The drama, the glory and the wonders witnessed at the 8th Annual European iGaming Congress and Expo (EiG) were top of the line over in Copenhagen just recently. For the business of online casinos and all forms of internet gaming, this was the place to be whether you were a software developer or an operator. The majestic online casino event took place at the super sleek and elegant Bella Centre that was located just outside the main city center of Copenhagen.

Many of the major movers and shakers from the industry devoted to online casinos in the region of Europe made sure to bring themselves and their latest cool gadgets in for the expo since this is the ideal place to come to if you have something earth-shakingly spectacular to unveil to your fellow internet gaming colleagues. It was the city of Copenhagen’s first shot at holding the honor of playing host to this important casino gambling event. This also meant that for the attendees, they had a brand new incredibly city to explore in terms of cultural events, sight-seeing and deluxe restaurant opportunities that are unique to the splendor of Copenhagen.

Delegates to the expo were fortunate enough to employ their free time in between the formal conference sessions with some whirlwind tours of a highly up and coming cosmopolitan European city. What more could you possibly ask for? Clarion Gaming, a formidable talent in the field of online casino gambling, served as the official organizer for the huge event and from what everyone was saying, they did a very good job.

The business of online casinos is booming and booming some more and it seems that there is no stop to its remarkable performance despite many other industries facing increasingly tough times in this dreary economy. While many other businesses, including the land-based casino industry, are facing huge losses in revenue and are finding themselves in dangerous financial positions, Internet casinos are riding a big easy wave that just carries them effortlessly to shore.

And to further prove the lack of vulnerability and immunity to financial strife, the Sunday Times recently came out with a report that indicates that online casinos are doing better than anyone had previously thought. With their “Internet Rich List” they have told the whole world how well the online casino industry is faring during this difficult time. The top ten online businesses are hands down being dominated by the online gambling business. In fact, as many as four out of the top ten in the bunch are executives who work for Internet gambling companies. This is just another example that shows everyone who strong the casino industry is, even as other businesses crumble and default on millions of dollars worth of loans, online casinos are going strong and the future is looking very bright.

PartyGaming is near the front of the pack in a solid second place position with the founders, Ruth Parasol and Russell De Leon reportedly worth somewhere near 700 million pounds. The company managed to have two more executives make the top ten list and they included Anurag Dikshit coming in third place. Dikshit is supposed to be worth 59 million pounds. And then there was also Vikrant Bhargava who placed in the ninth position for being worth around 230 million pounds.

Many high-ranking people familiar with the land-based casino industry in Poland have recently begun to be quite vocal about making the move towards licensing and regulation of online casinos. A board member of Casinos Poland, which has been around the block since 1988, voiced his support for taking the industry in this direction, saying it would help expand the opportunities of this eastern European nation.

Casino Poland is in possession of a hefty 55.28% of the domestic market share for the entire country. They operate seven top-of-the-line casinos that are scattered across the nation. These are built up alongside several slot machine venues through a subsidiary of Century Casinos.

People who are pushing for regulations say that they must exercise caution so that what they end up with does not resemble the system that Malta has in place. Although Malta has made online gambling legal in their country, the regulations they put in place are super intense and cumbersome. If another country in the region were to legalize the popular cyberspace activity, they would do exceedingly well in terms of attracting interest and potential investors with deep pockets.

Folks inside the industry are saying that Poland is the country that is in the best position to jump into the market so they need to act on it now. They would focus on establishing a strong relationship with the traditional casinos that are already in place so that they would be able to meet the needs of a rapidly growing industry.
Regulators and other industry insiders have expressed some concern about these prospected, indicating that a new and fresh legal framework is necessary before going ahead with any plans.

Anyone who has tried to follow the dealings of online payment processor NETeller over the last couple of years should be quite dizzy by this point. As one of the longest running and most well established operations out there NETeller had carved out quite a competitive niche for itself, particularly among the online casino players. They depended greatly on the fast and reliable services that NETeller offered. With developments like the UIEGA restrictions, NETeller had pulled itself out of many of the different markets that had come to rely on it heavily. The online casino industry, particularly within the United States was hit hard by this decision.

Recently, the UK-based online payment transaction provider announced that it had finally earner approval from their shareholders to change the company’s name. NETeller’s new name, according to the resolution, from here on out will be Neovia Financial. This new development has come about with the aim to detach the company from any lingering situation regarding the U.S. Department of Justice concerning online gambling transactions.

While NETeller was never actually prosecuted or found guilty of any crime by the United States authorities, they reached an agreement with the American government in the summer of 2007 to stop all business operations within the United States.

When the company released its third quarter financial results in October of this year, they indicated that they had plans in the works to re-brand the company to move on from this long and frustrating ordeal. Since 1999, NETeller has been providing its services to people in more than 160 different countries throughout the world. It will be interesting to see if they can all get on board as NETeller attempts to get a face-lift.

With the United States presidential election a mere day away from being decided, the casino industry has weighed in on which candidate would be the best choice. In an overwhelming show of support, the trophy goes to John McCain who received thumbs up from three of the largest Las Vegas casino operators. Not only have they pledged support for their chosen candidate with proclamations, they have also backed up their words with substantial sums of money.

Sheldon Adelson of Las Vegas Sands Corp.  and Steve Wynn of Wynn Resorts have conducted impressively successful fundraisers for the Arizona senator. One of these endorsements has been a bit surprising since Wynn is widely known as a longtime Democrat. The rest of his family has been quite dismayed by his decision to support McCain. Meanwhile, his wife has donated money to Senator Barack Obama’s campaign. She reportedly donated somewhere between $50,000 and $100,000 over the course of his length campaign.

Many folks within the gambling industry have been reasonably perplexed by the outpouring of adoration for the Republican candidate since he has been an opponent of sports gambling, going so far as to push for a ban on it. McCain used to hold nothing but contempt for the industry but more recently, he has welcomed them and their campaign contributions with open arms. While the polls are now showing Obama with a substantial lead over McCain, even in many of the swing states, the big wigs in the gambling industry are holding their breath and crossing their fingers, hoping for a last minute comeback.

The financial crisis that has hit the United States - and beyond - is finally having a dramatic impact on the online casino industry. While players are operating with a much tighter budget and are depositing less money for playing, they are not the only ones who seem to be suffering as a result of the credit crunch and the bleak turn our global economy has taken. In Cyprus, a nation that is often at the forefront of being a big player in the world online gambling industry, online casino workers are finding themselves out of a job.

Within the last few weeks, an alarming number of online casino employees have received their pink slips, being told at the end of the week not to return the following Monday. This is just one of many residual effects that the industry has felt due to the credit crunch and the tumbling that the financial market has experiences in recent weeks. Many businesses are cutting costs anywhere they can. They are cleaning house and looking for any and all possible ways that they can downsize.

This has resulted in many online gambling employees left out in the cold with the new and depressingly dismal mission: finding a new job. This task seems all but impossible in an economy where everyone is facing cutbacks and jobs are being eliminated rather than created. Every position in the online casino market is in danger including managers, customer service representatives and software designers. It isn’t just a handful of people who are going to find themselves without jobs – the numbers are substantial.