California Blinks on Legalizing Online Gambling

Legalizing online gambling is the new bug that seems to have got the attention of many governments and gambling regulatory bodies all over the world. Announcements are coming in thick and fast from various countries and states about their decision to consider legal status for online casinos and the gambling industry.

The latest announcement comes from the far north of the American continent as Canadian provinces are looking to regulate and expand their markets. There are reliable reports coming out from responsible sections of the press that the British Columbian Government has decided to launch an expansion of online gaming. If the reports are true, and they certainly appear that way, then British Columbia will be the first province in all of Canada to regularize and legalize online gaming.

An announcement coming from Granville Islands, states that the BC Lottery Corp. will be putting up close to 75 new online games on their website as part of the regulatory procedures announced. A lot of options such as Bingo, lottery, sports betting and casinos are available under the new online games. In spite of going ahead with the legalization decision, the Government has very clearly stated that they will proceed on the matter with extraordinary caution as they want to be responsible and accountable for the revolutionary move.

The government claims that one of the biggest advantages of offering such governmental expansion is the ready availability of a provincially regulated alternative to private gambling and online gaming websites. Expectedly, private gambling websites have protested against the move. It is a known fact that the Government wishes to tackle the issue of problem gambling through their licensed websites. Private gambling site owners want the government to first address the issues of problem gambling and the presence of criminal elements who manipulate the sites for their own larger interests.

The Government however seems to have made up their mind and all logistics and programs are in place to go ahead with their decision of regularizing online gaming and the gambling industry.

In a related development in the US state of California, the online gambling bill has been removed from consideration. It is a huge setback to supporters of online gambling regularization. It was widely expected that California would be the one state in the US to legalize online gambling. With the opposition successfully sowing the seeds of doubt in the Government’s mind about the demerits of legalizing online gambling, it was decided to remove the bill from consideration till the Government makes a full investigation into various claims made by local tribes.

Official figures show that over one million California residents gamble online. The state of California could rake in close to two billion dollars in extra revenue if online gambling is legalized. The government is fully aware that the native tribes are putting up protests over the government decision because they feel threatened by the possibility of losing their jobs and regular income at land based casinos. The removal of the bill from consideration clearly points to the fact that the government wants to address all the issues that can potentially create a roadblock for legalization of gambling in the future.