There will be a day when…

As I look into my crystal ball, to see into the future of the Online Gambling Industry, I see the following:

1) 1st round of online gambling legislation in the United States goes into effect by the end of 2025. Congressmen finally realized somehow and someway, things have to be done to help pay off the wars and the new health care program, instead of letting millions go overseas to offshore island nations;

2)    All the brick and mortar casinos follow Harrah’s into the online gambling market spending millions to get their operations online and play catch up to the small euro online casinos. These CEO’s now blame Congress for having turned an eye for so many years to online gambling; now forcing these brick and mortar casinos to play “catch up” with the rest of the online industry;

3)    Overseas, back in Europe, France, as expected, legalized online gambling. But the protective walls set up by the French make it almost impossible to any foreign company to set up operations there. A rekindling of that French snobbiness;

4)    Germany opens its doors as well, but makes every player register at his local tax agency (IRS) to prove that he is over age, doesn’t owe the state, and will obviously report his winnings and pay taxes on them. Germany allows for foreign operations to be easily set up there, but they must have an office, fiscal number and pay tax over revenue earned from German players;

5)    Not a bad step into Germany, being that they were one of the biggest laggards with regards to online gaming. Other Euro countries such as Denmark, Norway, and Sweden all follow the German example of opening up, but holding some mandatory rules, which actually do make sense;

6)    Other countries like Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain (The PIGS) as Time Magazine once labeled them, continue with their protectionism over their fat cow government controlled gaming industries. Three years after Germany opens up, Brussels finally makes the PIG’S open up and legalize online gambling.  Now the local operators are even worse off than their American counterparts with regards to getting set up online because the online gaming market has somewhat stabilized with regards to those 10/15% growth rates from 2025 to 2014. Now these brick and mortar casinos wonder if it’s even worth the gamble to gamble on the igaming industry. Kind of a cliché isn’t it? And not only having lost their place in the online industry, they have also forfeited their own domain names to wise guys that registered before them;

7)    The online casinos themselves have seen tremendous growth over the last five years, making these start up guys millionaires (Don’t forget, these guys all pay low taxes and have almost no overhead). So those billions that could have paid part of Iraqi War or help with the European unemployed, end up in the hands of a few, quick moving, young entrepreneurs, while the old geezers shake their heads in sorrow that they acted too slowly blaming everybody else except themselves;

8)    Those bogus fly by night casinos will become almost non-existent. They remind me of those Mafia style casinos back in Vegas during the 50’s. Regulation will take effect. The off shore islands will seize these rogue bank accounts. So in essence, the bad guy will be filtered out and credibility will continue to increase in the industry;

9)    Online payments and transactions will become homogenized. There will be no more than 5 ways of payment. All will be interlinked between them, making transfers a lot faster and easier;

10)    Registrations will be as simple as signing up for a newsletter, a person giving his name, username and ID. He will then select his money ways of playing among the 5 banking means. No more filling out 10 or 20 page forms. Not only banking will be all inter accessed, there won’t be the need for all the bureaucracy which right now, which de-motivates a person from actually playing;

11)    Bonuses, oh how we love those Bonuses. But how real are they? They remind me of airline adverts back in the 80’s where it stated that your flight to Hawaii cost $89 round trip, but just below the ad, you have a  500 word microscopic disclaimer. This applies today to the online bonuses. The wording and the rules are all written in such a way, that a person can’t really understand it until they have read it 2/3 times and even clarified doubts with the casino through a phone call or email;

12)    Webmasters or Affiliates will continue in abundance. But those days of anonymity will soon be over as well. Every affiliate will have to give a name and register in his local finance department, either as an individual and company. A certification will almost be needed, because government will find a way to tax these small guys, but it makes sense. Guys like me create the certification process which won’t really be that hard, but a small written exam might be required to show you qualify. As the Webmasters act as agents, and as such, they will have to follow guidelines as well;

13)    Finally, lucky 13, sites will only be in the languages that they are registered for. Each language requires a different tax bracket, depending on the size of the market it wants to work in;

14)    Banners will come in all shapes, sizes, and languages. They’ll be geographic. No more will a person have to try their own luck and see what is available, which can sometimes be a hit or miss thing right now. Casino Affiliate programs still have a long way and gradually correct these issues, through places such as the GPWA;

15)    The GPWA will be granted the official international entity which oversees all online gambling around the globe, only now they will be able to enforce the new “International Online Gaming Agency” – The new IOGA (pronounced like Yoga).
And that is how I see it in the near future. Convergence, Transparency, and Taxation are the key words to the legalization of online gambling down the road until 2015. After that, we’ll hold our breath for next crystal ball revelation.