"The European Commission dealt a blow to European online gaming companies on Monday when it accepted a U.S. offer of openings in other sectors to compensate for closing the U.S. gambling market to foreign firms.
"European companies such as PartyGaming and bwin Interactive Entertainment had hoped the European Union executive might shun a settlement and fight on instead to restore their ability to operate in the world's biggest market...
"A bilateral agreement was signed in Geneva, which provides EU service suppliers with new trade opportunities in the U.S. postal and courier, research and development, storage and warehouse sectors," the Commission said in a statement.
"The U.S. also made concessions in the testing and analysis services sector," the Commission said, adding it would still try to dissuade the United States from discriminating against foreign operators.
A representative of Europe's online gaming sector -- which saw billions of euros of market value wiped out by the U.S. restrictions -- said the announcement was a disappointment.
I am addicted to Internet gambling. I work from home so am on the computer all day and in between my work I log onto the Internet and gamble. I have maxed out my credit cards, home loan etc. I am in such serious debt now but I keep on gambling on the Internet in the hope that I will win a huge jackpot and pay back my debt. I desperately need help. I don't know how I will ever get out of my debt.the passage of legislation prohibiting wire transfers to known Internet gambling sites, or the banks who represent them," the report says. "Furthermore, the Commission recommends the passage of legislation stating that any credit card debts incurred while gambling on the Internet are unrecoverable."
Sheriff Kevin Veal said: “If £150,000 can be lost in 50 minutes under clandestine conditions in the early hours of the morning, it is an issue so great that it needs to be addressed by the wider community. It is a social issue.” Internet gambling, along with alcohol and heroin, is the scourge of the 21st century because it is unregulated,” said. “It also raises questions about the wisdom of credit card companies allowing borrowing levels to be raised without any real checks. “My own firm is seeing more and more cases of bankruptcies every week arising from addiction to online gambling.”
vulnerable women are turning to online gambling in increasing numbers. And she warns it is leading to major problems that can have an impact on relationships and result in large debts.
“The Internet adds to the risk of problem gambling because it is highly accessible and therefore easy to gamble in secret. You don’t have to leave the house to do it and you can place bets day and night. There aren’t the restrictions that exist if you have to go out to a casino or betting shop,”
While James Bond often encountered glamorous women in casinos during his films, Professor Corney says women have traditionally shied away from such male-orientated environments. Their most common public exposure to gambling was and for now, remains, the bingo hall.
, in addition to interactive television channels and mobile phones offering gambling services.average online gambling debt in 2006 was £25,676 - a rise of £5,000 from the year before, and a figure that it expects to increase further this year. The Debt Advisor says it is already seeing victims of the new trend, and believes that the rise in online betting will add to the UK's growing debt problem. It cites one client who ran up debts of £100,000 playing online poker in internet casinos.
High-profile Internet giants Microsoft, Yahoo and Google have forked over a combined $31.5 million in a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over allegations the three promoted illegal Internet gambling."Prosecutions from this office (Eastern District of Missouri) have had a chilling effect on Internet gambling," Hanaway told reporters. "This settlement has made a major impact on Internet gambling in the United States, as these are three of the largest Internet businesses in the world."
Profound implications for the future of online gambling. Haines, who lives in Marin County, north of San Francisco, is suing to get her money back, taking on not the casinos, but Visa International, MasterCard International, and one of the banks that issued her a credit card.
In her suit, Haines says the casinos duped her into thinking the online gambling was legal and then unfairly stacked the odds of winning against her. She further contends that Visa and MasterCard were indirect participants by permitting their cards to be used by the casinos and then profiting from the transactions.
Her suit seeks to go a step further. She is asking the court to prevent Visa and MasterCard from permitting their cards to be used by Internet casinos that provide service to any person located in the State of California.
"When people see their logo on a site, they think the casino is legitimate," said Ira Rothken, Haines's lawyer. "Visa and MasterCard are involved in aiding and abetting these online gaming operators."
Rothken described his client as "an absolute victim," who was "caught up in the hypnotic effect of online gambling."
Several online casinos, along with industry observers, counter that Haines was not victim, but a willing and eager participant who now is trying to get out of paying for her losses.
Gamblers Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who have joined together to do something about their own gambling problem and to help other compulsive gamblers do the same.
one in three pounds lost by his punters is touch-screen roulette. Just over half of all terminals belong to Ladbrokes and William Hill; together they take £420m a year.
British punters lose £9.5bn a year across all gambling- a 36% rise on £7bn lost in 1999, the year online gambling emerged. Excluding the lottery - the "softest" form of gambling - the annual loss from hard gambling widened by 56% in eight years to £7bn.
An adviser to both the culture department and to Revenue & Customs, Professor Vaughan Williams, said deregulation and online innovation will fuel the boom next year. He conservatively predicts the losses will exceed £10bn for 2008.
One in four calls to a helpline charity, Gamcare, are over betting shop roulette. Anthony Jennens, its chairman, said: "They're easily accessible, rapid-play, and you win or lose rapid rewards - hallmarks of games which tend to addiction."
Estimates produced by a leading government adviser show £650m a year is taken from punters by the terminals - a sum almost matching the conventional casino industry's entire takings.
The Gambling Commission, the industry's new regulator, this month said in a report that one in nine people who played touch-screen roulette were classified as addictive or problem gamblers - the strongest link in any form of gambling.
The money lost by British gamblers will exceed £10bn annually next year - a rise of 50% in nine years, and the biggest jump since the 1960s.
Massively multiplayer online games such as World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, and Second Life are becoming increasingly popular. All have celebrated milestones in their user numbers recently, with WOW announcing it has 7.5 million subscribers, Guild Wars selling 2 million copies (including expansions), and Second Life hitting 1 million users--many of whom spend real money in the game.
But games like World of Warcraft are hard to switch off and walk away from, says Professor Mark Griffiths, director of the International Gaming Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University in the UK. That's because they have no end, and there's always someone online somewhere in the world.
A Nottingham Trent research study of 7,000 online gamers showed that 12 percent exhibit at least three of the diagnostic criteria of addiction as outlined by the World Health Organisation. These include: craving, withdrawal symptoms, loss of control, and neglect of other activities.
"This too shall pass" is one of the tools of recovery that can help you to keep matters in perspective. The vast majority of issues that plague us are temporary and do pass. It is interesting to try to think about problems that were so consuming a few weeks or months ago, that now are no longer in the forefront of your mind. A basic point of emphasis here is that whatever the current concern, picking up a drink or a drug will not only not resolve the problem, but for an alcoholic or addict will inevitably worsen the situation. Also involved in use of this tool is the fact that no matter what the situation may be that is causing you stress today, the emotional reactions you are having to it can be managed by sharing the issue with trustworthy persons or using a spiritual tool such as the Serenity Prayer.
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