Commercial gambling had experienced rapid growth worldwide for a few decades before the 2007–2009 global financial crises. There were only 15 jurisdictions in the world that had legalized casinos in the early 1970s, but the number of countries with legalized casinos rose quickly to 77 in the late 1980s, then to 130 in 2003. Many holiday resorts now operate casinos as a tourism attraction for economic growth, and some resorts even allow free entry of gaming firms to their markets. As a result, the world’s gross casino revenue (GCR) increased from less than US$2 billion in the early 1970s to over US$74 billion in 2004, rising further to US$125 billion in 2010. Total revenue from all gaming businesses (casinos, lotteries, racinos, horseracing, etc.) was estimated to have reached about US$300 billion in 2007. According to Datamonitor’s Industry Profile, casino gaming in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to undergo a double-digit rate of growth in gross gaming revenue (GGR) between 2009 and 2013, after this round of the global economic crisis.