As you may have noticed, I haven’t made any posts to my blog since May 2006. Since then the online gambling industry has gone through some very turbulent times, starting with the enactment of the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act) in late 2006, which resulted in a number of operators and software platforms dropping out of the US market - a very lucrative one at that - but the powers-that-be which treat US citizens and residents as if they are dumb, mindless, naive little children decided that they should “protect” their children by making financial transactions for the purpose of online gambling illegal.

Of course, this made things very difficult for players, forcing them to play at poorly-regarded casinos (Microgaming-powered casinos excepted, of course) and basically drove the online gambling community underground - the exact opposite of the intended effect. Remember Prohibition? The enactment of the UIGEA was commonly referred to as Prohibition II (a term yours truly had been using since before the Act was enacted) and now the industry has focused its efforts on the European and Asian markets.

During the months before and following the UIGEA, a number of prominent people in the industry found themselves targeted by previously unknown District Attorneys in the state of Louisiana wanting to make a name for themselves (and since forgotten, thank you). People like David Carruthers of BetOnSports (now out of business, and good riddance since they left David to hang on his own), Neteller founders John Lefebvre and Steve Lawrence, and SportingBet chairman Peter Dicks (who resigned, then came back) were subjected to arrest and ridicule.

Fortunately, today the online gambling industry continues to grow, albeit without access to the huge US market. While the UK market is a plum for entities like Bet365, BetFred and 32Red amongst others, a few companies have set their sights on the huge, untapped Asian market, though most of them operate quietly without much publicity and would rather not be brought into the limelight.

Anyhow - I’ve been away long enough, not due to the UIGEA, but simply because I was busy working on other things like being a barista (and complaining about everyone else’s coffee) and travel (a big hole in my pocket but the site is nearly done and hopefully launched in the coming months). I also stopped moderating at Casinomeister when I took on a job with a prominent software provider in order to avoid any conflict of interest.

But now I’m back - and hopefully as I get into the swing of things you’ll see me here much more often, spewing my thoughts about anything and everything for you to chew and spit out and tear apart if you like… but at least things will be back to normal.