奥巴马赢得美国大选，对美国的网上赌场行业意味着什么？

　　那么，现在，奥巴马已经荣任美国总统，他的政治措施将会如何影响网上赌场行业呢？这被认为是个有趣的问题，这将如何影响的网上赌场业。

　　与英国政府相比，布什政府基本上采取了截然相反的道路，英国政府支持在线赌博游戏行业，允许其取得合法性。面对来自的玩家和赌场球迷越来越强烈的需求，美国政府所采取的决定是，试图将网上赌场行业扼杀在源头，使其难以与网上金融管理机构交易。

　　英国政府采取了一种完全不同的的路线，并提出规范行业，保护刚性准则和设立机构，以确保企业在一个公平的和道德的方式运行网上赌场。美国的做法使许多英国企业受到伤害，威廉希尔公司Paddy Power已被迫退出美国市场。

　　现在事情要发生改变，布什政府的政治措施即将过去。众议院众议院和参议院希望通过立法规范在线赌博网站和银行的交易。

　　奥巴马扭转的决定呢？好吧，他看起来可能更有利，他总是“变化”会谈的监管路线，但这不可能是他的首要任务，也不应该是在金融危机的全面铺开之前采取的金融措施。看看整个网上赌场的形势，得出的结论是，调控比彻底禁止好。对于消费者来说，赌场比其他金融业更好。它不仅将提高重要的税收，也将确保消费者获得公平的对待。

　　译文：

　　Well, now that Barack Obama has achieved what he has been promising for all of these months （how long is the process to elect the US President?）， one of the interesting questions being considered, is how this will affect the online casino industry.

　　The Bush administration basically took the polar opposite path to the UK government on online gambling. Faced with an industry that was growing strongly thanks to demand from players and casino fans, and unable to tax an industry that was largely operating offshore, the US government took the decision to try and strangle the business at source by making it difficult for companies to mangage financial transactions online.

　　The UK government took an entirely different route and have moved to regulate the industry to protect casino players online with rigid guidelines and bodies set up to ensure that businesses were being run in a fair and ethical way. Many UK businesses were hurt by the US approach of course, as this is an area in which British companies excel- just think of some of the big names out there like Ladbrokes, William Hill and Paddy Power who have been forced out of the US market.

　　So are things going to change now that Captain Bush’s watch is nearly over? Well problems in the US all started in September 2006 as a result of a piece of legislation passed by the House of Representatives and Senate （an amendment to the unrelated Safe Port Act） making transactions from banks to online gambling sites illegal. This upped the ante from a previous bill that built on the famous Wire Act.  It was sort of slipped in through the back door, if you like.

　　Will Barack Obama reverse the decision? Well, he may look more favorably on the regulation route given that he always talks about “change”， but this is unlikely to be his first priority and nor should it be with the financial crisis in full swing and wars being waged on 2 fronts. What the industry is hoping, is that the Barrack admistration will look at the whole situation intelligently and come to the conclusion that regulation is better than an outright ban- for consumers, casinos and the financial industry. Not only will it raise important tax revenue, but it will also enable the powers that be to ensure that their citizens are getting a fair deal and dealing with honest and ethical companies.