We have all heard the news, we have all seen the headlines, but how will online poker in the future actually be regulated?
The main problem seems to be the number of governments around the world who want a slice of income and are looking to dominate the regulatory framework in the future. We have countries such as the US, the UK and others are starting to appear in Europe sometimes offering favourable taxation environments in order to attract what is still a massive income flow. The longer this situation drags on the less chance of one government or one country ruling the online poker framework so many are now looking towards self-regulation of an industry which has been amongst the most heavily regulated industries in the world.
The benefit of self-regulation is the fact that slowly but surely the more risky and potentially fraudulent activities will disappear from the industry and as long as players recognise names they can trust, opportunities for scams and frauds should reduce. Many new players to industry seem to be attracted by overgenerous bonuses and promises which literally look too good to be true.
The counterargument for self-regulation is the high probability that the leading online poker groups will pull away from the smaller players in the industry and take with them the vast majority of online players. But what price can you put on safe online poker?
We have all heard the news, we have all seen the headlines, but how will online poker in the future actually be regulated?