Silicon Valley sets its sights on online gambling
SAN FRANCISCO: Look out Las Vegas, here comes FarmVille. Silicon Valley is betting that online gambling is its next billion-dollar business, with developers across the industry turning casual games into occasions for adults to wager. At the moment these games are aimed overseas, where attitudes toward gambling are more relaxed and online betting is generally legal, and extremely lucrative . But game companies, from small teams to Facebook and Zynga , have their eye on the ultimate prize: the rich American market, where most types of real-money online wagers have been cleared by the Justice Department. Two states, Nevada and Delaware , are already laying the groundwork for virtual gambling . Within months they will most likely be joined by New Jersey . Bills have also been introduced in Mississippi, Iowa, California and other states, driven by the realisation that online gambling could bring in streams of tax revenue . In Iowa alone, online gambling proponents estimated that 150,000 residents were playing poker illega
No comments:
Post a Comment