USA Gambling Ban - The end of the industry?
Does the U.S. gambling ban spell the end of the online gambling industry?
I guess that depends on who you are and how much you gamble. While there is no question that U.S. gamblers put a lot of money into the online pot,
they’re not the only high rollers.
Online gambling is a big draw in Asia with industry experts predicting that by the end of 2010, gambling revenues from that region will surpass the
best years the U.S. has enjoyed. Of course, this projected growth depends upon gaming operators finding new and improved ways to move money into and out of the lesser developed countries where both the banking and the communication infrastructures lag behind those of Japan, Hong Kong and
Singapore.
EU gamblers are currently kicking in ?25 billion (U.S. $31.7 billion), and that amount is expected to increase annually as well.
So, while some online gambling site operators are in “duck and cover” mode, with network managers setting up IP blocks to stop U.S.-originated Internet
traffic from accessing their sites, others are looking for a way to turn lemons into lemonade.
Rumor has it that hush-hush negotiations are going on between countries that support private offshore banking operations and those that support
offshore gambling.
The thrust of these negotiations is to try and come up with a loophole that will enable U.S. gamblers, particularly the deep-pocketed high-rollers, to
transfer funds legally from U.S. accounts. Once those funds reach private offshore banks, they would be beyond the regulatory reach of the U.S.
Government.
The questions is, in an era of “follow the money” anti-terrorism snooping where offshore transfers are watched very closely by the Feds, is there even a chance for a loophole of this type to exist?
Even if a hole big enough to channel a billion dollars a year or more of U.S. gambling dollars is found, what about the problems associated with
getting U.S. IP addresses through network blocking software? Will well- funded gamblers find out that they’ve made their ante but are blocked from
getting their cards?
“That’s where good old fashioned proxy servers come in,” according to one betting site network technician who declined to be identified.
A proxy server is a special computer that accepts incoming connections from web browsers and then redirects those browsers to whatever web site the
user wants to visit. The nature of a proxy server is that once a browser connects, that browser’s IP address is “lost” and all outbound traffic from
that point appears to be coming straight from the proxy server.
What this means in real life is that once a U.S. user connects to an International proxy server in Denmark, for example, the user’s “footprints”
stop at that server. From that point, no one can tell what sites the user visited. The end result is that offshore gambling sites will not attempt to
block the user because the traffic isn’t coming from the U.S. It’s coming from Denmark!
Of course, all this international intrigue isn’t going to happen overnight, if it happens at all. So, in the meantime, U.S. gamblers are going to have
to make the trip to their nearest terrestrial casino the next time the urge for a game of poker strikes, or they can visit this link to see
(USA Casinos) on-line casinos are still accepting U.S. players.
See you next time :)
diana
diana@gambling-gazette.com
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