Lawmakers across the globe have been turning to online casino revenues in an attempt to combat the global economic crisis. While many European nations are already using online gambling to fill gaps in budgets and avoid tax increases, the US continues to put off enacting such a plan.

According to H2 Gambling Capital, Internet gambling sites generate just under $30 billion annually and that number is on the rise. The UK blazed the way to the future by establishing rules that licensed and regulated casinos creating a tax system that would be beneficial rather than wasting taxpayer dollars trying to impose an unenforceable ban. The UK's success was preceded by similar laws in France and Italy and new laws are being currently being considered in Greece and Spain.

Countries like the US and China however, refuse to face facts. They are still attempting to combat online gambling rather than embrace it and the industry continues to grow in both countries despite legal persecution and the introduction of problematic laws as the UIGEA.

"What's happened is a realization that you can't uninvent the Internet," David Trunkfield of PricewaterhouseCoopers told the New York Times. "People are gaming online. You either try to regulate and tax it, or people are going to go to the offshore operators, where you don't get any revenue."

This week, Barney Frank's bill proposing regulation for online gambling in the US will finally face a vote in the House Financial Service Committee and online casino observers are watching closely to see if the US will finally make a move towards Internet casino regulation, or if they will continue to deny the realities of the modern world and attempt to combat a practice that will continue whether they approve of the practice or not.

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