Estonia to Open up Online Gambling Industry

If the success of the recent Baltic Poker Festival hosted in the European country of Estonia by online poker powerhouse PokerStars.com proved anything, it was that Estonians are online gambling crazy and that the nation could have a healthy and lucrative online gambling industry.

While many European countries are either for or against opening up their respective online gambling industries to each other, a legalized, regulated and open online gambling industry could be just what Estonia needs. Knocked by the global economic recession, Estonia's economy can use a boost.

In fact, according to reports the recession has devalued Estonia's economy by 36 percent, and it was not a particularly wealthy country to start with. As such, the Estonian government has recognized that by legalizing and thus taxing online gambling, it can help fill up empty government coffers.

And with that in mind, as of January 1st this year the Estonian government approved online gambling in the country through locally-owned online gambling firm, Olympic Entertainment Group, which operates Olympic Casino, a state-of-the-art online casino powered by Playtech software.

Said Playtech executive, Mor Weizer, 'We are truly glad of this opportunity to start our partnership with Olympic as the leading casino entertainment provider in Central and Eastern Europe.' He also said the partnership was in line with Playtech's strategy to focus on well-regulated markets.

The move is great news for Estonian online gamblers as well as the world's major online gambling operations who are always on the lookout to expand their markets. With many European countries refusing to adhere to EU free trade agreements, Estonia could become an important market.

Olympic Casino also accepts players from Latvia, Lithuania, Polans, Belarus, Romania and Slovakia.