European countries still turn to online gambling for financial help during times of economic crisis.

In contrast to Europe which has taken a more practical stance toward this subject, US is concerned about the social implications of online gambling.

Instead, Europe is more concerned about protecting the domestically state monopolised lotteries and other domestic gambling operators from foreign competition.

European countries seem to have reached the conclusion that it is wiser to come with a practical solution to the problem instead of continually trying to prevent gamblers wagering their money online is we also take into consideration the decline of land-based casinos.

David Trunkfield, consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, explains:

“What’s happened is a realization that you can’t uninvent the Internet. People are gaming online. You either try to regulate and tax it, or people are going to go to the offshore operators, where you don’t get any revenue.”

This is why the European online gambling industry has been growing steadily to the point where it’s biggest in the world at present while US continues to be inflexible about this issue. This year alone in Europe, the revenues from online gambling accounted for almost half of the entire gambling industry’s revenues. In the US, despite the high demand for online services, the American online gambling ban is being rigorously reinforced since 2006 causing a downwards revenue spiral since then.

The trend setter in Europe was UK, the first major European country to embrace online gambling and begin regulating its market in 2005. Following its example, countries such as France, Italy and Denmark started regulating their markets and gaining impressive tax revenues from partially liberalizing this industry. Other EU states including Germany, Spain and Greece are interested in liberalizing their markets too.

Betfair’s Tim Phillips concludes on this:

“The gambling business is one of Europe’s real success stories online. This is a business in which Europe leads the world.”

A shocking study was released by the Nova Southern University. The study discovered that 4 out of 5 poker players (i.e. 80% of them) use drugs for enhancing their performance at the poker table.

Kevin Clauson, the study author and pharmacy specialist, reveals that drugs help poker players to “stay awake longer, to focus and concentrate better” increasing their competitiveness. The professor adds that these substances are bad for human health and can produce serious negative effects if taken for a long period of time.

The drugs they use range from regular energizers to down-right drugs. For example they use caffeine from coffee and guarana from energy drinks but also marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, Valium and other prescription drugs.

Those who participated in this study and admitted taking drugs were players from last year’s WSOP in Las Vegas as well as international players who answered an online questionnaire. The respondents were professional, semi-professional, amateur and recreational players in Europe, North America and Asia. They used drugs to increase their concentration, to calm their nerves, to help them stay awake or sharpen their memory.

Poker players who take drugs are like sportspeople who take doping substances. They all take these substances to improve their performance but the difference is that in sports this practice is punished while in poker it is not which is unfair.