Casino Stake Blog

The European Union consists of 27 nations each with their divergent views on online gambling. 7 nations have banned online gambling, 13 nations allow free private enterprise, 6 nations have state-owned monopolies and 1 nation has licensed a private monopoly. While land based gambling can be dealt with nationally, online gambling cannot because of easy cross border access to online grand casino. It is a sensitive issue in many countries because it involves tax revenues and national traditions. However the EU supports free movements of goods and services between its nation states and therefore is pressing for reaching a common consensus on this issue.

The draft document to be placed before the meeting states, “While the legal frameworks differ, there are significant similarities in the member states’ objectives as regards gambling and betting.” The common ground covers issues like fighting money laundering, fraud and corruption; preventing underage and problem gambling; a possible cap on individual payouts and the elimination of double taxation.

The differing legal framework is the barrier that will be difficult to surmount. The nations that have monopolistic institutions are not only unwilling to open the gambling sector to local private enterprise but are also framing laws to keep out online casino from other countries. The nations that have a liberalized online gambling regime are pushing the other nations to open up their markets.

France, which has a state licensed monopoly, is under pressure from the European Commission to liberalize its online gambling regime in a phased but time bound manner. However France currently holds the EU presidency and is therefore chairing the meeting of EU Ministers on online gambling. France is advocating regulation of the multi billion dollar online gambling industry through a common EU bloc policy. It is believed to have obtained the support of a dozen EU countries. This move is strongly being opposed by Britain and Malta who favor self-regulation by the industry. They are of the opinion that France is using this forum to hold on to the monopolistic online gambling regime it currently enjoys at casino tables. Malta is an online gaming jurisdiction that licenses online gaming operations and it is in the interest of its licensees that the European national monopolies are done away with. read more....

Article Source: Casino LaunchPad

A new report claims that there is a dramatic decrease in 2008 of online casino crime. The investigation was into offshore gaming and proves that online casinos are safer and more than ever secure.

Investigators of the report studied network traffic at 5 of the largest only gambling venues in the world. Many of the gamble casino that took part in the study were all UK-based, publicly traded companies.

The past has revealed online casinos as continual targets for computer hackers across the globe. In on instance a large sport gambling operation was overtaken by hackers the week before Superbowl whereby the hackers insisted they be paid millions in ransom before they would take over control.

Heightened awareness of computer security and increased spending on security infrastructure are the reasons of overall improvement according to Cyber-Investigators. Specific reasons include limiting physical access to computer servers to only a few individuals; money spent on hardware mechanisms that impose strict security layers; programming strategies that make online play casino games more dependable.

Article Source: OnlineCasino News