(Kyl, 2003). The involvement that some users get with online gambling can lead to obsessive behavior and an eventual disregard or inattention to the workplace or family which could lead to domestic stress when things start to go bad, or one experiences fraud and deceit and looses a big chunk of money. It could lead to further loans and debts, financially and economically stressful situations for not only the user but his wife, kids, friends, etc. (McMillen, & Grabosky, 1998).

As a whole, the society gets influenced negatively with the increase in unemployment rates and money crimes like bank robberies out of desperation to repay debt, bankrupt citizens. Estimates show that about 1/3-1/4 of gamblers being treated in the Gamblers Anonymous survey have experienced a high unemployment phase along with another survey that showed an estimate of 28% out of the 60 suffering and struggling gamblers who had experienced bankruptcy or were in heavy debts within a whopping range of $75,000 to $150,000 (National Research Council, 1999; Kyl, 2003).

The round offs for the social loss when looking at the approximate expenses of gambling rehab management, unemployment reimbursements, deprived corporeal and cerebral health, welfare remunerations and work loss amount to $1,200 per "pathological gambler" and $715 per "problem gambler" annually as shown by a survey done by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC). In the same survey the estimates show rounded off figures of $10,550 for every pathological gambler, and $5,130 for every problem gambler when dealing with the enduring expenses of gambling like liquidation, captures, captivity, lawful separation expenditures, etc.; the total of all these factors amounted to an approximated annual value of $5 billion per year, with a supplementary $40 billion for the lifetime costs (National Research Council, 1999; Kyl, 2003).

Arguments in Favor of Legalizing Online Gambling

Herrmann in his book thoroughly assesses the political context of online gambling. While discussing the politics behind the online lottery and casinos, he highlights that by the end of the Great Depression, any and every form of legalized gambling was restricted within a few namely states, eight to be exact, Nevada being the only one having legal casinos and seven others that had the pari-mutuel betting on the horse racing venues as a legal part of the games. He also acknowledged the increase in this number at the advent of the 21st century when Utah, Hawaii and Tennessee were the only states within the United States that did not permit any form of gambling activities. (Herrmann, 2002)

The U.S. government, since the breakout of Internet gambling in 1995 has tried to restrict the activity from growing through imposition of laws and regulations on the gambling bodies, however, after a decade of its birth, most of these efforts have been in vain as internet gambling spreads farther into the world with a growing acceptance and liking of the concept (Prystash, (http://acacia.org.ohio-state.edu/documents/601Paper-JohnPrystash.doc).

A survey conducted as the outcome of the sudden increase in demand and social acceptance confirmed the fact that internet gambling had won over the nations of the world within a span of few years as the stats proved that only a range between 9 (lowest) -20 (highest) % people responded to online gambling as a negative force in the community. When the acceptance and demand of a product is at such high rates, it is only natural and obligatory to fulfill procedures that supply the merchandise and handle the market accordingly (Herrmann, 2002).

The main question is not whether gambling should be legalized or not, even though it comes across as the most imposing and important one, but the real peril lies here: how much should the government intervene with the regulations and how much should be left for the agencies to handle? All forms of gambling are as widespread as online gambling if not more. (Herrmann, 2002)

Most people against the concept of online gambling don't consider how the other means of gambling via phone or otherwise have dropped in considerable ratios; they concentrate on the lawful and legislative negatives without looking at the positive impacts. They do not understand that the extensive nature of the concept cripples it off any juridical restrictions that can be placed by the U.S. government or otherwise (J. Goldstein, 1997; Keller, 1999).

So the real puzzler here is whether the government and legislative bodies actually intervene to promote or restrict the activity or whether the growth of the activity has been a direct result of the government stepping in and trying to control...

They're responding positively to the positive demands of the population of the cyber world; however they also take into account the negatives and take care of situations that have lead to previous legal actions being taken against lotteries or casino winning, etc. And have tried to execute games in a way that no such legal action repeats itself in the long run. There are various restrictions and amendments made from within the gambling and gaming industry that many politicians and legislative bodies and international organizations have been reluctant to impose for various reasons, one being strong and hierarchal opposition (Herrmann, 2002).
With online gambling gaining strong and likeable growth in the United States and abroad, the gambling industry as a whole has flourished as well and grown monetarily strong and politically confident. With such stability and confidence, the industry has looked to change (successfully so) the universal image of the industry from simple gambling to a useful and advantageous game, i.e. from a frowned concept they have tried to make it an acceptable "pastime." They have of course not done so alone, they have received immense support and image building help from numerous politicians, government bodies and influential personalities, either directly/indirectly or openly/covertly, to make the people recognize and embrace the good sides of the concept, concentrating more so, on the economic and legislative sides of things then the ethical (Herrmann, 2002).

Most people in general, see online gambling as an accessible and easy chance to score some lucky victories and winning some extra money to take care of the financial or economic concerns, while other also express how they feel that this is a sport like any other but only involves an advantage: easy money.

There is a huge portion of the population all over the world that also views gambling as a brick that is essential in their savings. They play games, bet online, win easy money mostly, and save it for rainy days or when they are unemployed or in a low paying job.

There is also a huge portion of regular gamblers who plainly view it as the most "rewarding" pastime and feel a rush of the adrenaline with the concept revolving around the concepts of luck and intelligence hand in hand.

All the gambling industrialists know that getting a third party involved can only be advantageous for the industry. A third party's involvement help the industry prove itself as safe, trustworthy and reliable to gain and maintain outside support. This was especially necessary because of the extremely critical reviews and blows given out by the opposing parties and the governmental bodies that impose newer and stricter restrictions with every passing year, so any outside support is not only advantageous but somewhat necessary (Online Gambling News, 2006).

The private industries that have signed up with the gambling industry as a third party like eCogra have not only established the core aim of the gambling industry: to establish trust and reliability, but have also authenticated the activities of online sites as well as casinos by taking over the monitoring systems of the overall setup ensuring a guaranteed and honest transaction all the way (Online Gambling News, 2006).

These organizations have further agreed to provide a signed and sealed documentation that put forth all the laws and regulations that the gaming site had agreed to follow and would follow without fail. This has helped the industry as online users have gained or increased momentum on choosing online sites as their gambling outlets. They feel a sense of security knowing that the site is genuine and there won't be a case of fraud or deceit and they won't be left high and dry after a huge wining which would be the case if the site was not genuine. Security will lead to trust, trust will lead to regularity and regularity will lead to good business and revenues generated by the industry (Online Gambling News, 2006).

When dealing with the money laundering issue and whether online gambling augmented this particular form of theft, many credit card companies, councils of law organizations, legislative organizations bodies, and gaming industries themselves had mixed outlooks. The legislative bodies believe that money laundering had been augmented by the emergence and availability of the facility of online gambling. While the credit card industrialists believe that even though money laundering has the potential to increase dangerously through online gambling but they have various security…