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A special parliamentary session discussing the amendments to South Africa’s National Gambling Act, was told by a Johannesburg University professor and expert on internet communications that it would be in the government’s interest to regulate online gambling but not, however, to prohibit it outright.

The Trade and Industry Portfolio Committee was told by Professor Basie von Solms that they should not attempt to stop South Africans from gambling online but that the South African internet gambling industry should be legalized under very strict conditions. This should guarantee the security of players’ confidentiality and information.

The United Kingdom has reaction with dismay to reports that Facebook, the largest and most popular social networking site, is contemplating entering real money online gambling.

An article in the newspaper, The Daily Mail, points out that there is in excess of 3 million Facebook users in the United Kingdom who are aged between 13 and 17 with a further million users estimated to be under 13 years of age but pretending to be older than that. Should real money online gambling come to Facebook, there is grave danger that underage persons will get involved.

According to Dr Robert Lefever, the founding director of the Promis Recovery Centre where online gambling addicts are treated, the majority of young people think that anything on Facebook is acceptable and will, therefore have no hesitation in trying to gamble online for real money.

Online gambling firm Betfair has admitted that it had failed to reveal details of a major cyberattack that took place on its site when more than 3.1 million account names with encrypted security questions, 90,000 account user names with bank account details and 2.9 million usernames were stolen during March, 2010.

Betfair failed to reveal details of the huge cyberattack when it issued its flotation prospectus in September last year. After coming under fire for not having disclosed the details in the prospectus which was issued only six months after the incident the group gave various reasons for its’ non-disclosure.

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Despite opposition by the European Commission and the fact that Greece is currently in a state of financial turmoil, the country has decided to continue with its draft proposal to change online gambling in the country.

As part of Greece’s debt obligation to the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, the country was required to change its laws in order to allow the industry to generate much needed funds. The country had also undertaken to sell its stake in the state gambling monopoly, OPAP, by the fourth quarter of the year but Greece’s Finance Minister, Evangelos Venizelos, made an announcement this week stating that the government had not in fact pledged to sell the group and may refrain from doing so after all.

ICE, the top online gambling and gaming exhibition has been forced to find a new home due to the fact that the Earls Court Exhibition Centre is due to be demolished next year.

The online gambling and gaming exhibition will be held at Earls Court for the very last time in January 2012.

ICE organizers, Clarion Events, have signed a five-year agreement with another exhibition centre situated in London, the ExCel Exhibition Centre that is due to commence in 2013. ICE’S first exhibition at ExCel, London, has been scheduled to take place from February 5th to 7th 2013.

Although it was obvious that the events of Black Friday and Blue Monday would affect the online gambling volumes, stake holders in the online gambling industry were not quite sure by how much. However, H2 Gambling Capital, the reputed consulting firm from Manchester, has produced an assessment showing that the situation is even worse than imagined.

The consulting firm has reported that online gambling growth will slow down to 4.4% this year which is the slowest the online gambling industry has experienced since 1998.

Another argument in favor of those who are pushing for the introduction of an online gambling regime in Atlantic City: A recent report showed that visits to land casinos dropped by 6.2% last year. This is the fifth year of revenue decline shown in Atlantic City, influenced by a number of factors such as the introduction of casinos in neighboring states and a poor economy.

It may be small in size, but Costa Rica is proving itself in a big way in the online gambling industry. This tiny country in Latin America boasts no less than 500 online gambling operators who call it home, an industry which generates $14.5 million for the country’s economy.

A report, entitled Costa Rica Gaming and Gambling 2011, put out by Research and Markets group examines Costa Rica’s online gambling business and shows that it has become a haven for online gambling operators and software providers. The country has no internet gambling legislation, instead offering commercial licenses to operators.