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Before the 1990s, individuals who wanted to place a casino- or sports-type bet in the United States basically had two choices: they could travel to a legitimate brick-and-mortar gaming establishment or place an illegal wager through a bookmaker. However, with the emergence of the Internet in the mid-1990s, a new form of gambling appeared—on-line gaming casinos and sports wagering. Internet gambling can take place on any electronic device that offers Internet access anywhere on the globe. In 2001, some gaming analysts were projecting that gross revenues from Internet gambling would exceed $6 billion by 2003.

However, analysts lowered revenue estimates for a number of reasons, including increased pressure from U.S. lawmakers and the blocking of Internet gambling transactions by many large U.S. credit card issuers. (U.S. customers are reported to constitute anywhere from 50 to 70 percent of total operator revenues from Internet gambling.) And, despite the recent revenue reduction, the e-gaming industry continues to grow. In a recent report,12 gaming analysts estimate that in 2003 revenues from Internet gambling industrywide will be $5.0 billion,13 or approximately 4.3 percent of the total $116 billion in businessto-consumer global e-commerce.14 In the view of gaming analysts, the international markets (non-U.S. customers) represent the future of the industry’s growth.