Regulation is the focus of our online casino news

The fortunes of the major online casino operators appear to vary significantly, and now that half year results have mostly been announced analysts specialising in the online casino sector of the gambling industry are looking at future prospects. Clearly the big casino news at the moment is the possible acquisition of Sportingbet by a partnership between William Hill and GVC Holdings. We have already commented on this particular deal so we will await further developments before commenting further, but there is one factor which is starting to concern a number of gaming industry analysts and that is the prospect of further regulation by a number of European countries. Cyprus has of course already introduced measures which have upset Betfair in particular, but we now know that Germany is looking to introduce 5% tax, which will inevitably affect all the online casino operators with a presence in that country. We also understand that both Spain and Italy are considering more regulation in the online gambling sector, which could also turn out to be worrying online casino news for some online gaming companies. The intervention of governments in the online gambling industry has always been an important factor for online casino operators, and it is not always bad news. Some of our bigger online casino operators have for instance been waiting and preparing for many months for the US government to relax their online casino regulations regarding online casino games such as poker.  Regulation abroad is a major factor in any proposed investment but many would argue that companies are more comfortable investing in a regulated market, even if those regulations are more stringent than they would like. We will continue to monitor the financial performance of our well known online casino operators in our regular online casino news bulletins, because successful companies are more likely to invest in their range of casino games and so increase our enjoyment.