You Can't Uninvent the Internet
David Trunkfield is an analyst for the global online casino gambling industry
and works as a consultant with the respected PriceaterhouseCoopers. Trunkfield
recently shared his insight and advice about the current US internet gambling
industry and the changes that are imminent since the US House Financial Services
Committee passed through a pro-internet gambling regulation bill. Although the
bill is not yet law and has some hurdles to overcome on that path toward full
passage, Trunkfield spoke with the NY Times about the situation and perhaps his
best piece of insight was the fact that governments all over the world are
beginning to realize that you just can’t un-invent the internet. When countries
like the US try to ban and block the offshore online casinos they are not
considering the full scope of what the internet has brought the world – and the
pervasive nature of the internet.
Although the European online casino gambling market is a bit more open than the
US market at this point there are actually still some very real problems that
have surfaced as nations attempt to protect their own state monopolies and
gambling interests. Trunkfield though feels that the state run gambling
monopolies are as ridiculous as the US’ attempts to completely block offshore
online casinos through payment transactions. These countries that are choosing
blocks instead of embracing legislation and regulated control of the industry
are not living in the actuality of what is happening. You either try to regulate
and tax it, or people are going to go to the offshore operators, where you don’t
get any revenue," notes Trunkfield.
This is the message that even opponents of the online casinos have come to
accept, that regulation and taxation are really the only methods of control for
the market – anything else simply does not work effectively and is merely a
denial of the nature of the internet. |