderie of a night out with the girls, but it has changed, and the socialising aspect of bingo has very much moved online. It was also once synonymous with older players, and now while elderly people do play online, the gross demographic is younger. Some start as young as 18.

One 21 year old player reported that she plays two to three times a week, and then five hours on Sunday. Citing that she enjoys the excitement the game provides, as well as the companionship of other players in the chat rooms. Not once was there made a mention of the prizes she could possibly win.

It is the chat-room that is the “key” element for most online bingo players. Talking or making a noise in a land bingo club is strongly discouraged, in case a ball call is missed or miss-heard. Online players can chat whenever they like. Cards are completed automatically, so there is nothing to concentrate on. Bingo Lingo has evolved, players can chat privately, and the cost of a bingo card starts at only 1p, many games are even for free. So what’s not to like? It is self-evident why the game is so popular.

Hall of Gods™, the popular online slot game from Net Entertainment, on April 20 paid out yet another life-changing online jackpot, the fourth million euro win in recent years for Hall of Gods™. This time the jackpot amounted to 6.7 MEUR and the lucky Swedish winner, a man in his sixties from the town of Norrköping, staked 2 EUR in the game Hall Of Gods™ at the Malta-based operator Betsson.

This Betsson-jackpot is the third biggest in their history, one being the 2011 Guinness World Record Jackpot of 11.7 MEUR from Net Entertainment’s video slot Mega Fortune™. The next largest was landed last summer when a man from Linköping won 3.12 MEUR in Mega Fortune™ with a 2 EUR stake.

Hall of Gods™ is a progressive jackpot and part of Net Entertainment’s jackpot network, where the liquidity from players from many of the most popular European online casinos is pooled. In Hall of Gods™ players come face-to-face with Norse mythology in a 5-reel Triple Jackpot featuring the Midgard Serpent in the expanding wild, and Odin’s ravens on the scatter symbol. The bonus game features Thor’s hammer which players can use to break shields and match three to win one of the three jackpots or a variable coin amount.

Although this latest win didn’t break January’s World Record Jackpot of 17.8 MEUR from Net Entertainment’s video slot, Mega Fortune™ it is another huge return for the winner.

"Announcing yet another million euro winner so soon after the World Record Jackpot in January is a great testament to our games and continues our history of creating millionaires from our popular progressive video slots. Net Entertainment’s ability to offer high liquidity in our progressive slots sets us out from the crowd and helps player acquisition for operators through the ability to quickly build up jackpots. Net Entertainment would like to wish the winner all the best and congratulate Betsson for another life-changing win." comments Per Eriksson, President and CEO of Net Entertainment.

Net Entertainment’s progressive jackpot portfolios consist of Arabian Nights™, Mega Fortune™ and Halls of Gods™ video slots, all part of the Net Entertainment jackpot network, pooling the liquidity of players from several of Europe’s largest online casinos.

We have been seeing some incredible growth figures for the mobile gaming sector of the online gambling industry. It has become obvious that this sector has grown so fast and so quickly, due to the fact that mobile technology now offers the capability of entertaining gamblers on the go. Increased smartphone use is one of the biggest heralds for this boom, and mobile-friendly online casinos are taking advantage of the feeding frenzy.

Some pundits of this industry are telling us that the mobile gambling marketplace will be worth more than $100 Billion by the year 2017. This could be more, but online gambling concerns are banking on sharing $45 Billion in profits, if the market reaches this figure. As one can imagine, some serious business people are looking at this business rather seriously.

Now that smartphones and tablets have been blamed as being the key drivers for this increasing trend, researchers have been taking a look at these users. Currently in the UK alone – 62% of the population are in possession of a smartphone. This is an increase of 14.2% since October 2011. Combine this use with the fact that gambling online has also grown, and we see that the mobile sector is responsible for a massive amount of virtual gambling spend, and it is they who are sparking increased profits for operators. In fact the fastest growth sector has been seen in online, and in-play sports betting by mobile.

Currently 15% of the entire gambling sector of the UK is driven by mobile gamers. A smartphone or tablet is eminently portable, much more so than a laptop ever was. The smaller these devices are, the more desirable they are, and much of a smartphone is taken up by screen. This makes it easy to use to access a game, and the game is easily seen, with superior graphic quality.

We have mobile banking apps too, so, it hasn’t taken long for gambling operators to work out mobile payment systems for playing these games for real money, and winning real money prizes too.

Gone are the days where we had to get dressed up, travel, and pay through the neck to have a night out in a casino. We take our mobile phones wherever we go, so wherever we are is our mobile casino. Games and many apps are free to download, can be played for free or real money, and casinos offer a ton of incentives to get us to play these games. They even give away free money.