The Economic Benefits of the Online Gambling Industry

Any notion that gambling is a niche enterprise is quickly being dispelled as a falsehood. In fact, the online gambling industry has quickly become one of the fastest growing sectors on the internet. The numbers are certainly strong enough to catch the attention of mainstream society.

One look at an online casino review website like newbettingsites.uk makes clear that the number of online gambling providers is growing by leaps and bounds, year-over-year. Industry analysts are quick to confirm that the online gambling sector (casinos, sports books, horse racing, lotteries) has been growing by double-digit percentages over the last 10 years. This sustained growth figures to continue with the proliferation of mobile gambling sites that are making it very easy for the everyday day person to play video slots anywhere and at any time they want.

The question is, “as an industry, does the growth in the gambling sector provide enough economic benefits for society to offset the potential effects of problem gambling?” The short answer is yes.

The Economic Benefits Provided by Growth in the Online Gambling Industry

Whenever a new industry moves into the mainstream after being largely considered a niche market, that industry gets a lot of scrutiny from economists and financial analysts. It’s important for these bodies of people to gain an understanding of how new industries are going to impact local, national and worldwide economies. The good news for society in general is that the online gambling sector is providing two very important economic benefits to the aforementioned economies.

Employment - The average Joe on the streets really has no way to gauge the manpower it takes to run a website, especially a website that’s tied closely to commerce. While online gambling sites are operated largely through electronic communications, there’s still plenty of people sitting at desks and in offices to make sure online gambling operations are going smoothly. After factoring in the manpower required by the software companies that are developing the website and mobile gambling platforms as well as the more than 2,000 online casino games currently available to gamblers, there’s little doubt the industry is having a positive impact on employment. In addition to software developers, the industry employs tens of thousands of customer service reps, sports handicapping experts, marketing personal, IT personal and administrative staffers.

Tax Revenues – Some experts put the collective worldwide gambling revenues from online gambling resources only at anywhere from $150-$200 billion US dollars a year. Other experts say that number is extremely conservative. Regardless of what the numbers really are, there’s a lot of tax revenues going into national and state coffers all over the globe. Notably, the UK, US and parts of Asia stand to benefit the most as the gambling industry, and specifically the online gambling industry, continues to grow.

For sure, there will be problem gambling issues for local communities to deal with as access to online gambling expands. For now, it’s clear the benefits will outweigh any potential problems. We’ll keep an eye on the economic impact of gambling into the future.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes.