Keeping an eye on what’s happening around the world is important whether it has something to do with the weather or online casinos.  The online casino industry has seen some major changes in the last few months.  More countries are beginning to add online casinos, and still others are holding back.  In an announcement Manitoba authorities stated they may be offering online casino sites.

Manitoba is a province located in Canada, and one that has had plenty of land casino action over the years.  The announcement stated most of the sites will be lottery based with plenty of online casino games, if they decide to provide online casinos.  Already other Canadian provinces have added online casinos like British Columbia.  Steve Ashton is the lotteries minister for Manitoba and he stated they will be following British Columbia’s example in order to establish their province as an online gambling operator.

Before this move could be made lawmakers felt an extensive look at the benefits and costs were necessary.  The benefits and costs were directly related to how this would affect Manitoba residents.  They used the analysis from British Columbia and Nova Scotia which both have had online casinos.  They also looked at the newly launched idea for Quebec.  Quebec will be uploading online casino sites in the fall for their residents.

Like any country, online casinos already exist for residents of Canada.  The sites that are already serving Canadians are mostly United Kingdom based.  It also exists without too much regulation from Canada at the moment.  It is an intelligent idea to go ahead and legalise online casinos and tax them.  This way Canada will find benefits such as more revenue to help stimulate their economy.

Ashton further stated that they have not come to a decision yet.  They are hoping to have a decision in the next few months, but after extensive study it seems likely that Manitoba will join the ranks in the online casino world.  Ashton is just one of thousands of Manitoba residents who are already into online gambling.  He also stated that many of these individuals would appreciate regulated sites.  With regulated sites they would feel more protected, and in truth they would be more protected.  For now it is a waiting game to see if they will launch the sites and regulations that are being proposed.  For Canadians it may mean better online gambling in the future and less Canadians in UK casinos.