The Swedish monopoly, for instance, recently launched its own online poker game: an astute commercial move, to be sure, but hardly the most obvious way to curb gambling addiction.

ECONOMIST: Gambling in Europe

These are more about interaction than action: players either join their friends for an online game of poker or Scrabble, or to create and show off virtual pets, farms and mob families.

ECONOMIST: Video games move online

Speculation has been running high that Zynga would move into online gambling particularly with its Zynga Poker game and its recently announced Casino series of games.

FORBES: Zynga Finds Online Gambling 'Very Interesting' [Earnings Call]