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As the second decade of the second millennium nears its close, land-based casinos are under threat. Why? Because online casinos have made it simpler to game the system and win more money from gambling.

Despite this, more than 1.6 million people still visited a land-based casino in Aug 2018 alone, but these figures are falling while online casino usage is rising.

Should land-based casinos be afraid? Perhaps not. In this post, we will take a look at two reasons why online casinos will overtake land-based ones, but not overtake them.

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It’s easier to game the system when gambling at online casinos
Having fun should be the number one priority of any gambler, whether they’re betting at an online casino or a land-based one. But, like many hobbies, there is an aim to the game and if you achieve it, then you’ll have more fun playing it.

Gambling’s aim is simple – win money. And it’s the ability to game the system and win more money that means online casinos will overtake land-based ones.

There’s a vast array of gambling software that you can use to beat the system – some of it’s legit and some of it isn’t. PokerTracker is perhaps the best-known example of gambling software.

PokeTracker works by collecting data from your poker opponents and then telling you how they’ve acted in previous hands, making it easier to decide what the best play is at any given moment. This can be used for games made by the world-renowned Microgaming, meaning that you can use it at some of the biggest online casinos in the world.

Online casinos can’t replicate live atmosphere of land casinos
Gaming the system is nothing new and people have been employing tricks in land-based casinos for years. The most well-known example of this is card counting, where people remember the cards that have been dealt so that they can determine the most profitable way to act at various points.

While land-casinos do allow players to game the system, the options are much greater at online casinos. However, the weapon land-casinos have a not-so-secret-weapon that means online casinos won’t end them – atmosphere.

If you’ve stepped into a land-casino then you know that there’s a special energy to them – the buzz that seeps out of people sat at cars tables, or pulling slot wheels, and placing a bet on their chosen game.

Try as they may, such as offering VR gambling, online casinos simply cannot replicate the live feel of being in a casino. It’s for this reason that web-based gambling will overtake its bricks and mortar rival, but won’t end it.

Online casinos are here and they’re on the rise, while land-based casinos have been around for centuries and are on the decline.

Yes, online casinos make it easier to game the system, but they simply don’t have the same atmosphere of land-based ones.

So, until VR gambling can replicate real-life perfectly, land-based casinos will continue to draw in the punters.

A new bill tabled in the Greek parliament on Monday could allow casinos to lend money to reliable customers to gamble.

In an omnibus bill being voted on Monday amid strikes and protests, there is a provision which will enable casinos to lend over 50,000 euros to select customers to continue playing if they need to, a Greek finance ministry source said.

This new law is aimed at foreign customers, to facilitate more spending in Greek casinos. The idea behind the bill is that studies show many gamblers decide on the place where they will spend their holidays on the presence of casinos where lines of credit are available.

These loans will not involve cash but special chips to be used exclusively inside a particular casino. To convert these special chips into money, any casino loan must have been repaid in full.

Chips will be counted as casino revenue, meaning gambling loans will be taxed, the finance ministry source added.

Plans to expand the availability of gambling in Greece have met opposition, with the local authorities in the Greek islands of Santorini and Crete recently hitting out at government plans to allow casinos to open on the popular tourist destinations.

Media reports from Crete say that local councils in the island are also preparing to launch a campaign against the casinos.

Greek casino officials voiced concerns earlier this week that the planned overhaul of the country’s gambling industry favors new casinos over existing ones.

A draft bill that calls for significant changes within the nation’s gambling sector is currently under consideration by the Greek government.

Among other things, the piece of legislation proposes a new licensing framework for the country’s casinos. According to officials at operational casinos the new regulatory regime creates better conditions for new industry stakeholders. Gambling executives also oppose the implementation of different corporate taxes for operators of existing venues and for newcomers.

The proposed scrapping of an entry fee for patrons is yet another provision that existing casinos have received with discontent. Under the draft bill, already operational gaming venues will first have to be given the nod from the Hellenic Gaming Commission in order to remove the entry fee. What is more, they will have to pay a compensation fee, which casino officials deem too high.

The sweeping gambling reform currently under consideration by lawmakers allows for the relocation of six existing casinos and the construction of three new casinos on the Greek islands of Mykonos, Crete, and Santorini. All three are popular tourist destinations and the opening of gambling venues is hoped to attract even a greater number of international travelers and boost Greece’s tourism industry and economy at a time when the country desperately needs additional revenue sources.

Mykonos Opposes the New Casino Proposal

News have emerged from Greece that officials from all three islands have opposed the proposal for the construction of gambling venues on their territories. However, it can be said that Mykonos officials have been most vocal in their discontent with the proposed gambling expansion.

Local media reported recently that Mykonos’ mayor, Konstantinos Koukas, has sent a letter to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras expressing the island’s opposition to the casino plan. In his letter, Mr. Koukas has said that the island has much more pressing issues to address, including the addition of more schools, hospitals, and infrastructure. The letter further read that only after these issues are solved, they could think about building a casino.

Island officials have also stressed on the fact that while the Greek government had conducted public consultation on the proposed casino expansion and the Mykonos municipality had participated in it, its stance on the matter had clearly not been taken into consideration.

Last month, the Mykonos City Council approved a proposal for a referendum at which islanders would be able to voice their opinion on the matter. Councilors also decided to launch a petition against the casino proposal and to authorize Mayor Koukas to take legal action in relation to the government’s decision to potentially authorize the construction of a casino on the island, despite the growing opposition to the move.