The supporters of online gambling had hoped that the would have overturned its ban on offshore online gambling by the end of 2009.  However, it is clear that the matter will not be settled at least for six months or so.  Regardless of developments in the , the topic of online gambling remains on the front burner internationally.  Some pundits argue that online gambling adds to the moral degradation of society, while other experts point out the many benefits of online gambling, including its entertainment value to the aged and disabled populations.

In both cases, there is a credible argument to be made, and the debate rages on.  Let’s take a peak at a leading European country and review the latest developments in online gambling within its parameters.  In , it has been reported by a new Forsa study, commissioned by the Association of International Technology (AIT) and New Media, that recent attempts in to ban online gambling have only slightly reduced the volume of gambling within its borders.  Sanctions had been established in order to protect the existing state monopolies in gambling.

The results of the study indicate that over 2 million German adults still bet on the Internet, a drop of only 200,000 since the sanctions were put into place.  The study concluded that Internet lotteries and poker are the most popular online gambling attractions for German gamblers, and that the sanctions have proven to have little effect on the strong German online gambling market.  There is now a great hue and cry in for the German states to modernize their archaic and unpopular gambling laws at their next meeting in March, 2010.

Meanwhile, back in the , individual states are making their own headway toward the legalization of online gambling.  In North Carolina , a loophole in the law will allow limited online gambling within its borders.  It seems that Internet cafes are exempt from such regulation, as a North Carolina court has ruled in favour of online gambling in Internet cafes.  The limitation is that prizes for wins must come in the form of free computer time or phone time.  Other states, such as Texas and Florida , are also checking out how the loophole could affect online gambling in their respective states.

The State of Virginia was one of the original 13 colonies that comprised the , and it is now taking a leadership and pro-active position in the matter of online gambling.  Paula Otto, the Executive Director of the Virginia Lottery, says that online gambling in the is inevitable.  Therefore, she advocates the development of Internet gaming, since there will be no appreciable growth in lottery games in the future.   Since lottery sales have flattened out in recent years, Commissioner Otto feels that Internet gaming expansion is the only way to augment revenue in this area upon which state educational services depend.

The second decade of the 21^st Century promises to be a make or break decade for online gambling on the international spectrum.