Living up to their commitment to regulate the online casino and gambling industry, the United Kingdom's Department for Culture, Media and Sport announced they will be holding an international summit regarding online gambling, and the inherent dangers found in this industry.  Focusing primarily on underage gambling, money laundering, advertising and criminal gangs, the summit is intended to bring an awareness to the political scene about how online gambling can be regulated if done with a tight grip.

With online casino betting growing at a feverish rate, and each year proving to be bigger than the previous, regulation is needed more than ever.  Countries like the U.S., where online gambling is considered to be an illegal activity, have been stubbornly battling the industry for nearly ten years now.  However, despite its adamant declaration that placing wagers in an online casino is a federal crime, repeated attempts to pass an anti-online gambling bill have failed miserably.  The United Kingdom would very much like to lead the U.S. into following their example, however, it is unlikely that U.S. representatives will attend the summit in England.

Now that the online casino industry is bringing in over $12 billion a year, and several multi-billion dollar companies have flotated on the London Stock Exchange (some of the largest flotations in quite some time), the upcoming summit looks to be needed more than ever.  The spokesman for the UK Department of Culture, Media and Sport, Anthony Wright, commented the summit intends to serve as a platform for discussing the problems that can and will arise as online casino gambling continues to grow as an international industry.  This is precisely why the UK strongly feels that online gambling should be regulated.  If it is left to its own devices, the repercussions could be devastating for the generations to come.