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HONG KONG -- Online-gambling companies are turning to Asia in the face of a looming ban on their business in the U.S., but despite Asia's millions of avid punters, success in the region is no sure bet.

Most Asian countries ban gambling, unless it is through specifically sanctioned channels -- whether casinos, Web sites or, in Hong Kong's case, the Jockey Club. Japan only allows gambling on pinball, motorboat racing and horse racing. China blocks access to gambling sites through Internet-service providers, and South Korea and Taiwan frequently crack down on betting sites.

The Philippines is the only Asian country to offer Internet-gambling licenses for online-casino operators, allowing several European and Caribbean sites to hold live casinos in its Cagayan Special Economic Zone. Foreign-exchange rules make it difficult for Filipinos themselves to gamble on those sites, according to a person familiar with the industry

Gambling sites looking to target Asia, PartyGaming UK:BPTY +0.41% PLC, which generates more than two thirds of its revenue in the U.S., will have their work cut out for them -- and not just because of the difficulties in moving money in and out of many countries in Asia.

"Asia currently accounts for 10% of the world's online-gaming market, but online-gambling growth here will continue to be slow," says Jason Chan , chief executive officer at Macau-based Macom Communications Company Ltd., which markets games and sells customized gambling programs for online sports betting and other activities.

"Basically, on top of legal bans, there's limited broadband access in the region -- though that is changing fast -- immature online payments and currency controls, which won't change anytime soon."

"Then you've also got the issue of culture: the reason Asian online gaming has not grown as fast as the rest of the world is because people are skeptical about putting money upfront, and fears of credit-card fraud persist," Mr. Chan says.

Late last month, the U.S. Congress approved a bill on Internet gambling, which President George W. Bush is expected to sign and make law. The bill would make it illegal for banks and credit-card companies to make payments to gambling sites.

The stock prices of several online-gambling companies -- Including PartyGaming, Sportingbet UK:SBT +0.46% PLC and 888 Holdings UK:888 +5.30% PLC -- have been hit hard by the pending U.S. legislation and have seen their shares fall sharply on the London Stock Exchange. Shares in Austria's Bwin Interactive Entertainment Inc. have also lost ground on the Vienna exchange.

Although U.S. residents account for more than half of the business of online casinos, none of the big online companies currently have U.S. operations. Instead they base their companies in Europe, Asia, the Caribbean and Central America. That is because the U.S. has, since 1961, prohibited using telephone transmissions to bet across state lines.

World online-gambling "spend" is expected to be about US$15.5 billion this year, if the U.S. ban isn't taken into account, compared with US$12.5 billion in 2005, according to the Betting Research Unit at Nottingham Business School in the U.K. Spend is, in effect, the amount gambling companies win from their clients -- or the amount gamblers lose -- and is much less than revenue because most of the revenue is recycled to gamblers in the form of winnings.

"The Asian market has massive potential. Asian spend on online gambling has grown about fivefold in the last five years," says Prof. Leighton Vaughan Williams , director of the Betting Research Unit. "Asia's market is about a third of the U.S. -- and we expect it to match the current U.S. market size in about four to five years."

So how do Asia's gamblers skirt the rules?

"The government might say it's illegal, but that doesn't necessarily stem the demand -- people find a way," says Sue Schneider , chief executive of Missouri-based online-gambling consultancy and publisher River City Group.

Most European-listed gambling sites reject Asian credit cards when signing on, and online companies generally don't have formal staff based in Asia. But gambling sites reach Asian bettors by accepting wire transfers, allowing gamblers to set up standing accounts, using gambling syndicates that accept bets through mobile-phone messages, accepting checks or phone banking, selling betting vouchers using credit cards or taking third-party intermediary payments from companies such as MoneyWorld in Malaysia and Singapore or MoneyTT in China.

In Hong Kong, apart from the government-sanctioned Jockey Club Web sites, Internet-research group Hitwise says the top gambling Web sites ranked by share of visits are www.888crown.com and www.macauslot.com , a site owned by Macau gambling kingpin Stanley Ho. Macauslot.com is a subsidiary of Mr. Ho's Sociedade De Turismo e Diversoes De Macau, whose 80% owned Sociedade de Jogos de Macau SA is one of the three concession holders in the former Portuguese enclave.

Mr. Ho's daughter, Angela, is chief executive of another popular gambling site, www.drho888.com , which features scantily clad live female "dealers." That site has fans around the region and allows Hong Kong, Japan and Malaysian punters, among others, to register using their mobile phone as an electronic ID and keying in a secret PIN number.

In Singapore, Hong Kong-based www.asianbookie.com has almost as many fans as the government-sanctioned www.singaporepools.com.sg .

Even in China, where the police cracked down on several online-betting rings during the World Cup earlier this year, people are avid users of betting sites.

Taiwan-based, Nasdaq-listed GigaMedia GIGM -0.68% Ltd., whose FunTown game portal is the world's largest mahjong site in terms of revenue, is popular in Taiwan and in China. There are also Chinese-based "lottery Web sites," which operate similarly to betting sites.

"Through these online-lottery sites, you can play the stock market and win virtual points -- which you can redeem for gifts ranging from telephone calling cards to mobile phones," says Tony Tong , chief executive of Nasdaq-listed PacificNet PACT 0.00% Inc. His company provides electronic-commerce and gambling technology in China.