UK plans global online gaming talks

THE BOOMING online gambling industry needs some attention, according to the UK government.

Reuters writes, they're going to host global talks concerning online gaming, specifically gambling, which generates nearly $12 billion (6.8 billion pounds) a year worldwide.

The primary goals of the talks seem to be regulation of the fast-growing industry and preventing children from accessing gambling web sites.

Anthony Wright, a spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, said, "We want to initiate a discussion about problem areas which include protection of children, advertising, money laundering and criminal infiltration."

Until the Gambling Act last year, gambling laws were a good four decades old, and even now international coordination will be necessary to keep online regulations effective.

Wright continued, "We became the first industrialised nation to legalise online gaming ... The reason we introduced the act was to regulate the new forms of gambling. We can only get so far on our own."

No invitation letters have been sent for the talk, but positive feedback has been coming from several English-speaking nations.

We at the Inq will keep you posted, as long as gambling stays popular. µ