Because of the U.S. government’s hard line position, which states that Internet gambling is illegal, the U.S. is incurring all of the negative consequences of the Internet gambling craze and none of its benefits. Since Americans that want to gamble over the Internet do so regardless of the law, the U.S. gets no economic benefit from the lucrative industry but is still vulnerable to the potential social cost – an increase in the number of problem gamblers. While the U.S. market is, by far, the largest market of Internet gamblers, the U.S. refuses to capitalize on this phenomenon by legalizing and regulating the industry. Stock options for online casino companies are, therefore, not an option in the U.S. In London, on the other hand, stocks in online gambling businesses are not only available, but are booming. For example, two sites based in Gibralter and one in London are considering stock offerings in Great Britain and stock from Sportingbet, a British online gambling company, doubled last fall after the company acquired a leading Internet poker site. Furthermore, PartyGaming, a Internet gambling company based in Gibralter that runs the world’s biggest Internet card site, PartyPoker.com, is considering going public next year. If it does so, its’ estimated worth would be nearly five billion dollars.

With the Internet gambling industry expanding so rapidly, it comes as no surprise then, that there is now an option to download betting games onto your cellphone. PokerRoom.com, apparently the first Internet gambling site to offer such an option, was launched in April and its’ popularity is indicative of the fast growth and accessibility of online gaming. And, poker’s popularity is especially fast growing. The drawback of downloading Internet gambling games to a cellphone is the cost of doing so, since cell phone minutes are costlier than computer time. This does not seem to bother potential investors, though, as investment bankers are just waiting for the opportunity to sink their teeth into lucrative new stock offerings of similar sites.

One such opportunity may present itself if PokerRoom.com decides to go public too. Last year, PokerRoom.com’s parent company, Ongame, posted sales of $60 million and is preparing itself for an initial public stock offering. The PokerRoom.com site, created by two Swedish medical school students, started accepting bets in 2001. The site makes its profit by taking about three dollars off of each wager, which is standard in the industry. About 80% of the PokerRoom.com’s customers are from the U.S and it is ranked as the sixth largest Internet card room.

Furthermore, with London’s increasingly friendly atmosphere toward the online gambling industry, the future of Internet gaming sites looks very rosy indeed. In fact, new legislature, recently passed by the British government, that will legalize online gambling and make regulating the industry easier, is bound to give online gambling an air of legitimacy it doesn’t presently enjoy. The law is generally welcomed by those in the industry and as PokerRoom.com CEO, Patrick Selin, said, “It will be very, very good for us. “It’s a stamp of approval”.