Papua New Guinea legalizes Internet gambling

[The Buzz]

Papua New Guinea's parliament has legalized Internet gambling ...

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=264598

Probably won't make a huge difference in the number of people gambling online (PNG's population is just shy of six million, or about five percent of the US population), but the more the merrier!

[villa10]

Six million is a number, but which is the language in this nation?

[TheGooner]

Papua New Guinea is not a real market mate.
The CIA factbook says it's estimated as having 170,000 internet users.

Most of the territory is without basic amentities outside the capital PORT MORESBY, electric power is a luxury and broadband internet connections are a pipedream.

Natural resource mining (oil, gold copper) is it's only real industry - and most of the population scratch a living with basic subsistance farming.

[CityGuard]

Papua New Guinea is not a real market mate.

Yes, not sure why Buzzy focused on the residents as players -- I don't believe there was anything making online gambling illegal from PNG. The article makes it clear the intent is possible tax revenue and employment from offering the country as a licensing jurisdiction. And the legislation allows licensing of land-based casinos, but with an entry fee intended to prevent more casual, lower-rolling visitors...so it sounds like it is pretty clearly for tourists on that side as well.

A new licensing jurisdiction is interesting, but in order to be successful as a tax source with the licensing competition there'd have to be some fairly loose requirements AND a much better infrastructure then Gooner indicates they have. I'd appraise it as a reasonably research but small first step on the land-based side, and a poorly thought through tack-on for the online side. Haha, of course, I haven't read the legislation and I haven't seen the scale of the local protests.

[The Buzz]

Yes, not sure why Buzzy focused on the residents as players

Never question The Buzz! Actually, I'm sure City Guard is much more informed on this topic than The Buzz, who (depending on the day) may sadly have considerably less international travel experience ... but at least The Buzz gets to refer to himself in the third person.