Casino City's iGaming Pocket Directory - 2013 Edition

Sponsored by JURISDICTIONS 119 Visit iGamingPocketDirectory.com for more information. UNITED KINGDOM bet365, William Hill, Betfair, Ladbrokes, bwin.party, 888, Gala Coral and PaddyPower all operate in the U.K. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. When major gaming powers decide to enter the online gaming market for the first time, they usually start in the U.K. When slot machine giant WMS decided it wanted to enter the online gaming space, it launched Jackpot Party in the U.K. When Zynga decided it wanted to enter real-money gaming, it decided to partner with 888 and start in the U.K. When Caesars Interactive decided it wanted to enter the real-money online gaming space, it first launched a real-money online poker room there, and followed up with a real-money online casino. The reasons for the immense success of the U.K. market are myriad. The U.K. has a long and rich history of betting culture. Thousands of sports-betting shops have dotted the landscape for decades. And it became socially acceptable quite quickly to gamble online in the U.K. It also has been the most progressive in terms of adopting and regulating online gaming. Online gaming operations licensed in the EU and certain other jurisdictions are allowed to accept real-money play from the U.K. And that combination of betting culture, wide availability and social acceptability has proven to be rocket fuel for the online gaming market.