For years we have been seeing exponential growth in the online gambling market, and a recent report released in the UK only confirms this for us yet again. Since 2008 when £1.27 billion was the number, this industry has grown to be generating a pretty impressive £2 billion in 2012. This is an 80% revenue growth. Internationally the business is worth a whopping £30 Billion.

William Hill claims to hold the largest market share in this UK industry. They are certainly one of the “Betting Giants” in the bricks and mortar biz, where online they control approximately a 15% share. This does not seem like a huge percentage in the bigger scheme of things, but the other large betting brands fall behind by 4% and more. This is quite a big deal when we are looking at figures in the Billions of pounds range.

The most dominant revenue spinner in the UK online gambling market place is sports betting, this has been the case for quite some time. It is also the fastest growth sector, with a high percentage of bets being placed from mobile phones – mostly smartphones. Online/mobile sports betting makes up for a total of 44% of the entire online gambling industry in this country! It has grown by a massive 102%, and is estimated alone to be worth £1 billion!!

Because the industry is such a massive revenue spinner, we have previously reported that the UK Government also wants to get in with a chance to win. Although nothing is concrete as yet, they are contemplating changing the law to lower taxes for online operators. We think this is a case of too little – too late. Gibraltar does not – they are resisting changes to UK Gambling Laws, and understandably so. They stand to lose a huge slice of this industry should UK developers, and operators up and leave from their shores.

Gibraltar has tried to ensure that the EU encourages the UK to drop new draft Gambling Tax Legislation. The Gibraltar Betting and Gaming Association have even threatened legal proceedings should the new laws ever be enacted. The current UK daft proposals could see significant changes taking place, including removing “White Listing”, as well as requiring all offshore operations to be secondary licensed to offer gaming to residents in the UK.

Gibraltar is an island state that is White Listed which means, they enjoy status as a recognised UK gambling jurisdiction. If White Listing status was removed, taxation was dropped, and or secondary licensing became required, the well-establish Gibraltar online gambling industry might suffer quite significantly.

I have always been a huge fan of Net Entertainment games; this product is used by many UK/European-facing online casinos, and you may even recognise some games names: Jack and The Beanstalk™, Gonzo’s Quest™, Muse: Wild Inspiration™, Demolition Squad™, Zombies™, Blood Suckers™, Hall Of Gods™, Jack Hammer™, Wild Turkey™, Scarface™ and so many more. These games are of such a high quality it is my personal opinion that they outstrip the quality of Microgaming products.

This online gambling development software company has produced excellent results for 2012, and have even been named as the 22nd top employer in Sweden. Yes, they are a Swedish company, listed on the Swedish Stock Exchange, but operate with a remote license out of Malta. They therefore feature together with some of the biggest, and best names in online casinos available to a UK-facing, and European audience.

The operational excellence of this company for the year 2012, only serves to take me back to the days when I used to say "Microgaming had better watch out". The company is growing stronger by the year, and although are not as aggressively producing "mass quantities" of online casino games at the same rate as Microgaming, they produce them with the same if not far better quality.

New (2012) performance records have been set by Net Entertainment, with 12,300,000,000 gaming transactions in total, a 23% increase in revenues (year on year), and since the year 2006 – a median twelve-monthly growth of 32%. They have increased their European market-share to 27%, and the gaming transactions figures we see above, represent an increase of 43%.

NetEnt continues to enter new markets (Italy and Denmark are new), sign more new gaming partners, and has paid out a record breaking Progressive Jackpot Prize amount of over €17 million. In all honesty, what online gambler would not like to play at a site with PJP gaming network potential such as this?

This year, massive online gambling brands have been seen to be offering NetEnt slots, and if they are not, I don’t want to play there. Paddy Power recently joined the fold as did Boyles Sport. They are already found at Unibet, Smart-Live, Bettsson, BetVictor and many, many more. The group says that they are properly geared for opening in newly regulated territories, and it is here they intend to be "in the right place, at the right time".

I still believe that Microgaming has a tough fight on its hands from NetEnt. This brand has signed an agreement with 888 which has its own software development company( what’s that about?) And have also inked a deal with Bonza Gaming for Facebook.

Anyone want to take a bet which developer will come out on top?

One of the reasons we say that the online gambling industry is a "mainstream" industry, is because of the size of the prize on the bottom line for operators. It is hardly surprising that the UK Government is re-visiting its taxation laws for this industry – during 2012 online gambling was worth more than £2 Billion; it is envisaged that this will grow monumentally. Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise hardly receives a share in this loot, as taxation mores are so tough that most UK operators provide these services to the UK-audience from White Listed, yet distant shores.

£2 Billion is a massive amount of money in an industry which grows, hour-by-hour, day-by-day, year-on-year. Now with mobile gambling being the new zeitgeist, Internet gaming is predicted to grow even more. Some remarkable growth percentages have been seen in this sector of the industry, especially during 2012, as more people get hooked up with a smartphone.

The leading gaming growth sector in the UK is currently real money sports-betting, and especially popular are the “in-play” wagers that can now be made from the convenience of a mobile phone. Just as an example – in the period 2011 to 2012, football betting has seen an increase of 69%. This makes it the second-most lucrative gaming market in the country, just a wee bit behind horse racing.

A recent study which revealed these result, also yielded other rather interesting results too. For example we now know that William Hill is in the lead in terms of market-share, but this does not necessarily mean they have the lions-share of the entire industry. 15% goes to William Hill, while Paddy Power, Betfair, Ladbrokes, and Bet365 each control the same at 11% each. 44% of the market is attributed to "other" operators.

Research is indicating that 29% of users who gamble online are using mobile devices, and smartphones to facilitate this form of entertainment. Searches for online gambling products from smartphones have also grown by 75%. This proves that the spirit of the times is for mobile gambling, and sport-betting is mostly what these users are looking for.

The Island of Jersey has now entered the race to become a licensee state. They are joining into the melee with territories such as the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Malta, Alderney, and one or two other well-liked destinations. With so much attractive competition, the UK Government has a hard task ahead of them if they think they might be able to attract operators back to the fair shores of Pudding Island.

It is not the first time we have heard mention that tax Cuts could be looming for British online gambling ops. It is also no secret that most of these operational companies have joined the exodus to more temperate climes. Most UK online gambling concerns, even the BIG guys such as William Hill, long ago ran away to "White Label" shores such as Malta, Gibraltar, Isle of Man and Alderney.

However, this does not prevent large operators from offering this form of virtual entertainment to a UK-facing audience. Therefore the UK Government needs to find a way to bring some potential tax pounds back to the country. The best and most obvious way to do this would be to offer tax cuts. But will the Government actually enact this – that is the multi-million pound question?!

If we think about it logically, gambling is a numbers game, but then so again is collecting tax. So, we ask you a simple question, would you rather have 5% on millions of pounds of potential income? Or would you rather have 15% of nothing? It doesn’t take rocket science to see that online gambling firms have left the country to take advantage of tax shelters for very obvious reasons.

Apparently now Government Ministers are seeing the madness in the tax situation, it has taken the longest time; and is hoping to encourage operators to base themselves in, or return to Britain.
One thing that is for certain – IS – online gambling is going nowhere at all, and unprecedented growth is being seen in this industry still. Mobile gambling growth using Android, iPhone, iPad, and other tablets, and smartphones, is becoming an off-the-wall trend. This kind of growth in popularity and spending is just too good to resist not getting a share.

While the Government in the UK, mulls over the idea of tax cuts on revenues from this massive growth industry, the Governments of Alderney, Gibraltar, Isle of Mann, and so on, are all cashing in on what has become a mainstream industry. These territories are also cashing in on the perks that work hand-in-hand with healthy industry – job creation for example.

Rumour has it that taxes in the UK will be cut from 15 to 10%, but we don’t really know if 5% would make all that much of an impression. 10% does bring it in line with some other territories, but whether this will be incentive enough, still remains to be seen. The wheels of law-making turn slowly, and we all know that money likes speed. Perhaps a little less "mulling", and a little more action might be required.

We often come across news items regarding big wins at online gambling websites. These wins are often nabbed by online slots players, and we are talking about millions of Kroner, not just trifling wins. But, despite the fact that the Swedish winters are long, and online gambling is a fun way to spend those long, lonely, dark, endless nights, the Swedish Prime Minister is taking his life in his hands by proposing changes to gaming laws.

The motivation for the changes is apparently due to some stats release by the National Audit Office. The stats were released in June 2012, and changes are scheduled to be implemented by mid-2014. According to the news report, there has been an “increase in pathological gambling has been identified among certain groups of gamblers”.

While legislation will be implemented to take away certain gambling freedoms a couple of years down the line; it pays to remember that time flies fast when you are having fun, and online gambling is nothing more than having a little harmless fun. If problem gamblers are on the increase, then people are the problem, not gambling per se. This is something we have always maintained, but the real issue seems to be that competition between illegal or unauthorised gambling providers seems to be the main cause of Swedish residents gambling problems. Again, it seems to us, that people are the problem not gambling itself.

By the 31st May of this year we should know exactly what proposed law changes will be. But we have absolutely no doubt that online gambling will be affected. Changes in regulations will more than likely affect high risk areas the most, and as online gambling is a numbers game, with more numbers than ever before playing these games, it stands to reason this industry will be targeted.

However, there is some light at the end of the dark tunnel of those cold lonely nights for the Swedes. It is perceived that current legislation is simply weak in the area of social protections, so the aim is to strengthen these weaknesses, not institute outright bans. Bans in countries which disallow gambling online are often perceived to be bans on access to information, as well as an infringement of rights to choice. No radical overhaul of the present systems is to be expected.

Even state-controlled Svenska Spel was named in the report, and they are one of the very few “legal” Swedish gambling providers. Here it is interesting to note that they also have a very strong online presence. They offer bingo, casino games, sports betting and poker; live and online as well as throughout the entire Swedish entertainment industry, which means restaurants and pubs, as well as bingo halls – the lot.

They have been offering online poker through the Boss Media (now GTECH G2) platform since 2005, which makes them the only authorised product in Sweden, so, where does the “competition” factor come in? Apparently residents have easy access to all kinds of online gambling sites, so, all the Swedish Government need do is require fair individual licensing and regulation, just like nearly all of the EU.