The news continues to improve for online casinos and the players who prefer playing casino games online rather than travel to a land based casino. Online casino gaming is our raison d’etre here at Slots Play Casinos. Online casino gaming differs from land based gaming in many areas such as the much more pronounced online casino bonuses over the lesser land based casino bonuses.
Here are a few news items from recent weeks.
Brazil
The legalization and regulation of online gaming in the largest country in South America continues slowly but surely. The Chamber of Deputies approved a law that would set up a lottery commission to regulate online gaming as well. The law will become final when the Senate approves it in the coming days.
The Ministry of Finance is charged with coming up with the regulations that will tax revenues and give them to the National Public Security Fund. The Ministry of Finance has fully two years to set up the regulations and if it needs more time, the law allows it to extend the period for two more years.
West Virginia
Hancock County in the north of the state of West Virginia approved gambling in early November. The history of West Virginia is interesting as it relates to gambling.
Until Virginia seceded from the United States in 1860, the western areas were part of the state of Virginia. But the people in the west didn’t want to leave the Union and didn’t have the agricultural need for continuing slavery. So, the western region seceded from Virginia. The political powers in the state were all in the east and most owned large plantations with sizable numbers of slaves. But they could hardly object to a part of the stated seceding when the entire state had just seceded from the Union so West Virginia was born.
The economy of West Virginia was based on coal mining for over a hundred years. Today, coal mining is in decline because coal burning pollutes the air and contributes to global warming. Now, the state sees itself located perfectly to earn large sums from tourism and casinos.
The decision in Hancock County will affect land based gambling in an area almost centrally located from several large metropolitan areas but it also signals to online casinos that West Virginia is amenable to online gambling. As people travel to the state, they will be able to access their online casino and play while during the day enjoying the natural splendor of the state.
Czech Republic
One of the aspects of online casinos and land based casinos is the time from the moment the casino gets approval to the time it can begin gaming operations. Online casinos are often already in place in cyberspace. They can quickly make the adjustment to offering gaming to people in a new jurisdiction.
Land based casinos first get approval to build a casino. Then they have to apply for building permits and in some places that means filing an environmental impact study. The process may continue for years. So, it is always important news for gamers and the industry when an online operator wins approval in a jurisdiction where approval was previously hard to attain.
In Czechia, Partypoker recently won approval from the Ministry of Finance to operate in the country. Czechia is known in the industry for having severe regulations and other restrictions and a top-heavy bureaucracy that manages online gaming. Because of the reasons, several large online operators have decided not to enter the Czech online gaming market.
Online gaming in Czechia is regulated under the terms of a law that was passed only in 2017. The companies are still trying to figure out the details of that law and the bureaucracy is also in the process of interpreting and executing the law.
Partypoker actually withdrew its application at one time but reapplied and now is free to begin operations in Czechia as soon as it can. One reason was the very high taxes online casinos and sportsbooks were expected to pay.
The Laffer Curve
A Nobel-prize winning economist, Arthur Laffer, publicized a curve that has become known as the Laffer Curve that shows that tax revenues can increase following a tax cut and that tax revenue can decline after a tax increase. Most governments still operate under the false assumption that higher taxes will create larger revenues. That seems to have been the case with the government of Czechia as far as the taxes online gambling sites are expected to pay.
The Future of Online Gambling
There are three areas that point to the future of online gaming.
Blockchain
This is the technology that controls bitcoin and all other cryptocurrencies. But blockchain technology has many applications. For online casinos, the great advantage of blockchain is that it provides absolute transparency. We may very well see some jurisdictions allowing online casino gaming only through blockchain technology.
Governments may do so in order to collect all of the taxes due them from casino revenues, profits, and winnings. A country like Czechia might find that the level of tax is too high since blockchain makes it possible to collect all taxes owed.
3D
Many of the amazing changes that have occurred in online gaming came from graphics. There is no area within the broad framework of graphics more cutting edge than 3D. Not only can we expect many more 3D games but we will see 3D in many applications such as in live casino feeds.
3D may be at the forefront of anticipated changes in the way we play casino games online but technology never stands still. So, we are quite sure that the news will be filled of reports about wonderful new technologies just around the bend.
Demographics
The world’s population is expected to top off at around ten billion people. Many of the 7-8 billion already alive have no access to online gaming. As people become more affluent and governments come to realize the great financial benefit of regulating and taxing online gaming, more and more governments will allow online gaming to their citizens.
As big as the online gaming market is today, it may grow by upwards of 100% in the next decade or two.
Approval to Run an Online Casino
Given the great changes the online casino industry will see in the near future, there may no longer be news stories about licensing and approval. That side of the issue may become so obvious and assumed that new approvals won’t be considered news.
