If you believe you are taking a gamble when investing in shares on the Stock Exchange, you would probably be correct. But this type of investment is more scientific than simply popping money in and pulling the arm of a slot machine. Now a slot machine is a random number game, and the player either wins or loses his money, but trading in stocks entails an educated guess, in the well-established game of securities exchange trading.

Currently, as the continued growth in online gambling growth is enjoyed by players, investors are showing a great deal of confidence in gambling on this game. This essentially means that shares are being traded and bought, and are showing growth for investors. According to the Forbes report – UK online Gambling concerns are being seen as excellent opportunities to invest for the wise speculator.

This industry in the UK is a mature industry that has been showing continued upward, and exponential growth since first inception in the late 1990’s. The rest of the world has seriously fallen behind in the uptake of online gambling as an industry, as they find themselves embroiled in regulatory in-fighting, rather than taking a free-market approach. Most Governments seem to be hell-bent on the ideology of monopolistic control.

The free-market approach taken by the UK Government has seen the industry develop into a highly technical, green-type economy. The nature of this industry has therefore proven itself to be sustainable in terms of lasting growth, as well as high profitability. Investing in any industry or firm entails making an informed choice, at the right time.

Whilst speaking of informed choices, it pays to note that previously no tax was levied on these gaming concerns if they were situate offshore from the British Isles. This is set to change in December 2014, when taxes will be levied at firms offering wagers to UK-Facing players. This will be a point of sale tax, and while we are not sure how these funds will be collected, however HMCRS seems confident of making these collections from offshore situated brands.

For a short while this tax news had some effect on investor confidence, but with the positive Forbes report, this negative attitude seems to have changed. Mobile gambling is rolling out fast, and proving to be immensely popular too, so, this together with generally expected growth, should ensure continued investor confidence.

William Hill and NetRefer are pleased to announce their partnership to enhance William Hill Online’s Affiliates United program through NetRefer’s Performance Marketing suite.

Rated by EGR Magazine as one of the most powerful gaming operators on the planet, William Hill Online is a significant partner and an exciting addition to NetRefer’s growing client base. This partnership continues to assert NetRefer as market leaders in affiliate management and performance marketing.

William Hill Online’s new affiliate programme will offer state of the art functionality including fully managed online hosting, advanced media tracking, dedicated customer support and account management, flexible reward plans, attractive affiliate commissions, on time payments, and extensive reporting along with other industry leading marketing tools. This will empower the business with all the necessary functions to support CMOs, marketing and affiliate managers and affiliates effectively and efficiently.

William Hill Online has always enjoyed a very strong brand image, and through the implementation of their new affiliate platform, this will encourage further growth for their online business, a key objective for all NetRefer’s online gaming partners.

Anat Errell, Head of Marketing Operations for William Hill Online, said: "This is a very important chapter in our business, and we are very excited to be working with the industry leaders in affiliate marketing to ensure all our esteemed affiliates and marketers are provided with the leading edge solution in the business. We are proud to have selected NetRefer as trusted partner for our marketing solutions".

Julian Buhagiar, CEO of NetRefer Malta, said: "It has been a pleasure to work closely with the marketing and technical teams at William Hill Online to ensure they are provided with all the latest marketing tools to fulfil their requirements. Our goal is to ensure all the affiliate team as well as their affiliates are provided with a fully configurable rewards engine, clear and flexible reporting, in-depth analytics as well as user friendly dashboards available in over 99 languages to ensure market reach and localisation for William Hill’s entire online brand."

Things are changing rapidly in Asia, in particular in the economic sector. This is no longer one of the poor Global territories, and there is a rising middle class, which means various economic sectors are operating in over-drive. For example – the manufacturing industry in China – is there anything new you have purchased recently that has not been manufactured in China. In response to this, the new middle class Asian resident also demands their fair share of recreation. One of the most popular forms of recreation is gambling.

Therefore, not only the online gambling industry is experiencing a boom. The live gambling industry, in particular in Asia, is booming. Macau offers us a dynamically clear picture of just how rapid economic growth has been. This part of the world has benefitted hugely from the gambling industry, but they are also now taking a closer look at the social impact of gambling as an industry. While there is no gambling per se on Mainland China. Millions of Chinese tourist, save up every penny they can to spend in Macau taking a gamble.

After Macau was monopolised by the Chinese for a period of time (four decades), it has now been opened up to the rest of the world to develop this booming business, although there are moratoriums on certain pieces of property. Manila Bay, Macau, is the home to reclaimed land. Yes, they have re-claimed land from the sea to create a home for a $4 billion casino-resort. This will soon rise like the lost land of Atlantis, funded by foreign investors. US companies such as Las Vegas Sands, MGM, and Wynn Resorts have also flocked to this former Portuguese colony.

Foreign investors in the gambling business, are also currently breaking ground in South Korea. There are plans afoot here to hatch a whole clutch of casino-type resorts. Then on the Eastern edge of Russia, a casino resort area has also been planned to provide a catchment for Chinese gambling high-rollers. And when we talk about Chinese high-rollers, we refer to nose-bleed spenders.
Up-scale, glitzy, Las Vegas styled resorts are the name of the game for casino developments catering to the needs of Asian tourists. As they increasingly become more affluent, so to, do their needs change. Gambling is the order of the day, but then so too is a stay in an up-market resort.

Most areas are working on emulating the Macau business principle; understandably so. For every $1 spent in Las Vegas today, $4 is spent in Macau. This makes it the largest casino game marketplace in the world. However, Singapore is catching up rapidly, and a year after the first casinos had opened, they had already raked in about $6 billion.

We all know there is massive amounts of money to be made in the gambling business if it is done in the right way. The Asian market it seems, is doing it in the right way, and Beijing seems to be happy to allow its wealthy togamble their fortunes away.

Whether or not it was a huge bluff that PokerStars was buying out what was left of Full Tilt Poker (FTP) remains to be seen. There was massive excitement surrounding this topic just before the World Series Of Poker took place, but now the fuss seems to have died down. Popular opinion has it that the PokerStars/FTP Deal was only pie in the sky, and nothing much more. But of course, just as the possibility of the deal was conjecture, so, too is this opinion; but stranger things have been known to happen.

Discussions do however appear to have faded into the background. Rumour had it that PokerStars had been working with the U. S. DoJ to see if they could realize what Group Bernard Tapie could not. According to certain poker professionals who are in-the-know – these talks have ‘fizzled out’ – were "only hope and nothing more."(Matt Glantz).

Obviously it is wishful thinking for the online poker community to want this matter to be resolved. Any deal that any poker company might make with the US DoJ would have a vested interest for former poker players at FTP. It is no secret that the website was grossly mismanaged, and that millions of dollars worth of player funds were not been paid back to its members. The chances that these members will ever get their money back are indeed incredibly slim, despite the fact that there are half a dozen class action lawsuits still pending against FTP. We know that this deal would have brought some hope to FTP former-members, but there are huge problems involved for any online gambling or other company to attempt to rescue FTP from the morass.

First off we know that FTP’s Ray Bitar has faced the charges for Black Friday indictments, and plead not guilty; but PokerStars founder – Isai Scheinberg has not faced up to any charges, and does not intend to plead. This would probably be a pre-requisite for any DoJ deal, and PokerStars wants to avoid any leadership prosecutions. The Department of Justice (DoJ) is unlikely to decide not to pursue their criminal case against both Scheinberg and executive Paul Tate.

Even more telling with regards any discussion deal is the fact that there is no Federal landscape for online poker in the USA – so there is no ‘nationwide’ environment for PokerStars to get back into. Currently state-by-state individual changing of online poker laws is taking place, but the wheels of power are turning slowly, and there is not a great deal of incentive for PokerStars (a massive online poker offering in Europe) to offer ’íntrastate’ online gambling to the USA. Although to get a foot in the door; the efforts may be worthwhile. But then again, it would be smart business for big USA brands such as Caesars to keep this brand out of the USA, and Caesars as well as other big gambling brands have a lot of political influence.

eCOGRA eGAPs Revised to Meet Common Regulatory Trends

New requirements meet nine key European criteria for operators

The independent player protection and standards body eCOGRA has published a revised version of its widely respected Generally Accepted Practices (eGAPs) at www.ecogra.com/egap in a move that positions the organisation’s accredited operators at the forefront of European regulatory development.

The eGAPs provide a professional framework for safe, fair, efficient and responsible business activity and provide guidance for the 153 tier one online gambling sites accredited by the London-based organisation.

Andrew Beveridge, the chief executive of eCOGRA, says that the revisions have been undertaken mainly to ensure that eCOGRA’s requirements encompass the CEN Responsible Remote Gambling Measures, but that the eGAPs are also a comprehensive and valuable guide that will meet the appropriate requirements of most regulatory authorities.

"The regulatory landscape now evolving in Europe has seen a growing number of nations opting for a competitive but strictly regulated online gambling market, and decisions are likely to be increasingly informed by the required measures of the CEN Workshop Agreement which were framed earlier this year," Beveridge explains.

"By aligning our eGAPs with these recommendations, which cover nine key areas of activity, we not only provide a relevant and current roadmap to our accredited sites, but offer an expert framework useful to other operators committed to meeting requirements that are largely common to most regulatory initiatives," he added.

"Operators who have achieved eCOGRA seal status should comply with the latest developments for CEN Responsible Remote Gambling Measures."

CEN is the European Committee for Standardisation, one of three European Standardisation Organisations officially recognised by the European Union (http://www.cen.eu/). CEN inter alia draws up voluntary technical specifications, such as a CEN workshop agreement, to help facilitate a single market for European industry and consumers across its members in 31 European countries.

The 9 areas covered by the CEN Workshop Measures are:

• 1. The protection of vulnerable customers
• 2. The prevention of underage gambling
• 3. Combating fraud
• 4. Protection of privacy
• 5. Fair gaming
• 6. Accurate customer payments
• 7. Responsible marketing
• 8. Customer satisfaction
• 9. Safe operating environment

Some 134 detailed requirements under these headings are included in the recommendations and have been enshrined in the revised eCOGRA document.

The recommendations were developed through consensus across a wide range of remote gambling stakeholders – from experts on problem gambling and players to industry representatives and addiction and criminology academics – illustrating a real desire to work together to ensure that consumer protection issues are fully addressed as important EU developments unfold.

About eCOGRA

eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA), an independent UK based organisation, is the leading supplier of compliance and advisory services in the areas of player protection, fair gaming and responsible operator behaviour to stakeholders in the remote gambling industry.

In 2011 alone eCOGRA will conduct almost 100 operator and software supplier compliance reviews against eCOGRA’s eGAP Requirements, the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) Standards and various jurisdictional regulations. Monthly payout percentage and randomness reviews will be performed for over 300 remote gambling sites.

These services are provided to many of the industry’s leading operators, including 888, bwin, PartyGaming, The Palace Group, Ladbrokes, Unibet, Fortune Lounge, 32Red, Partouche, Expekt and BetClic.

About CEN

The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) is a business catalyst in Europe, removing trade barriers for European stakeholders such as industry, public administration, service providers, consumers and other stakeholders. Its mission is to foster the European economy in global trading, the welfare of European citizens, and the environment. Through its services CEN provides a platform for the development of European Standards and other specifications.

CEN’s 31 National Members work together to develop voluntary European Standards (ENs) in various sectors to build a European Internal Market for goods and services and to position Europe in the global economy. By supporting research, and helping disseminate innovation, standards are a powerful tool for economic growth. More than 60,000 technical experts as well as business federations, consumer and other societal interest organizations are involved in the CEN network that reaches over 480 million people.

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