Cubans have been praising the Castro name for the first time in close to sixty years as Raul Castro is doing everything in his power to free his country from his brother’s stranglehold. This stranglehold has left many Cubans without many of the amenities people today take for granted, but no more. Citizens are now allowed to own possessions such as DVD players, cellular phones, microwaves, and other goods that will be imported from places such as the United States.
Cuban citizens under the new Castro regime are being given land that they did not have before. This mass distribution by Raul Castro is giving the poor in the country a chance to grow marketable crops such as tobacco, coffee, and other items in the dairy industry. They have been given the chance to get back on their feet and are no longer under forced oppression.
Now the question in the casino and gaming world is whether Raul Castro will lift the ban on online gaming and allow his citizens to participate in the internet gambling world. Fidel Castro banned home internet for Cuban citizens who could afford it in an attempt to ‘save bandwidth’ for the schools, offices, and hospitals in Cuba. He claimed there was a lack of bandwidth in the country and that social services such as these needed it more than the average citizen.
Cuba’s outlook on casinos and gambling has never been a very positive one. The government forced the doors of many establishments to close and physically tore down more during the 1950s. While these gambling houses could have been a source of revenue for the country, Fidel Castro completely annihilated any chance of that happening, especially with the hostile relations between Cuba and the biggest supporters of their casinos, American citizens.
Cuba is part of the Caribbean which is known as the online casino capital of the world. Many of these Internet sites are licensed by countries such as Antigua, Jamaica, and Costa Rica. A large revenue percentage in these countries is coming from the online gaming community, taking over $15 billion collectively every year. With the new regime in Cuba and all of the changes Raul Castro is putting into effect in an effort to prove he’s not his brother, the country may need to seriously consider getting a piece of that $15 billion pie to help bolster itself and bring it into the 21st century.
Tags: casino capital, fidel castro, gambling houses, gaming world, online casino, raul castro
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