As it stands nowadays, individual states are absolve to prohibit or practice gambling of their borders while significant restrictions and limits are placed on interstate which activity. In recent years, online gaming has seen harsher rules. With the Unlawful World wide web Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIEGA), it was not explicitly banned but instead it was online financial transactions which were outlawed. This meant that online financial dealings from gambling service providers were now illegal which led to several offshore gambling operators excluding US buyers from their services.
Existing in this legal grey area, it is no more a problem of if online gambling will go into the US market but when and perhaps how. As recently as this month, three states have got legalized online gambling and plan to begin offering bets by the end of this year. Naturally, a gaming firm in Las Vegas referred to as Ultimate Gaming was the first to offer online poker but for now restricting it to only players in Nevada. New Jersey and Delaware also have legalized online gambling therefore far ten other states are thinking about legalizing it in a few form or another.
Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Video gaming Association has mentioned that “Unless there exists a federal bill passed, we will have the greatest expansion of legalized gambling in the United States. I don’t believe that’s what anyone intended, but it is what we’re viewing.” This poses plenty of questions and of course concerns for most existing commercial casinos together with American policy makers. Will lawful online gambling mean fewer individuals in offline casinos? Will this create a new way to obtain revenue at the state and national level? What about taxes and regulations? A rise in gamblers?
Many people including Arnie Wexler, past chairman of New Jersey’s Council On Compulsive Gambling offers voiced concern that with all the good this could do to generate income and revenue for specific states there could be problems with a rise in compulsive gambling. CMD368 There is particular concern regarding social media in america as some areas like Zynga have previously begun taking real-money bets.
Taking in mind the questions and concerns, many hotel casinos are already making plans to increase into online gambling to complement their bodily casinos. Geoffrey Stewart, general supervisor of Caesars INTERNET POKER has said “Like any business, you’re always searching for what is another distribution channel.”