Online Casinos: A new playing field
By Lil’ Dice

The catapulting popularity of online gambling has created a relative global demand for ground-breaking and progressive advances. This has led the industry to evolve in the areas of game releases, promotions and new legislation.

A great variety of entertainment-rich games are released monthly to feed the sophisticated market’s appetite for themed games which cater for different consumer trends and tastes. In recent times, online casinos have added skilled gaming, such as backgammon, as well as multi-player slots and sports or topic-specific betting to their websites. For the player it means a much greater choice than those offered at traditional land-based casinos, such as slots, table games and video poker and the convenience of managing several activities from a single account.

To entice new enthusiasts, promotions are growing larger with ever-increasing fortunes to be won. The world’s first International Casino Games, a six-month event with a 1.5 million US dollars total prize pool, is making online gambling even more tangible. This event, like other casino and poker cruises, integrates the online and offline worlds by holding its grand final on a Caribbean Cruise. Even though cruises are almost synonymous with gambling, the event also addresses the need for players to compete internationally in their favorite games.

Apart from only targeting the huge high-rollers and the senior market, the casinos also allow business savvy entrepreneurs to take advantage of the industry growth through the highly competitive range of affiliate programs. Commission structures of the best choices available include life-long earning potential from acquisitions which are set at approximately forty percent or higher.

Another positive development, following concerns about the difficulty in identifying underage gamblers and monitoring the online gambling environment, is new legislation recently released by the self-regulatory body eCommerce and Online Gaming, Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA). With the new regulations in place, online casinos are to start a massive clampdown on underage and excessive gamblers in an effort to promote more responsible gambling. In the event that there are no home jurisdictions in states where online gambling is acceptable, gamblers will now have to abide by the minimum gambling age rule of eighteen years.

The fifty-six online casinos and poker rooms bearing the eCOGRA Seal of Approval will put into practise in-house policies and a comprehensive range of independently enforced requirements that are designed in collaboration with the G4 responsible gambling consortium.

“This initiative is one of the most comprehensive and widespread responsible gambling efforts yet seen in the online gaming industry,” says eCOGRA’s CEO Andrew Beveridge. The regulations effectively bar players who are not eligible to gamble online because of compulsive and excessive behaviour that could be financially damaging to their lives, and this includes players who are too young to gamble.

In this new playing field, it is encouraging to see online casinos taking the lead in protecting and enhancing the enjoyment of responsible players by reinventing themselves and, by so doing, setting credibility and legitimacy as the new industry benchmarks.

First published 26 Aug '05 - EzineArticles