The UK government thinks that there is. That’s why they turned to legislation rather than prohibition. Realizing that prohibition of any type of activity is extremely difficult to enforce, and often actually increases participation in the censored activity, the UK government believes several important goals can be achieved by regulating Internet gambling rather than eliminating it.

Rather than banning online gaming, the UK has created an online gambling agency that regulates and oversees the industry instead. The process includes issuing online gaming licenses to Internet casinos and then policing those casinos to ensure that they are operating above board and in accordance with UK laws.

In order to protect their citizens from gaming fraud, the Gambling Commission vets online gaming sites and officially approves those that are found to be operating fairly and legally. In addition, the Commission conducts thorough background checks on key casino management personnel in order to identify and bar those with criminal records or known links to organized crime.

Although there are only 70 or so online gambling sites actually based in the UK, the government is seeking to extend its ability to protect its citizens from unfair or illegal gambling activities by encouraging cooperation among online casinos that operate outside of its jurisdiction.

To that end the Commission has been in discussions with officials in 33 countries that are home to the majority of online gaming sites in the hopes of creating a common set of regulatory guidelines that will be supported and enforced by all member countries.

Unfortunately, the U.S. is not participating in these discussions. And that fact says a lot about the real motives behind the U.S. move to censor online gambling.