Most online casino operators choose to base their operations at offshore locations, like tropical islands. They can avoid paying hefty taxes and circumvent gambling laws in countries like Canada and the United States.
However, great risks on involved – as offshore locations are vulnerable to storms that could wipe out entire online gambling operations.
This week, Hurricane Earl will be nearing a Category 3 – as it travels through Antigua, a major online gambling hub, according to a report by Gambling 911. The country is home to many of the world’s biggest online gambling operators, including BoDog.com and Intertops.
Several tropical storms have hit the area in the past couple of years, but they have had little effect on the online gambling operators. However, Hurricane Earl is one of the biggest storms to take over the island in recent years, so online casino operators are bracing themselves for the negative impacts, which could include damaged servers and downtime for their websites.
Hurricane Earl is not expected to go directly through Antigua, although winds will reach up to 100 mph and more than 8 inches of rain will fall. Operators continue to have their fingers crossed, hoping that the storm will not cause damage that cannot be repaired.
