Germany clamps down on online casinos
Germany is the latest country to ban online gambling, having signed an agreement this week banning all web-based gambling.
Online casino and sportsbook websites, as well as poker rooms, will be blocked and banks may be prevented from making transactions to or from gambling sites.
The new rules come into effect on January 1st 2008.
Unsurprisingly, land-based gambling is allowed in Germany and guess what? Its all controlled by the state. Clearly, the German government is enjoying the profits it makes from gambling and has decided it doesnt want to share.
Back in November a court ruled that the ban on online gambling was impossible to enforce and thus pronounced it null and void. However, ministers have found a way round this loophole.
This is fast becoming an issue of global concern, as one country after another signs up to gambling bans. Whilst most bans have been supposedly enforced on moral grounds, the more likely explanation is business and state-run monopolies, as in Germany.
We can only hope that, as in the US, fans of online casinos, poker and betting will rise up and protest against their governments ban on a popular form of entertainment enjoyed by millions of people around the world.
