While the online gaming operators in the European markets and Latin America are breaking all revenue records and the prospects for future operations are shining bright, the picture isn’t quite as rosy in Cyprus and the United States. An upcoming consultation report on EU’s rapidly growing online gambling market finds that the EU online gaming and betting market is among Europe’s fastest growing industries, and it made 10 Billion in net revenues for 2010.  The prognostication report, done by the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) further predicts for 2012   that it will control about 87% of the European business with net revenues exceeding 83 Billion.

In Latin America, there are approximately 500 gaming operators based in Costa Rica.  The online gambling news for this country is promising, as its online gaming industry accounted for $14.5 billion in 2010.  Since there is no online gambling regulatory framework in place in Costa Rica, normal commercial licenses that apply to all of the country’s industries are sufficient for use to regulate and tax online gambling companies.  Therefore, online gaming companies are flocking to Costa Rica to conduct their business in that country.

In total, the twelve countries in Latin America that have legalized online gambling generated over $33 Billion in revenue in 2010 and if legal and illegal gambling activities had been combined, the estimated revenues would have exceeded $150 billion. It is no surprise that online gaming operators and software providers are looking to establish local partnerships in Latin American countries in order to gain a hold on the industry.

In Cyprus, however, a different tune is being played, and it may be the death knoll for online gambling there.  Cyprus is on the precipice of banning all types of online gambling except sports betting and their own lottery.  Presently, the citizens of Cyprus spend 2.5 billion a year on online gambling in this once-prospering online gambling country which houses several top Internet gambling companies and software providers.

In the United States, the online gambling news is more upbeat than in Cyprus.  Although it is still illegal to engage in online gambling in the U.S., Rep. John Campbell (R-CA) has introduced legislation earlier this month in the House of Representatives that would finally legalize online gambling in the United States, and overturn the 2006 UIEGA law that prohibited online gambling.  This action will be watched closely over the next several months because of its overall effect on online gambling world wide.