According to the UK’s Conservative Party there are so many people addicted to gambling because of the relaxed rules on internet gambling and advertising. They say that figures show an increase of almost of a quarter of a million more people gambling online in 2008, compared to 2007 when advertising was first permitted.

Under pressure from the EU it has been reported that France will allow private online gambling companies to operate in France from next year.  An online gambling bill will be submitted to the cabinet at the end of March.

In order to avoid the highly volatile situation that exists in the United States, the South African government will be regulating and taxing online gambling sites.  The Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel, proposed a new bill to the government last week – the Interactive Gaming Tax Bill.  If the bill is passed it will “tax gross gambling revenue outside of operators within the online gambling industry.  Sites in or doing business in South Africa would be subject to a special tax”.

Everyone in the online gambling industry is hoping that the new Obama administration will see sense in the fact that online gambling will bring in substantial revenue to the ailing country.  As the chief of the American Gaming Association, Frank Fahrenkopf, said over the weekend “There have been projections circulated on the Hill that it can raise billions of dollars in new federal revenue, so we can expect that the whole issue of internet gambling will be front and center in the next Congress”.

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?

The online gambling news website Online Casino Advisory is calling for “…a boycott by all gamblers, civil libertarians, and concerned protectors of the Internet of all products of Kentucky, or anything that produces Kentucky tax revenue.  Until governor Steve Beshear lifts his fascist order, every effort must be made to hurt the state’s coffers.”   What next?

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.