April Fools – Online gaming’s evolution from public enemy to public company

Public online gaming companies change industryThe online gambling industry began like most industries that arise more or less instantly out of thin air – with little direction, even less regulation and a whole lot of controversy. Technology changed suddenly, and something that was previously impossible entered the realm of the possible. Into this void flooded an army of chancers and scoundrels, each seeking to exploit this new digital gold rush to their own advantage. Like the frontier towns of the American west, jurisdictions in Latin America and the Caribbean were suddenly awash in ne’er do wells with money in their pockets, drugs in their bloodstreams and larceny on the brain.

Many of the more infantile members of our industry view this so-called Wild West period of the mid- to late-nineties through an overly romantic filter, much as cowboy movies romanticized the illegality and immorality of those early frontier towns. But just as the Wild West needed to be tamed for America to progress into a respected world power, the online gambling industry’s criminal roots needed to be weeded out before we would gain acceptance in the eyes of governments around the world.

The best disinfectant, as they say, is daylight. Around the turn of the millennium, there was a British invasion of publicly traded companies into the previously lawless landscape of online gambling. As these public companies began swallowing up smaller private online gaming companies, they imposed a sense of order on an unruly universe. Financial figures – profits, losses and executives’ pay packages — were disclosed on a quarterly basis. The days of hiding aces up your sleeve were brought to an end.

But there are still a few desperadoes out there refusing to come down from their fences. These few remaining private companies are increasingly anachronistic figures in a sphere now utterly dominated by publicly traded firms, yet their refusal to open up their ledgers looms large in the minds of law enforcement officials, mainstream media outlets and the general public. It’s time for these companies to exchange their black hats for shiny white Stetsons, or contemplate riding off into the sunset. Permanently.