Costa Rica is one of the world’s havens for online gambling businesses. More than two hundred online casinos are operated out of Costa Rica. The industry employs more than ten thousand people in the country. At the present time there is no regulation of these online businesses. There are no rules that they have to follow regarding ethics and practices and no audits that they are required to submit to unless they are voluntary. This may be changing. The president of the Costa Rican Electronic casino gambling Association, Eduardo Agami, is calling for government involvement in the gambling industry in Costa Rica. The industry needs some sort of standards to guarantee a safe and ethical place to play for patrons of the online poker casinos. Costa Rican Justice Minister Laura Chinchilla appears to agree with Agami. She has recently said that the industry requires regulation.

The passage of the new anti-gambling law in the U.S. and the problems BetOnSports is having with the U.S. government is causing a great deal of nervousness in the Costa Rican gambling industry. If the industry is forced to close, more than ten thousand people will be without work. Agami believes that the industry’s problems can be worked out.  Even though the basic problem is between Costa Rica and the U.S. government, Agami feels that a viable solution can be reached that allows the industry to function in Costa Rica and that Costa Rica can benefit from the online gambling industry.