The buzz in the online casino industry is that Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio is set to do a movie set in Costa Rica and about online casino gambling.
Little is known yet about the planned film, other than it will be produced by DiCaprio's production company Appian Way and backed by Paramount Studios. Also involved in the project are writers David Levien and Brian Koppelmann, of 'Ocean's thirteen' and 'Rounders' fame.
Little is known about the tack the writers have, or will take but the script is hardly likely to be quirky feel good drama glamorizing the industry as Ocean's did.
Costa Rica is one of a number of licensing jurisdictions which online casinos and sports betting operators base themselves. In terms of operator numbers, it is one of the larger jurisdictions, with more than 200 operators serving their online betting product from with Costa Rica.
But in terms of rigor of regulatory environment, it is considered one of the looser jurisdictions, with no specific online gambling legislation governing operators and therefore no monitoring and probity testing as occurs in other licensing jurisdictions like the UK, Gibraltar, Kahnawake and Antigua.
Not surprisingly, it has historically been the operating base of choice for some of the more unscrupulous operators in the industry. Of course not all should be tarred wit this brush and many great casinos that operate out of Costa Rica, but great casinos don't make for great Hollywood scripts.
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