Proposal Submission

Research Topic

The research topic of this assignment is on a broad overview of online casino gambling. Online casino gambling had become a popular trend for players since the emergence of Internet and gambling websites. People tend to prefer/switch to online casino gambling rather than atetnding brick and mortar casinos.

In relation to e-commerce, the research of the topic will include on discussing the business models of the online casino gambling websites. Details of their business models can be identified and be inter-related to how these websites uses e-commerce ideas to generate profit. A lot of people w ill be interested on how these intermediary websites connects players and earn money at the same time.

The legality of online casino gambling would also be looked into as it concerns whether these websites are operating on appropriate licenses. There are a lot of regulations being enacted and we will look into some of these to see how well had regulations create legal online casino gambling.

Besides that, this research topic will also focus on the impact of online casino gambling. As known, gambling had incurred a lot of cost from many perspectives including social, economy and political factors. We will identify and look into such issues as part of our discussion.


Research Objectives

1. To describe and give an overview of real cash online casino games betting
2. To identify the business model of online gambling sites and their operative trend
3. To understand the cause of players choosing online gambling rather than normal gambling
4. To discuss towards the legality of the online casino games websites
5. To highlight the impact of online gambling on the society

Report Outline

1.0 Introduction
1.1 General Overview of Online Casino Gambling
1.2 Online Poker
1.3 Online Roulette

2.0 Research Objectives

3.0 Content
3.1 Reasons Casino Gamblers Switch to Online Casino Gambling
3.2 Business Models of Online Casino Websites and Profit Generation
3.3 Legality of Online Casino Gambling
3.4 Impact of Online Casino Gambling

4.0 Conclusion

5.0 References


Literature Review

Brindley (1999) defined cyber gambling into two aspects which include through the Internet and digital television method. As discussed for our topic, our online casino gambling mainly involves Internet casino gambling. It is also stated that traditional casino games had also been offered through the internet now such as poker and blackjack (Brindley 1999). Based on the statistic diagram above provided by the Online Poker Channel (2010), the annual revenue has increased stably since 2001 which nearly hit $25 billions this year. This indicates that the online casino channel is attractive and keeps on growing due to the increasing number of customers/players and the improvement of technology. According to the study of Wood et. al. (2007), gambler usually play online usually is due to the convenient (12.9%) and easy to play (12.2%) in a comfortable place (11.7%).

Legality is a popular issue in online casino gambling. As in United States, Grohman (2006) said that it is hard to ban the activities of online gambling if there exist financial intermediaries that help the transfer the betting money. Regulated Internet Gambling framework could help in preserving consumers and ensure these transactions are formal. Legality: Online Casinos and U.S. Legislation (2010) shown that estimates of 80% of online wagers of U.S. are online poker players. Dewar (2001) also emphasized that it is hard to maintain jurisdiction on Internet gambling due to its nature and suggested that Internet regulation would be a way to tackle the current issue. Disputes may arise when countries argue on which jurisdictions to use on. Smith (2009) concluded that the current legal foundation is still uncertain. Smith (2009) quoted an example of employee using different emails to gamble and will not be prosecuted under certain situations.

Impact of online casino gambling can be a lot. Since online casino gambling could be played anywhere, it is not odd to see employees starting to surf gambling websites from their workplace. Such employee attitude could create work negligence and lead to time exploitation, decrease of productivity, financial problems and criminal activity (Griffiths 2009). Besides, in a paper written by Clark (2002), political issues arising from gambling include bribes on regulative laws which amounted to ten million dollars. What is meant here is that gambling industries pay bribes to governors and public officials to vote for the legalization of gambling.

As for profitability, online casino business is so popular nowadays, but how do they really work in generating high profit? According to Wilson (2005), the start up cost for the online casino business range from less than $200 to over $5,000. There are few common models used by the online casino to operate their business namely the web-based, download-based and live-based (eCommerce Journal 2006). Besides that, the high generated profit is due to the incomes gained from customers through different ways such as losing of bet, the house edge and commissions (English Harbour Casino 2010).

Major References

Brindley, C 1999, ‘The marketing of gambling on the Internet’, Department of Business and Management, Manchester Metropolitan University, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol.9, no.4, pp281-286.
This reference discuss about how online gambling makes money, delivery of its product and its implication.

Clark, G, Gambling and Political Corruption, National Information Center, viewed 6 October 2010, http://spgfoundation.org/Library/Studies%20and%20White%20Papers/Crime%20and%20Corruption/gambling_and_political_corruptio.htm.
This article focuses gambling which results in corruption and its description on how it happens.

Dewar, L 2001, 'Regulating Internet Gambling: the net tightens on online casinos and bookmakers', Aslib Proceedings, vol.53, No.9, pp12-13, viewed 6 October 2010.
This article talks about internet gambling, its regulation history and current regulative issues on internet gambling.

Griffiths, M 2009, ‘Internet gambling in the workplace’, vol.21, no.8, pp 658-670, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Nottingham Trent University, viewed 6 October 2010.
This article discusses about the effect of internet gambling in the workplace.

Grohman, C 2006, 'Reconsidering Regulation: A Historical View of the Legality of Internet Poker and Discussion of the Internet Gambling Ban of 2006', Journal of Legal Technology Risk Management, vol 1, no.1, pp. 37.
This journal states about regulations and its history on internet gambling.

Internet Gambling: An overview of the Issues 2002, United States General Accounting Office, GAO-03-89, Pp 15, viewed 5 October 2010, http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0389.pdf.
This article explains that issue of internet gambling which includes money laundering and legal frameworks.

Online Poker Channel (2010), viewed 14 September 2010,
http://www.onlinepokerchannel.com/casino-industry-review/
This website shows the statistic of estimated earned revenue in the online gambling industry from year 2001-2010.

Smith, A 2009, 'Controversial and emerging issues associated with cybergambling (e-casinos)', Vol. 28, no.6, pp 435-443, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, viewed 6 October 2010.
The journal discusses about internet gambling, e-casinos, implication of regulations and e-gambling attributes.

Wilson R 2005, Casino Business Opportunity, EzineArticles.com, viewed 8 October 2010,
http://ezinearticles.com/?Casino-Business-Opportunity&id=36521
This article discusses about the casino’s business opportunities and explains the different options of owning a casino.

Wood, R. T., Williams, R. J., & Lawton, P. K. (2007), ‘Why do Internet gamblers prefer online versus land-based venues? Some preliminary findings and implications’, Journal of Gambling Issues, no.20, University of Lethbridge, viewed 8 October 2010, http://www.uleth.ca/dspace/bitstream/10133/375/1/07wood.pdf
This journal discusses about the reason why internet gambler prefers online casino by explaining its’ advantages and disadvantages.

Other References

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Aranda N 2009, History of Online Casino, viewed 13 September 2010, http://ezinearticles.com/?History-of-Online-Casino&id=135546

Associated Content, Inc. 2010, A Timeline of Roulette History, viewed 16 September 2010,
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/39777/a_timeline_of_roulette_history.html

Dodge, C 2010, House Panel Passes Measure to Legalize Some Internet Gambling, Bloomberg, viewed 5 October 2010, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-28/house-panel-passes-frank-backed-measure-to-legalize-some-internet-gambling.html.

Dunstan, R 1997, Gambling in California, California State Library, CRB-97-003, http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/97/03/Chapt9.html.

English Harbour Casino 2010, How Casino's Profit, viewed 8 October 2010,
http://www.englishharbour.com/articles/how_casinos_profit.php

Gambleaware 2010, Types of Gambling, viewed 15 September 2010, http://www.gambleaware.co.uk/seek-help/types-of-gambling.

Gambling Online: Is It Legal? 2010, viewed 5 October 2010, http://www.the-surfs-up.com/news/gamblingonlinenews.html..

Maincasinovalues.com 2010, The Benefits of Online Casinos Vs Land-Based Casinos, viewed 9 October 2010,
http://www.maincasinovalues.com/

Marotta, J 2006, Parents urged to consider dangers of gambling gifts for kids, Grants Pass Climate, viewed 6 October 2010, http://pactoregon.org/news-061120-MarottaKids.html.

May, J 2000, Top Ten Casino Game Profit Opportunities, viewed 15 September 2010,
http://may.casinocitytimes.com/article/top-ten-casino-game-profit-opportunities-1129.

Negative Effects of Online Gambling, viewed 6 October 2010, http://www.usaplayers.com/gambling/negative-effects-of-online-gambling-in-the-usa.html.

Oak, M 2009, Impact of Internet Gambling, viewed 6 October 2010, http://www.buzzle.com/articles/impact-of-internet-gambling.html.

OnlineCasinoAdmin.com 2010, The Profits of Online Casino, Viewed 8 Oct 2010, http://www.onlinecasinoadmin.com/blog/2010/05/the-profits-of-online-casino/

Online casino business, how does it work? 2010, eCommerce Journal 2006, viewed 8 October 2010,
http://ecommerce-journal.com/articles/13944_your_own_internet_casino_a_dream_or_a_target

Online Gambling Insider 2002-2009, Online Gambling Advantages, viewed 9 October 2010,
http://www.online-gambling-insider.com/online-gambling/ogi-online-gambling-advantages.html

Pokerstars.com 2010, Rational Entertainment Enterprises Limited, viewed 6 October 2010, http://www.pokerstars.com/.

Problem Gambling And Its Effects 2006, MediLexicon International Ltd, viewed 6 October 2010, http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/41277.php.

Reno, R 2000, Gambling’s Impact on Families, viewed 6 October 2010, http://www.troubledwith.com/AbuseandAddiction/A000000707.cfm?topic=abuse%20and%20addiction:%20gambling.

Staples J 2010, Why Online Roulette Game is Becoming So Popular, viewed 16 September 2010,
http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-Online-Roulette-Game-is-Becoming-So-Popular&id=4872646

Streetdirectory 2010, Types of Online Casinos, viewed 8 October 2010,
http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/113488/world_wide_web/types_of_online_casinos.html

Texas Holdem Moves to Las Vegas 2010, Ace Up, viewed 15 September 2010, http://www.texas-holdem-poker-history.com/texas-holdem-to-vegas.html.

World Series of Poker 2010, viewed 15 September 2010,
http://www.wsop.com/how-to-play-poker/.