It’s no secret the Internet has changed the way we do many things and that I have no problem with a flutter.

As with most of my posts I am not going to exam the pros and cons of the Gambling Industry but ask some questions that need to be addressed due to its growing presents on our Television screens on our Smart Phones and the like.

To express that portable gaming will never affect the internet’s gambling industry within the next six years is a massive understatement.

This market centers not upon the makers of these games, but upon the players themselves and attaches real, monetary values to their virtual accomplishments.

The main reason I am writing this post however is not to be labeled a spoil sport but to highlight that Online Gambling is now being promoted on our television screens ( As you will have observed during the recent Rugby World Cup)  – Bet now in play – responsible Gambling.

In my view this is non responsible gambling advertising which does not advertise gambling in a socially responsible manner and provide key information to consumers. 

Its bad enough to have the Lotto Draw taking up prime Television viewing with late night roulette channels ruling the roost till early morning.

One line betting is a major issue to be dealt with, which is spreading with little Many of these advertisements claim that they have free gambling or give away free money. Do you think they would really give you that money if they weren’t confident that you would get hooked and spend it all on there site or if they thought that they wouldn’t get it all back?

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Internet gambling represents one of the fastest growing segments of online activity with more than seven hundred web sites now providing users the opportunity to wager everything from casino games to sporting events.

According to internet research firms, the industry will pull in $1.5 billion in world-wide revenues this year.  That figure is expected to hit $86.b by 2016.

All good source of revenue for Government if like France, where there is no gambling except state gambling.

Online gambling is particularly popular with around 6.8 million consumers in the EU and a wide variety of operators offering services.

The EU gambling market is estimated at around EUR 84.9 billion and grows at a yearly rate of around 3%. On a global basis, online gaming or i Gaming as it has been called has grown into a multi-billion dollar business, particularly in Europe.

With Some gambling sites report increasing shares of their total revenues stemming from mobile and gambling search words, which are increasingly originating from phones and tablets.

In the past online gaming used to mainly attract younger men, but that demographic group has expanded to include both women and older age groups. Smartphones and tablets, with help from social media apps and irresponsible TV advertising, are changing the demographics of gamers.

Four years ago, there was one online gambling site; today it’s estimated there are between 300 and 400.

To some, gambling on the net may just be an entertaining past time, but for many others it soon becomes a serious addiction.

In 2015, online poker alone yielded 329 million British pounds, up from roughly 290 million British pounds in 2O13.  You may rest assured that Mr Cameron is not wanting any changes to gambling laws in his renegotiation of EU membership.

So where is the problem?

Because consumers in Europe search beyond national borders for more competitive online gambling services, they can be exposed to risks such as fraud.

Some people believe that online casinos are good for the local economy because they provide jobs and tax revenue for a community. This may be true but the community isn’t local. Most online casinos are located overseas to avoid taxes.

Different kinds of gambling services often operate across borders and can also operate outside the control of individual EU countries’ national authorities.

The credit card is the oxygen of Internet gambling.

Games are at the forefront of creating a rich virtual world, but one could imagine other possibilities, such as virtual museums with electronic art or digital archives.

Not to be confused with e-commerce, virtual commerce, the buying and selling of virtual items on or off-line, is developing into something that cannot be ignored.

How will online communities value virtual goods? What will be the ethical nature of virtual commerce?

One has to ask, do all sports disciplines benefit from on-line gambling exploitation rights in a similar manner to horse-racing and, if so, are those rights exploited?

Despite the rapid growth of online gaming, land-based gambling still dwarfs the internet activity.

In 2014, the gambling industry made a total contribution of approximately 240 billion U.S. dollars to the U.S. economy, directly employing 734 thousand people. In a spring 2014 survey by Nielsen Scarborough, almost 80 million Americans admitted to having visited a casino in the past 12 months.

Across the UK, France and Spain, betting, in particular sports betting, was the largest segment of the online gambling market.

Online gaming includes such activities as poker, casinos (where people can play traditional casino games, like roulette or blackjack, but online), sports betting, bingo and lotteries. Of these, casino games and sports betting make up the largest share of the market.

What does gaming stand to lose or gain from its development as a financial enterprise, facilitated by its new-found popularity?

PayPal has started appearing on a few U.S. gambling sites including Caesars Interactive’s WSOP.com website.

Faced with information overload, consumers rely on labels such as Betway, Bet 365, Titan Bet, 1888 Casino, Europa Casino.

Should government somehow control how much one bets by setting limits on people?

Should advertising be allowed to suggest gambling is a rite of passage?Exploit the susceptibilities, aspirations, credulity, inexperience or lack of knowledge of under-18s or other vulnerable persons.

Is solitary gambling more preferable to social gambling?

There is  little doubt in regards to the future from mobile gaming.

While currently approximately 5% with the best positioned online are actually done on cellular devices, this number is likely to rocket to a lot more like 50% throughout the next 3 to 5 years.

If the government is serious about … [avoiding] the kids of today becoming the gambling addicts of tomorrow some sort of regulation is long over due.

These principles should include effective and efficient registration of players, age verification and identification controls – in particular in the context of money transactions, reality checks (account activity, warning signs, sign posting to help lines), no credit policy, protection of player funds, self-restriction possibilities (time/financial limits, exclusion) as well as customer support and efficient handling of complaints.

Online gambling promotes addiction and presents great potential for criminal abuse such as identity theft and other forms of cyber crime.

Credit card fraud and theft of banking credentials are reported to be the most common crime in relation to on-line gambling.

It wont be long before the Selling of lottery tickets will be persecuting us day in day out.