US Online Gaming Legalisation Predicted By Goldman Sachs

The U.S. Investment bank Goldman Sachs said it believes online gaming will eventually be legalised in the U.S., and although the process will be slow, the attraction of revenues from taxes should be enough for the federal government to allow online gambling. The firm announced, “We believe it is logical to assume that the US market will eventually regulate, given the potential implications for US tax take, if nothing else”
OCA gaming analyst Sherman Bradley states that “Pricewaterhouse Coopers found last winter that the Internet gambling ban is costing the US as much as $52 billion over the next three years in lost revenue.Every day that passes is money that will never be recovered.The Pricewaterhouse study resulted in revenue estimates almost a quarter higher than those found in a study by them eighteen months earlier, because of the rising popularity of Internet gaming”
Extra revenue is also being lost due to the rise of illegal casinos and poker rooms.
In its estimates GS  said;  “Based on a simple ‘grossing up’ of PartyGaming’ rake relative to its 9% market share, the US poker market alone was worth$1.5bn in 2008.” but with its legalisation this figure is expected to at least double or triple. Combined with online casinos the potential size of the online gaming market could exceed $12 billion.
The four businesses highlighted as being ideally placed to take full advantage of legalisation are PartyGaming, 888, Playtech, and bwin as they are assumed to “have sufficient scale and own proprietary poker and/or casino software,” making them ideally placed to aquire a large share of the U.S. market.  
Recently, Barney Frank, the congressman championing efforts to legalise online gaming, has found growing support for his efforts and must now wait until at least September before serious discussion begins on reversing previous legislation  on U.S. online gaming. This would be a welcome development to online gaming businesses who have recently been subjected to bank account seizures, and at one stage stopped accepting players deposits.