Costa Rica’s job market is struggling to cope with a U.S. crackdown on online wagering.

Alina Trejos used to live relatively well, buying a car, paying for college and even taking a European vacation on her salary from a job taking bets on American football.

No more.

A controversial U.S. crackdown on the $12 billion online gaming industry has hit hard in Costa Rica, where an abundance of English speakers and lax laws once made it home to the highest concentration of Internet gambling companies in the world — nearly 200 — and earned it the nickname of the “Las Vegas of the Internet.””*

Stumble it! | |