The trend for European governments to open their countries to online casinos has increased in the last several months. In fact, the CEO of Microgaming spoke about the very opportunities they have now because more and more European countries are changing their regulations.

Each individual government is looking for ways to regulate, tax, and license online casino establishments. Those in the European Union are subject to the European Commission regarding what laws they can and cannot pass. However, on the whole the countries are being more progressive in their regulations in order to start getting a small piece of revenue from online casinos.

The United Kingdom was the first to prove online casinos could be regulated and beneficial to a country. They began regulating the taxes and licences in 2009, which has caused some friction, but on the whole online casinos are more willing to broach talks with the UK regarding the regulations and supposed troubles online casinos can cause. Legitimate online casinos want the borders open for their trade. It means they report information on scam sites to the country that regulates them. It shuts down the unsavoury competition making the online casino environment safer.

All online casinos also promote reasonable gambling rules. They want their players to be able to come back and play again. It has meant that they regulate online casino players cutting players off if it looks like they have gambling addictions to help promote safe play among their other consumers.

Microgaming CEO spoke up about the new regulations throughout Europe when he spoke at an Isle of Man launch for their latest online casino slot. Microgaming has the licence to Lord of the Rings for an online casino slot machine. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was released earlier in September 2010 based on the highly popular trilogy filmed in New Zealand.

Roger Raatgever stated he feels regulatory moves are more progressive because prohibition just leads to unsavoury sites. It also creates monopolies in a country that allows in state online casinos, but no foreign online casinos. The US is one of the biggest breaches of fair trade when it comes to online casinos. There are plenty of online casinos in the US; however, they are all domestic creating a monopoly. They also operate illegally since the UIGEA law that was passed in 2005. The point is with regulation comes better online casinos for players.