LONDON - Delegates from Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, South Africa will attend a meeting outside London today to complete negotiations on a code of conduct for the online gambling industry.
U.S. officials were invited but decided not to attend, preferring an approach that bans Internet gambling. President Bush earlier this month signed into law measures barring credit card companies from collecting payments for online bets.
Online gambling more than doubled in the U.K. during the past five years, a study for the government showed. The research by RSe Consulting found about 1 million people place bets regularly online in the U.K., a third of the 3.3 million across Europe. The industry takes bets of $6.65 billion a year, with the average European online gambler betting roughly $2,000 a year.
"Online gambling is on the rise, and there is a need to do something about this at a global level," British Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell said in an e-mailed statement. "I want to secure international support for agreed standards of regulation."
A draft of the agreement seen by Bloomberg News last week indicates the nations may commit to the idea that "remote gambling should not be a source of crime" and that it "should be fair to the consumer and that the protection of children and vulnerable people should be a key objective."
"However good the new regime will be in the U.K. for online gambling, it might not be as effective if overseas websites simply ignore the high standards we have set," said John Carr, of children's charity NCH.
Jowell's department estimates there are 2,300 gambling web sites across the world, with Antigua topping the league of host nations. The U.K. has 70 online betting sites, though none offer games like poker, blackjack and roulette.
The government has "taken a diplomatic and enlightened approach" to the regulation of online gaming, said John Shepherd, director of corporate communications of PartyGaming. "The government has notched up a pretty big success to discuss the issues, which is the right way forward."
source : www.bloomberg.com
