Online gambling regulation covers the online casino and online sports betting industry. Online casinos first appeared in the mid 1990s, with InterCasino reputedly the first company. Online casinos offer players an array of well-known games, such as poker, baccarat, blackjack and slots, in innovative virtual surroundings.
Regulation of the online casino and betting industry addresses the issues of the virtual nature of the games. This virtual nature raises the problems of the remoteness of players from one another – games can be played across countries and time zones – and the ease and speed with which new casino operators can enter the market. The fact that games can be played 24/7 and across time zones can easily be seen to exacerbate compulsive gambling. The high stakes that can often be played for also mean that less than reputable operators have a great enticement to enter the market.
Online casinos are often keen to stress that they are in some ways self-regulating. The most typical example of this is their acquisition of third-party operating software, such as random number generating software, to ensure fair and unpredictable results.
In the UK, online casinos are licensed and regulated on a national basis. A number of companies can be headquartered in places such as Gibraltar or Antigua and Barbuda. In the latter, Internet gambling licences are relatively easy to obtain. One recent example of an unresolved area of regulation is mobile phone gambling, which can be difficult to monitor.
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