The UK government is planning to host an international high level negitiations devoted online gambling to boost political awareness about underage punters and criminal gangs working in the industry.

Such a summit becomes a necessity after 2005 saw the Internet gambling market boom, generating multi-billion dollar revenues and three big UK stock market floats.

Anthony Wright, a spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, said, ‘We want to initiate a discussion about problem areas which include protection of children, advertising, money laundering and criminal infiltration.’

The UK, which introduced the Gambling Act last year to prevent children gambling online, is widely regarded as one of the only countries currently attempting to regulate the $12 billion a year global industry.

Efforts to pass an Internet anti-gambling law that applies specifically in the United States have stumbled in Congress since the 1990s. Reports have suggested that representatives from the US may decline to attend the international summit. Online gambling is a large market in the US but according to the US Department of Justice it is still a violation of federal law and continues to go largely unregulated there.