At casinos.ie we frequently talk about the benefits of online casinos versus land based casinos but it seems that the operators of the land based casinos also talk about it. The Global Gaming Expo took place recently which is a three day gathering of people in the business of gambling and mainly land based casinos and a hot topic was online casino gambling and what it is costing the land based casinos. Particularly in America where online casinos are banned there are a number of states that are dependent upon gambling for large parts of their income such as Nevada (Las Vegas) or New Jersey (Atlantic City) and it is believed that the UIGEA is being kept in place by lobbying from these quarters. There was however some discussion in the background about whether in fact land based casinos would lose business to online casinos or whether a complete new market was being discovered. At www.casinos.ie we know that in these difficult economic times going out is an expensive pastime and if you are in the USA, going to Las Vegas or Atlantic City will for most of the population be very expensive even without the gambling so whether online casinos are legal or not people probably will not go. By following the logic, offering the option of gambling at an online casino will therefore not affect the turnover of land based casinos. In European countries such as Ireland where online gambling is legal it is very unclear whether land based members clubs have been affected directly due to online casinos; we know they have been affected by the current situation and some are having to close their doors but how many people out there who use online casinos would have gone to a members club anyway and how many simply would not have gambled. We do not know the answer but it is an interesting question..