Sportsbook & Gambling Information

Gambling on Internet enters homes, offices




By REX M. ROGERS
Guest Column


While the Internet can be used for many legitimate and productive purposes, sin now dominates cyberspace. Internet sales of computer software and hardware have given way to gambling, which is the number one business on the Internet, three times larger than the second cyber-business, pornography,
Since the world's first online casino, Internet Casino Inc., opened Aug. 18, 1995, Internet gambling has become the fastest growing segment of the gambling market in the world. There are now more than 1,800 Internet gambling sites available, garnering over $5 billion annually.

Some 12 million people gamble online worldwide, nearly 4.5 million of them Americans, representing all gender, age, race, ethnic, education and income categories.

Now people can gamble anywhere they can gain access to the World Wide Web – office, home, airport, internet cafÈ or school. Players can literally "click their mouse and bet the house,“ says Ann Greer, chairman of the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion.

Some 50 governments and countries endorse Internet gambling within their borders, led by Antigua with more than 100 gambling sites. The Caribbean and Central America account for more than three-fourths of gambling Websites.

Meanwhile, Internet gambling is potentially even more addictive and certainly more financially predatory than land-based gambling operations.

Profits for typical land-based casinos range from eight to 16 percent on each dollar, while profit for virtual casinos is closer to 24 percent.