If you still have some cash to spare and are thinking to invest it, think about buying stocks in the online gambling sector.  Believe it or not they are doing better than land-based casino stocks.  Despite the online gambling companies’ stocks falling in 2006 in the US and the stock market fiasco earlier this year, there has now been a terrific turnaround and the prediction  is that these stocks are worth investing in.

Despite valiant efforts by Republican Barney Frank to overturn the UIGEA bill and make the internet gambling industry legally regulated in the US, it appears that the Treasury Department of the Bush administration have been drafting their own regulations and are hurrying to get them implemented while the Bush administration is still in force.  In effect their implementation would ban online gambling in the US, the only exemptions being horse race betting, interstate online lotteries and betting on fantasy sports.

Bermuda is envious of Antigua, Barbuda and Costa Rica making so much money from online gambling so the  government is looking into the possibility of going into the market.  Not only are online casinos being considered, but also casinos may be allowed to open on the island.    Premier Ewart Brown said that they are preparing a feasibility study on gaming in general to see what the possibilities may be.

The Australian government’s plans to censor online gambling and porn websites will put users’ freedoms at risk says the internet users’ lobby group Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA).  Their spokesman Dale Clapperton said that “Any group with an axe to grind and political clout will be lobbying the Government to blacklist websites which they object to”.   Definitely sounds like the Kentucky situation to me.

A new proposal by Clubs Australia is for family members to have the support of gambling officers in order to assist with a problem gambler in the family.  If the plan goes ahead, problem gamblers would not be allowed further access to clubs until they received the necessary counseling.  It seems a good idea, but what might happen to a child at home who asks for help for one of his parents?

A national UK newspaper has reported that 25% more people are asking for help with their gambling problems and the cause is believed to be the government’s relaxation of rules on bookmakers and casinos advertising.  The Mail On Sunday says that nearly 38,000 people called a betting addiction hotline in 2007 compared to just over 30,000 in 2006.

Lawrence Anderson at Online Casino Advisory has said that we must find a solution to problem gambling instead of just highlighting it to the public with horror stories of the problems that gamblers have.    He says studies have shown that problem gambling, like alcohol abuse or drug problems, may be caused by a defect.

There’s the hearing in Kentucky later today when they will decide whether or not the state will take over the online gambling domain names (just heard that highrollerslounge.com and luckypyramidcasino.com have been seized by the state and cannot now be accessed by Kentucky users). There’s the bill to legalise online gambling in California and everyone is waiting to see what stand governor Schwarzenegger will take.  There’s the recent EU mission to the US concerning their possible complaint to the World Trade Organisation.  It’s pretty obvious things are in a bad way, but don’t expect any serious decisions until after the election in November.  Everything is politics.

Germany continues to flout European Union Trade laws, with Lower Saxony being the final state to vote in favour of banning non-German online gambling sites to operate in the country.  Bwin the Austrian gambling company from Vienna tried unsuccessfully to overturn the ban in Lower Saxony in the hope of keeping a door open.  They will now have to decide whether to appeal.

The US got itself into such a state by sitting on the moral high ground on online gambling that they are now finding the situation spiraling out of control.  The official EU delegation that went to the US last week will be advising the EU commissioners of their recommendation in November regarding their possible complaint to the World Trade Organization.